The Eurasian Triangle. Russia, the Caucasus and Japan, 1904-1945

The Akashi Operations Ë 45

ered, in small consignments, to western Georgia,⁹⁸where, as a leader of the insurgents

later recalled, the weapons and munitions delivered by theSiriusplayed a “notable

role in the revolts of 1905.”⁹⁹After waiting another ve days and coming to under-

stand that the rebels were unable to collect the rest of the load, theSiriuscrew nally

threw overboard the remaining weapons and ammunition.

The steamer then left the Caucasus coasts and reached Varna, Bulgaria, by 4 De-

cember. Moving on to Algiers,¹⁰⁰from there, the boat returned to Amsterdam on 15

January 1906.¹⁰¹

Thus, although many arms were lost or conscated, some at least did reach the

rebels. In Poti, shortly after the arms were delivered, ghting went on all day. In the

end, however, the Russians regained control and “had hung a large number of men

and declared martial law in the district.” In Batumi, the situation was similar. After

heavy ghting, this busy port city turned into a ghost town: buildings were “pitted

with rie bullets and pieces of bombs.... The trains had stopped, and outside the

station dangled a row of corpses – insurgents hung by court martial as examples....

[and] business, trade, even the ordinary buying and selling of food and necessities

had ceased, for only a few people would risk going into the streets where the patrols

of Russians, nervous and expecting to be attacked, red at anything or anybody on

the least provocation.”¹⁰²

Returning to Japan after the war, Akashi received a letter from one of his contacts

(probably Dekanozishvili) dated 24 December 1905:

Our movement has a bright future. We were not able to overthrow the Russian government at a

stroke, but will try to do it step by step. No one doubts that the authority of the Tsarist government

will collapse. The arms transported to the Black Sea arrived there safely. We were able to buy back

the arms conscated by theAziia, a converted cruiser. They number 8,400 ries.¹⁰³

Even though the war was over, Akashi must have been pleased. His postwar memo-

randum to the General Sta ends with the delivery of arms to the Black Sea regions.

Dekanozishvili, in turn, kept his honor.

The Japanese-Caucasian cooperation of this period marked a signicant stage in

the national liberation movement of the Caucasus. Japan’s goal was not a socialist

98 Laskhishvili,memuarebi, 206. See also Mikheil Ts’ereteli, “giorgi dekanozishvili,”sakhalkho
sakme. sakartvelos sotsialist’-pederalist’uri part’iis daarsebis 50 ts’listavi. sagangebo rveuli([Buenos
Aires]: n.p., 1952), 10–14.
99 Giorgi Kereselidze’s letter to the director of the Ministry of Foreign Aairs of the German Federal
Republic, 25 March 1958, 1, N. Badual-Kereselidze Family Archive (Aix-en-Province, France).
100 TheSiriuslog entries for December 1905, Fonds Georges Dekanozichvili, CHAN, boxe 345 AP/2.
101 “Personal Memoirs by Christiaan Cornelissen,” 334.
102 Armstrong,Unending Battle, 73, 77.
103 Akashi,Rakka ryusui ̄ , 53.