Evening star., 1917-03-25
Bravery of Women in Battle.

wv part in n't this n'"S war;: as they have
played an important part in all
wars. The woman at hfme, thinking
of her loved ones on the battle line or
mourning the loss of husband, son.
brother or sweetheart. is one of the
fore the imagination of every one who
thinks of the subject and comes under
the knowledge of all persons having
anything to do with war.
The woman nurse in war has long
been known and though the present
enough stories come from the red
region to acquaint the world that
brave, heroic and devoted women are
bearing their share of peril num-
Der of stories have been printed of the
valor of Russian women in the battle
ranks. One of these women, who has
become known to fame, is Madame
Kokovtseva, colonel commanding the
9Th Ural Cossack Regiment of the Rus
sian army and another is a Russian
soldier called yellow Martha" by her
army comrades because of her mass
of golden hair. 1t has been told of
Nine. Kokovtseva that she was twice
wounded while fighting in East
Prussia, and received the cross of St
George and pension a reward for
her bravery. Nine. kokovtseva's hus-
band served in the 9Th Ural Cossacks
during the ssian-Japanese war. and
when the present war began she
managed to get into the regiment with
him. In the news reports of yellow
Martha. it has been told that during
the lighting at Sokatchew the banner
bearer was shot down and yellow
Martha saw the flag fall and, rushing
in, seized it and started back with it
Two Germans pursued her as she ran
to regain her regiment and she shot
both dead
In France and Germany women have
taken the places of men gone to the
front and in hundreds of occupations
calling for strength and stamina are
DONG the work of men. 1t is known
in the United States that women are
working in ammunition factories in
France and England. and presumably
women are so engaged in Germany and
IT is very likely that this also is the
case in Russia.
From England has come news that
the suggestion Of attaching women as
cooks and caterers to British regiments
was received SO favorably that il is
uo'T being seriously considered and
when objection is made that such a
thlng mas not been heard of before in
civilized armies il has been pointed
out that before the days of Florence
Nightingale II was an uuheard-of thing
for women to take charge of hospital
work in the field.
The woman disguised as Il man has
been found in armies in all great wars
and instances of this nature were OBJ
served during the American civil war.
Some women were especially noted as
spies.
The bravery of women in fight is no
new thing in Europe. GuiZot. in his
History of France from the Earliest
Times to 1s4S,'' in telling of a battle
fought by the Romans. under Marius,
near AK, on the borders of the Coenus,
against Ambrons and the Teutons,
wrote: THE battle lasted two days, the
first against the Ambrons, the second
against the Temtons. Both were beaten
in spite of their savage bravery and
the equal bravery of their women, who
defended, with indomitable obstinacy.
the cars with which they had remained
almost alone in charge of the children and
the booty. After the women it was
necessary to eXterminate the hounds
who defended their masters bodies.
Here again the figures of the historians
are absurd. although they differ The
most eXtravagant raise the number of
barbarians slain to 100000 and that
of the prisoners to $4,000: the most
moderate stop at 100000. In any case
the carnage was great, for the battle
field, where all these corpses rested
without burial, rotting in the sun and
rain. got the name of Campi Putridi, or
Fields of Putrefication, a name trave-
able even nowadays in that of Pour
rieres. a neighboring village"