INDOMITABLE NATURE OF j
CZECHO-SLOVAK FIGHTERS
WASHINGTON. July !'• \mid tin
many . ,i -\ triumph ^ which enabled
the T< i', i: this year !«• sli gre.it
set tiuii' from lh*‘ man <»t Russia, like
eoup*>n- Itiini a bond. (!eni i any am!
At! f i t bot h sill hi *d one 1 light III!
«| i p | .<. • n' i. .* !i ’. Xml fie pang wa - in
t In- w i-ake l pari of t heir polit i< a 1
anatomy the collective stomach ot
their i copies.
The grain of which the two kaisers
expected to plunder the I'kraine was
not there at least there was so little
of it that Germany had to lower her
bread ration while Austria continued
to starve a hit more rapidly The
supplies had been burned.
These fires were lighted, with a
kind of poetic justice, by the* rem
nants of the rzecho Slovak army do
porters from the Austrian ranks and
inveterate enemies of the Hapsbtirgs,
who had been reconstituted into Rus
pinn military units under the Keren
sky regime ami fought so splendidly
for Rus> ia before the whole nation
collapsed from the gnawing of the
Bolshov iki.
I 'util March of this year this
(*/e hoSlovak Xrmy had been station
oil in the I’kraine r.n.oun men in
line and Mi.coimi more in reserve.
Then Bolsheviki representatives dis
solved their organization and took
away their arms, though about ‘ju.nnn
refused to part with their weapons.
They were given promises that they
would he allowed to leave Russia for
the t’nited States, hut. of course, no
means of transportation was provid j
ed, And so they remained where
they were.
Systematic Burning
It was fortunate for the allies that j
they did \s soon as they realized i
that Germany's c hief objective in |
Itnssia was Ihe I'kranian grain sup
ply they began a systematic campaign j
of pillage and burning, in which they
were assisted hv tin- peasants them j
selves, aroused at the thought that j
the old landowners were (o return
tinder German protection.
, The evidence that the Czecho-Slo I
vaks were successful is inoontestible.
fount CZernin. Austro - Hungarian
premier until his little exchange of
pleasantries with M. Clemenceau,
placed Ihe responsibility for the bare
Slkrtinian cupboard on the shoulders
of the Czechoslovaks. German rep-|
presentailves in the Austrian reiehsrat
repeated the charge in greater detail.
A Magyar deputy in tin- Hungarian
parliament recently declared that the
Czechoslovak army in Ihe Ukraine
had burned or taken away everything j
of value.
Not only did they destroy what they
could, lint they fought bitterly to pre
vent the Teutons taking what was
left, lictlring and hampered hy their
la< k of equipment, they stopped to ^
nu t (lie advancing Germans repeat-!
edly in the field Their last battle.!
one m those confused struggles which
gd little space in the cable reports, I
was fought near Bachmno. halfway j |
betv een Kleff and Kursk on the road
to Moscow. After the fight, though
the Czechoslovaks had been armed
cht P with axes, they themselves
be: more than 300 Germans.
t ainly in the Ukraine the Czecho
slovaks have had their revenge for
three centuries of suffocation ana op
pression In Bohemia But through
out the war they have launched shat
taring blows against their Austrian
and German enemies tmd the whole
idea of Mittel-Europa. t
Eating Into Austrian Unity
As early as August 10, 1014. riots
against mobilization began at Prague,
and thenceforth Czech soldiers and
Bohemian nationals have been a tre
mendous disintegrating influence both
on the eastern front and in the heart
of Austria The desertion of the
Twenty-eighth regiment in the Car
pathians In the spring of 1915 is fam
ous These "Boys of Prague," as they
were known, marched over to the Rus
sian lines 2,000 strong. Before them
snapped the Bohemian flag, the split
tailed silver lion rampant on a scarlet
field, and they swung along to the
strains of their own military band,
singing their national hymn, “Where
Is My Home?"
This is only one of an Interminable
series of such instances which com
pelled the Austrians to turn the con
trol of their armies over to Ger
many The German general staff
sandwiched in all Czech and Slovak
soldiers with Germans, Austrians and
Magyars, so thut mass surrenders be
came impossible. But individual and
group desertions continued, until Im
mediately before the Russian revolu
tion there were between 250,uuo and
ou.ipio Czecho-Slovak deserters in
I v U > ^ i: i alone. not 1 11:«•!; 11«* 11 til** tll"U
^.nnls of bohemian prisoners in (he
: I,;.,,| j }n- Soi Ilians anti Italians
Now. the Teutonic > uipathi/ei
iIIIoII: the n! Ii ’a I ' >I llle old ItIIS Kill
I e: • i 111 e distill -1 e < | the ( '/.echo SloV.I k •
lii other word . their hatted for tin*
, Teuton was too ardent They were
not allowed to light against their an
; rient enemies. In fact, they were
treated almost like ordinan prisoners. .
and great groups of them were sent
as track workers to Siberia, where I<»r
want of food and clothing thousands
j of them died.
In Thick of Fighting
With the revolution, however, they
j promptly organized their own army
j under their own leaders Yet it was
not until tin* great Russian offensive
of 1 :♦ 11; had been prepared that they
were placed on the line in Hast (la
lieia. On duly L\ when the attack was
ordered. a Czechoslovak brigade
swept forward and took the village of
I’resovoe. the first town captured in
Korniloffs drive, together with d.lf»u
men, oflirers. la cannon and many
mat him* guns. I»a> after day. as the
Teutons reeled backward, the Cz.ei ho
Slovaks were in the thick of it. Imre
a eavalrx regiment, there a battery,
and always the invincible infantry
W ar Minister Kerensky publii l\ com
plimented them on their valor.
Then came the great retreat, when
the Russian morale, undermined by
bolshevism, gave way utterly. After
the fall of Tarnopol three regiments
of Czechoslovak volunteers, left to
their fate by the Russians to the right
and left of them, fought until the last,
the men plunging into direct shell
breaks and the officers finally blowing
out their own brains Only three
Czech soldiers were captured. These j
were summarily hanged. A little later
Czechs recaptured the position. Three11
(Jernmn prisoners were toned to cut
down the bodies and were* then left!
dangling from the same rope ends
Here* are the official words of (Jen
brusiloff on this action: “Tin* Czecho
slovaks. perfidiously abandoned at
Tarnopol by our infantry, fought so
,1... . .. Iw.ln to tnll rtf,
Is knees before them."
Vet it was but an oasis of heroism j
n the vast wilderness of cowardice
ind flight. The Czechoslovaks were
•arrled back with the Russians. Kar
■ nhky had promised the Independence!
>f Bohemia If Russia could achieve
t. As it turned out. Russia was hr<p
ess to maintain Iter own The eyes
tf the Czechoslovaks turned tin
America as the first stopping place
in the road lo tht> western front,
there they could still fight their old
ime foes.
There are 50.000 of these veteran
ittldiers in Siberia waiting ft) come
o tile Cnited States, where the Bo
icmian National Alliance will care for
hem and .send them lo France- 10,
00 in Vladivostok. 10,000 in Irkutsk,
ind the rest in other centers. There
ire 50.000 more still in old Russia
vho expect to make the same exodus
1 little later
Few people reaffze how even now
he Czechoslovak lighting men are
cattered down the battle line. There j
ire 20,000 in the French trenches, |
12,000 in Italy, and several thousand j
nore at Salonlki. In places as nn- I
Ikely as Australia. Algiers and Mo
rocco they are forming fresh battal
ons, and 60,000 are said to be in the .
irmies of tho United States.
Over 200,000 of them there are. all
old—fighters with a genius for inde
pendence anil a single purpose. Out
tide they are leaning against the mili
ary wall that surrounds Austria, hew
tig well Into it at points of weakness,
ivhile from within their compatriots
ire pulling down the supports and
bastions, stone by stone
In the inevitable wreckage the
throne of the Hapsburgs will be mere
gilded kindling.
-»
HATRED AND SUFFERING
NEW YORK, July 16.—The mass of
population in the large German cities
is suffering severe want and priva
tions, declared Deputy von Kardorff,
in the Prussian Diet recently, as
quoted by German newspapers re
ceived here. Demanding that the
equal suffrage law be enacted, the1
deputy asked how the people were
to bear these privations If a polit
ical atmosphere pregnant with hatred
prevails. He warned the conserva
tive parties that they must get in,
closer touch with the masses.
gg
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