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

troops in this city. Except the Car
cassians, they were the best looking
men l have seen. Compared will
moujik warriors every Georgian look
an aristocrat. The moujik is strong
but gnarled, wrinkled, flatfaced, apa
thetic and his demeanor is servile
The Georgians are aristocrats. Yol
see fair men and redhaired men among
them-as you see them among Po
lands Jews.
Siberians as Warriors.
Caucasus soldiers consider them
selves the best in the army. l saw
here part Of Caucasian corps which
was badly battered during the battle
Of Lodz. One bridge of it was with
the troops which surrounded, neal
Brezsiny, General Won Mackensen's
two corps. Mackensen's corps escap.
ed chiefly by hurting a whole division
against a narrow front held by the
Caucasus bridge The bridge was
overwhelmed, but it kept good or.
der. 1t gave the Germans 50 much
trouble that they had to leave be-
hind half their wounded. The com.
mander Of the corps bears a Geor.
gian name. He is descended from
the sovereign race which once reign
ed at Tifis. Georgias capital. An
other bridge Of the same corps
marched in heavy order from Lodz to
Jesin, a distance Of 35 miles in one
day. This is almost a record for such
large unit.
OF Russias Christian soldiers, the
Siberians are the best. The Siberians
are popular; every one talks Of their
hardihood and courage. They begin
to fancy themselves, saying: 'Tcho
ne sibirskoe ne bozheskoe," What is
not Siberian is not divine" They are
big, red-faced, unusually ugly men.
Their faces show more independence
and vigor than you see in the Europ-
can moujik. saw some Siberians
coming through here after a fierce
night attack on the Bsura. The Ger
mans had taken their trenches; the
Siberians had retaken them, and TAX
en- the German trenches. Before
morning the trenches had four times
changed hands. Four hours later the
men were in Warsaw, singing and
joking on the road. A company,
which had $50 men in the evening,
had only 30 in the morning, but the
80 men, without an officer, stayed
stoutly in their trenches, and repell-
ed new German attacks. A private
soldier named Lipkowsky, took COM
mand. He relinquished it only after
he had had three wounds. Most Of the
Siberians who marched through here
had trophies tied to their haversacks.
Some had German helmets; others
pieces Of German uniforms; others
had German buttons pinned to their
gray labskin "papakha' hats AS they
strobe down the Nowy SWAT they
chanted aloud the "Vistula" song,
which is as popular in Russia as
"Tipperary" is in Britain.
Water Wagon Equality.
Russia's Asiatic soldiers have their
special customs. idiosyncrasies, race
pride and prejudices. The Moslems
till lately believed themselves super
ior to the Christians. The reason was
that the Christians drank vodka and
the Moslems did not. Now the vodka
prohibition has stopped all drinking,
and the Moslems feel less superior.
heard a Tartar telling Russian:
I'VE are all equal now" The Tartars
are great tea drinkers. The Mingre-
lians from the Caucasus also drink
tea; they have the habit Of flavoring
it with tobacco. A little bit Of tobac-
co is dropped into the hot tea, allow
ed to brew, and removed. The Kirghiz
horsemen, who make excellent caval-
ry, drink only water, but they have
a frantic horror Of water anywhere
except in their stomachs. This is be-
cause a KirghiZ never washes. A
Kirghiz cavalryman breads water
more than he breads bullets. This
was shown in my friend, Captain VOL
koffs presence when Kirghiz cavalry
were escorting a transport train over
the little river Radomka, a Vistula
under fire. The Germans had shelled
the bridge to bits, and the cars had
to cross by a fort The Kirghiz escort
kept their feet round their horses
necks so as to keep clear Of the
water. A German shell burst, killed a
Kirghiz's horse, and badly wounded
the riders cheek. He came down in
the water on his feet. He paid no
attention to his wound. He rushed
frantically out Of the stream, took
off his boots. shook out the water,
carefully dried his hands and only
then put a dry hand up to his face,
and tried to stop the bleeding. When
a surgeon came along and started to
wash the wound the Kirghiz nearly
went out of his mind.
Tartars Practical Workers.
Every Asiatic race in the army here
has it's good and bad points from
fighting and working point Of view.
Often you can tell mans race and
religion by his work. and if you
know his race and religion, you can
judge best how to employ him. The
Tartars shine at all sorts of practical
and domestic work. Even in the
Christian Caucasus regiments the
cook and 'porridge boiler" are al
ways Tartars. The Tartars do the
regimental chaffering, bargaining
buying and requisitioning. When it's
a case of voluntary sale of stock they
can beat any Christian, Armenian
Greek or Jew. AS fighting men. the
Tartar soldiers do good work with
the spade. They are patient and en-
during. The Georgian soldiers. ar
officer of Georgian race tells me, are
showing more fire. but they lack the
Tartar's staying power. These are
the Tartars from the Caucasus. The
Volga Tartars soldiers are hardy, eat
very little and are tremendous march