Největší válečný zločin čs. legionářů v Rusku? K personálním ztrátám č.-s. rudoarmějců v Penze

The fighting between Czechoslovak legionaries and Red Army soldiers in Penza in May 1918 generated and continues to generate various historical narratives, especially about alleged war crimes. How did legionary and communist sources interpret the outcome of the fighting and what losses were attributed to the defenders of the city in general and the 1st Czecho-slovak Revolutionary Regiment in particular? This paper analyses the number of deaths, cites various historical sources, and critically examines the myth of prisoner executions, arguing that the numbers and the account of the events in contemporary literature are likely distorted.