Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-06-08
Strange Races of Russia.

finest bridge in Europe"-up the Je
rusalem alley, thence to the vienna
depot for the front, march battalion'
of warriors from Asia. 1t seems the!
will never end. You get the impress
sion that now, after half Europe is ou
fighting for Car Nicholas, half Of
Asia Is on the way. In the new troops
you see more and more Asiatfc types;
sometimes Asiatic from Europe sucf
as Volga Tartars; sometimes eau
casus Asiatics; sometimes Kirghizes
and Turcomans from Asia proper;
sometimes Siberians who, through
Europeans by race, have a physical
type of their own. Among these men
from Asia are Christians, Moslems
Buddhists, even heather fire worship
ers. For the purposes Of this war all
are Russians. When you see the
heterogeneous types Of men tramping
westward you begin to understand
what an interminable empire is Car
Nicholas and what a little thing in
comparison is Kaiser Wilhelm's.
Two hundred thousand men Of Rus
sias big army in peace time are men
from Asia or from the Caucasus. Now
in war there are at least half a million
Asiatics in the field 1t is these Ash
atics and European Asiatics who play
the greatest role on Russia's side.
Being far from Poland they arrived
late, and when they we're wanted
most Russia has been saved by her
Asiatics. It was three corps OF ST.
berians who turned up in October and
prevented Hindenburg crossing the
Vistula. Had it not been for the ST.
berians Warsaw today would be in
German hands. Two Caucasus crops
at the same time did the main work
Of checking the Austrian assault on
the Upper Vistula, south Of lvangorod
fortress. The Asiatic troops are now
the best officered and have the big
gest portion Of well-trained men,.
That is because they came late and
have had the smallest losses. In all
combatant armies most Of the original
troops have been killed or wounded,
and war is now being waged with
second line men and new formations.
The Asiatic corps are still intact. The
part they play grows daily more i'm
portant.
Half Christian, Half Moslem.
have had today on the Skiernie-
vice front an example Of the strange
race types in Russia's army. got
to Ghirardoff, a factory town south
west Of here, in the daily military
train, and from there was driven to
Radsiwiloff, whence you can see the
German shells bursting. A mile
north I came on the Asiatics. There
was a big, water-filled hole, made
by a German 12-inch shell last Oc-
tober, and in the middle Of the water
was a good looking ruddy soldier
with oblique eyes. He had no clothes
on, and his head and shoulders pro-
jected out Of the water. The shell
hole is ten feet deep, and the soldier,
I learned was standing on petroleum
cans. Around the pit were other
Asiatic soldiers in uniform. The let
ters on their shoulder straps showed
that they came from different units
They were all sturdy, intelligent
looking men, with the same oblique
eyes The man in the water took
with his left hand handful OF
beans, threw them on the surface, and
with his right hand scooped up the
water and the beans and sent both
flying over the soldiers who stood
around. The soldiers looked serious
and bawled. IVA, va, Ya!" The naked
soldier kicked from under him the
petroleum cans; dived entirely under
the water, reappeared, got out and
dressed.
1 asked Captain Volkoff what that
meant. He said it was a Kama
christening" The soldiers were half
Christian, half Moslems from a
Finno-Tartar tribe which lives on
the Kama river, Volga tributary.
The Kama christening" has nothing
to do with christening. 1t has ablu-
tionary significance. Volkoff said:
That's nothing. There are fire wor-
shippers in the Eleventh army" These
also come from the Volga- They
worship the sun, ana In Poland IN
winter when the sun is mostly alb
sent, they light a fire and worship It,.
The fire worshiper soldier carries,
sewn to his uniform, a ball Of yellow
silk This symbolizes the sun. In a
Siberian corps which is part Of one
of the southern armies are pagan
Yakhauts, Buriats from Mongolia
and japanese (Russian subjects) Sim
toists. There are in all Car Nichols
armies 10000 men who are neither
Christian nor Moslems, but are either
mixtures Of both or are pure heath
ems.
Worlds Best Cavalry.
Far the best horsemen seen by me
at the front are Asiatics. There are
several units Of Turcoman and Kirg-
hiz cavalry. The Trucomas from the
oases along the Transcaspian railways
are uniformed much as are the Cos
sacks. The late General Skobeleff
called them the worlds best cavalry.
They ride better than the Cossacks.
The Cossacks have individual men
who do wonderful feats, but they
have many different riders and have
a bad school of riding-they stand
altogether in the stirrups. The Tur-
comans all ride we'll. The best squad
ron comes from the Akkal Tekke
oasis, the scene of Skobeleff's vic
tories. After this unit arrived it
took part together with Cossacks. in
a reconnaissance in force. The Ger
mans treated the reconnaissance as a
big attack; they sent large forces
against it, and the Russians had to
retire. The retirement became u
race. The Turcomans, being better
horsemen, got away; the Cossacks
were cut up. The Turcomans are
now under command of Colonel Ali
Kan-off. who has Russianized his