Journal de Genève
- Vilno and Russia
- The reform of preparatory military instruction
- The Ricken mystery is cleared up
The Journal de Genève of 26 October 1926 led with an editorial by W. M. on Vilno. It argued that the disputed city mattered less for its own sake than for its location, as a fuse the Soviet government could light in Eastern Europe, and it began to recall the centuries of Polish–Lithuanian federation behind the rival claims. Colonel Feyler announced that a federal commission would meet in Bern on 3 November to study reform of Swiss preparatory military instruction, which the Swiss Officers' Society had requested. A report on the Ricken tunnel disaster described a test train with the same locomotive and fuel stalling at the same kilometre 4. It concluded that the briquette fuel was too weak for the load and that gas-protection apparatus might have saved the crew.
Translation
Vilno and Russia
Among the unresolved and perhaps insoluble questions that weigh on European politics, that of Vilno is one of the most serious. This is not because of its own difficulty or its importance, but because of its geographical position. There lies the fuse by which the Soviet government could easily set Eastern Europe on fire — and Eastern Europe is closer to Western Europe than people think. Let us first recall how the Vilno question stands, historically and politically. For several centuries Poland and Lithuania were bound together by a very close federalism. Vilno was then the capital of the State of Lithuania, which formed part of Greater Poland. Historically, the Lithuanians claim Vilno because it was their capital, and the Poles because they have always been at home there.
The reform of preparatory military instruction
On 3 November next, the federal commission charged with examining a reform of preparatory military instruction (I. M. P.) will meet in Bern under the chairmanship of the head of the infantry service, Divisional Colonel de Loriol. A previous column explained how this inquiry originated. Considering that the institution, as currently organized, does not deliver what would be desirable, the central committee of the Swiss Officers' Society, then sitting in Geneva under the chairmanship of Divisional Colonel Sarasin, resolved to call for it.
The Ricken mystery is cleared up
That result is now known: a "test" train, made up exactly like the one in the disaster, with an identical locomotive and fuel, came to a stop, unable to go any further, at the same kilometre 4 of the tunnel. The experimenters, equipped with gas-protection apparatus, suffered no ill effects. A twofold conclusion can be drawn from this: 1. the fuel used — briquettes — was insufficient for the train's load; or, if one prefers — and it amounts to the same thing — the train's load was too heavy for the kind of fuel being used. 2. Perhaps, despite the unexpected stop of the stricken train, the employees' lives could have been saved if they had been equipped, as the track workers are, with gas-protection apparatus.
Context
What the Soviet–Lithuanian pact of September 1926 said about Vilnius
The editorial appeared four weeks after the Soviet Union and Lithuania signed a non-aggression pact on 28 September 1926, which gave its title, linking Vilno to Russia, immediate relevance. Under the pact the Soviet Union continued to recognize Vilnius and its region as Lithuanian, although Poland had controlled the area since Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920. In return Lithuania undertook not to join any alliance directed against the Soviet Union. Poland protested that the agreement violated the Peace of Riga. Lithuanian diplomats judged that keeping the Vilnius dispute alive in European politics was worth the cost of the pact. W. M.'s image of a fuse that the Soviets could light refers to this situation: Moscow's backing kept the Lithuanian claim open as an international issue. When the paper was printed the pact was not yet in force. Ratifications were exchanged in Kaunas on 9 November 1926, and the pact took effect that day.
How Vilnius came to be held by Poland
The editorial's phrase about 'a very close federalism' compresses a long history. The Union of Krewo in 1385 began a Polish–Lithuanian union that lasted for centuries, and the Union of Lublin in 1569 turned it into a new federal state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. W. M. describes Lithuania as part of 'Greater Poland', whereas the Union of Lublin had created a new federal state. After the First World War, Lithuania chose independent statehood rather than a revival of the old union. When Poland annexed the Republic of Central Lithuania, which had been created through Żeligowski's action, Lithuania broke off diplomatic relations with Poland. This means the two neighbours had no normal diplomatic relations when the article appeared. The tension the editorial describes did not ease: in 1927 the two countries went through a crisis in which renewed hostilities were threatened.
What happened in the Ricken tunnel on 4 October 1926
On 4 October 1926 a steam-hauled freight train stalled in the Ricken tunnel between Kaltbrunn and Wattwil; six crew members and three rescuers died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The train was hauling 252 tonnes, close to the 260-tonne maximum then allowed for its locomotive on that route, and it got stuck on the incline because it was burning low-quality briquettes. The tunnel had no artificial ventilation, and it was already notorious for its steep gradient and poor ventilation in the steam era. The paper's first conclusion, that the fuel was inadequate for the load, matches later accounts of the cause. The 'kilometre 4' in the report also agrees with the location given in the title of the St. Gallen prosecution report published in 1927, which placed the accident at km 4.1.
Rescue failures and the changes that followed
The report's second point, about gas-protection apparatus, also bears on the failed rescue. An eight-person team came from Wattwil with breathing equipment, but several of its members lost consciousness and the attempt had to be abandoned. After the accident the permitted trailing loads were reduced, train staff were issued oxygen masks, and rescue equipment was installed at Wattwil and Kaltbrunn. The more lasting response was electrification, which removed steam exhaust from the tunnel altogether. Immediate electrification of the line was approved after the disaster, and electric operation between Rapperswil and Wattwil, through the tunnel, began on 7 May 1927.
Original
Vilno et la Russie
Parmi les questions non résolues et peutêtre insolubles qui chargent la politique européenne, celle de Vilno est l'une des plus sérieuses. Non point en raison de sa difficulté propre ou de son importance, mais à cause de sa position géographique. Là est la mèche par laquelle il serait aisé au gouvernement des soviets de mettre le feu à l'Europe orientale - laquelle est plus près qu'on ne croit de l'Europe occidentale. Rappelons tout d'abord comment se présente historiquement et politiquement la question de Vilno. La Pologne et la Lituanie ont été liées, pendant plusieurs siècles, par un fédéralisme très étroit. Vilno était alors la capitale de l'Etat de Lituanie, qui faisait partie de la Grande Pologne. Historiquement, les Lituaniens réclament Vilno parce que ce fut leur capitale, et les Polonais parce qu'ils y ont toujours été chez eux.
La réforme de l'instruction militaire préparatoire
Le 3 novembre prochain se réunira à Berne, sous la présidence du chef du service de l'infanterie, colonel divisionnaire de Loriol, la commission fédérale chargée d'examiner une réforme de l'instruction militaire préparatoire (I. M. P.). Une chronique précédente a dit l'origine de cette recherche. Considérant que l'institution, dans son organisation actuelle, ne rend pas ce qui serait désirable, le comité central de la Société suisse des officiers, siégeant alors à Genève, sous la présidence du colonel divisionnaire Sarasin, a résolu de la provoquer.
Le mystère du Ricken est éclairci
Ce résultat, on le connaît aujourd'hui: un train d ' «expérience», composé exactement comme celui du sinistre, avec locomotive et combustible identiques, s'est arrêté, ne pouvant plus avancer, au même kilomètre 4 du tunnel. Les expérimentateurs, munis des appareils de protection contre les gaz, n'ont subi aucun malaise. On peut en tirer une double conclusion: 1º le combustible employé - des briquettes - était insuffisant pour la charge du train; ou, si l'on préfère - et cela revient au même - la charge du train était trop lourde étant donné le genre de combustible qui était employé. 2º Peut-être, malgré l'arrêt inopiné du train sinistré, la vie des employés aurait-elle pu être sauvée s'ils avaient été munis, comme le sont les agents de la voie, des appareils de protection contre les gaz.