Evening star., 1914-12-28
COSSACKS AS FIGHTERS
ARE RECKLESS AND Willy
Superstitious Against Surrender,
Prefer Death to Loss of
Horse or Lance.
Foreign Correspondence of The Star.

Foreign Correspondence of The Star.
LONDON, December 1e.-Perhaps the
widest adventures of the war are those
attributed to the Cossacks.. They take
war as sport and are correspondingly
reckless They have superstition
against surrendering and against losing
a lance or a horse.
A correspondent of the Daily Graphic
sends some remarkable stories of these
strange horsemen, who are will drilled,
he finds To their imnemorial boldness
and Witness they have now added drill
and science and they are much moro eff
fective than in the Japanese war.
Filimonoff Greatest of All.
He says:
"Greatest of all Cossacks is Michail
Filimonoff, who is with the invaders of
Galicia. Filinonoff is a striking figure.
He sits his horse like a Petrograd bank
clerk, but his leadership beats De Vets.
The day he was given command of lit
tie accommodating force of twenty-five
men Filimonoff dispersed or captured four
Austrian outposts or detachments. All
outnumbered his force. For that he was
promoted to "khorunji" and given the
st. Georges Cross.
He has done all wild things since.
Near Przemysl he held up an Austrian
convoy and captured 200 wagons of grain
and coal. When, a few days later. his
force was surrounded he saved it by him.
self diving into a stream and racing for
help. Filimonoffs ruses are surprising.
He disguised himself and some of his men
as peasants and thereby got valuable in
formation.
Lately I visited the vistula south of
Warsaw and saw at Cora Kalwarija
Cossacks having djigitovka sports.
Player With Arm in Sling.
"One of the players had his left arm
in a sling. I was told that he was
wounded after the terrific battles on
the Pilitsa month ago. He was TAX
ing part in similar sports under the
enemy's fire.
"Cossacks cannot be induced to sur
render. I have heard of cases of Co.'S
sacks preferring death to abandoning
either horse or lance. Before the Grand
Duke Nicholas armies reached the
Warthe at Kolo the Cossack Nikita
Tchumakoff, with ten comrades, was
captured through falling into an am
buscade. Three days later Tchumakoff
turned up with two bullets, one through
his clothes and one through his thigh.
He was horseless, but carried his long
lance. Tchumakoff, without horse or
weapons, had crept during darkness
from the tent in which he slept.
Faces Death for Horse and Lance.
HE got safely past the German
sentries. Then he reflected that it was
a shame for Cossack to lose his horse
and lance. So he crept back, facing the
risk of being killed or recaptured. He
recovered both horse and lance and
galloped away. The horse was killed
by a shot from an outpost. From his
lance Tchumakoff would not be parted"
The skill of the Cossacks in scouting
is responsible for most Of the Russian
successes, says this observer. They are
especially notable for rapid hanking
operations. Through an ingenious ruse
of Ccssack cavalry, General Marshal
Won Hindenburg was deceived about the
line of advance of the Siberian REIN
forcements in the first German advance
on Warsaw, and largely due to this
fno+or tho Germans had to retreat.