The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-12-12
007 AsH1NGroN, December

WNW (Special.)-An intimate study Of
 V V the spirit which dominates the famous French Foreign Legion in the pres ent world war is given by Lieutenant Zinovi Pechkoff in a communication to the National Geographic society, part or which was released today by the society as a bulletin of it's war geography se- ries Lieutenant Pechkoff, who was one of the first volunteers to proffer his sery- ices to France at the outbreak of the war in August, 1914, is a Russian subject who was unable to return to his own country from Italy in the first few days of the great struggle. He joined the Foreign Legion as a private and after taking part in three thrilling bayonet charges was promoted to the rank or lieutenant, in which capacity he was leading platoon against an entrencneu machine gun position when he received a wound which cost him his right arm. For his exploit in this charge, which re- suited in the capture of four lines or Ger man trenches in the space of AZ min utes-the general staff had estimated that it would require two and halr hours-Iieutenant Pechkoff received the war cross with palms (the highest of the four classes of this order) and the miii- tary medal for valor.
 The society's bulletin, based on Lieu tenant Pechkoffs communication, fol- lows:
 ''The romance and the adventurous ex- ploits associated with the name Of the Foreign Legion of France constitute some of the most picturesque and thriihng episodes in the history of that nation dur ing a period extending over the greater portion of the nineteenth century. It IS not surprising, therefore, that when the hour of Frances greatest trial arrived in August, 1914, this notable organization, then in service in Morocco and Algeria, should have been among the first bodies of troops to be rushed to the front, nor Is 1t to be wondered at that the legion should have formed the nucleus to which gravitated thousands of eager spirits or other nationalities who felt that the cause of France and French liberties was their own cause.
 ''The French government was quick to realize the potency in the appeal Of the glorious past achievements of the Foreign Legion, and each battalion of the four regiments was made the central unit of new volunteer regiment It should be explained to American laymen that the French regiment is a much larger unit than the regiment of the American army. In France the strength of company IS 25o men: there are four companies to the battalion, four battalions to the regiment. So. with each battalion of the four regi- ments as 8 recruiting center for new regiment, the strength of the Foreign Le- zion when it's 16 regiments were com pleted reached a total in excess of co., 900 men,
 When the legionaries first reached the firing line trench warfare was in its infancy No one could then imagine into what it would develop. In the early days of September those lines which after ward grew into the vast labyrinth of ditches. and communicating galleries, were nothing more than shallow individ- ual holes in which each soldier sought to secure some protection sfrom bursting shrapnel and the hail of steel messengers of disfigurement and death. But when the onrushing tide of the German inva- sion was finally stemmed, and the pro- cess of rolling it back began then this revolutionary evolution of what is now known as trench warfare was accom- plished.
 1T have been asked many times since I came to America whether or not the life in the trenches is monotonous; how the men can stand the strain of living constantly in an atmosphere surcharged endure the suspense of the expected at- tack every hour in the 24; how the soldier can school himself to undergo the torture of awaiting calmly the order to charge the enemy, whom he knows to be only a few yards in front of him; how he can adjust himself to the hardships and the inconveniences of livir~ fc- 'ronth at time between eartllen Nals that suggest nothing more for ul'y than the sides of a prodigious gray Heich ne has had to dig for his own booS
 ITO all of these rationai auFsaons it is impossible to find a reasonsass answer except in the all-embra geais that the modern soldier has oeeo iosoea tc