Trans-Siberian Railway imperial collapse, and before the Red Army took control, the Czechs and Slovaks were able to use their organisation and the resources of the railway to establish a temporary zone of control before eventually continuing onwards towards Vladivostok, from where they emigrated back to Czechoslovakia. During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe. During the first two years of the war the USSR had secretly agreed to a neutrality and non-aggression pact with Germany. While Germany's merchant shipping was interdicted by the Western allies, the Trans-Siberian Railway (along
The Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company 1903. In 1905 the first ships on Lake Baikal were built — ferry «Baikal» and ice-breaker «Angara» for running through of train on the Transsiberian railway. The Soviet history of the Eastern-Siberian Inland Navigation Company began since 1918, when the Decree about fleet nationalization was passed. All ships of private companies were nationalized. One of the prominent revolutionists Lukas Michailovich Vlasov led the first river transport organization in Eastern Siberia. In the 1930s the company's workers carried out the building program of fleet repairing bases. The Great Patriotic War frustrated plans for river transport development. Thousands of workers went up