Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1917-01-18
YOUNG HERO TELLS OF RUSSIA'S
FLYING COLUMN" OF RED CROSS
Colonel Kopachnko Describes Experience Deades Service
Yet Disclosed by War-Under Fire in First Line as 49,
900 Shrink to 4,00O-severa Americans Are
Serving in the Ranks
continuation of the activity he had for

soine tllue NllH vita III MEXICO.
Upon his departure from the Iron
sides General Pleshkoff addressed to
Colonel Kolpachnikoff letter reading:
My Dear Andre IvanOvitch
"a few days ago was the anniver-
Sary of the second year of your work
IN the flying column at the front, the
greater part of which has been devot-
ed by you to the corps whose command
l have the honor to hold by imperial
decree.
1.-The merit of your service has more
than once been cited by me in my
orders of the day to the troops com
manded by me, hut l consider it to-
day an agreeable duty to express
again to you from the bottom of my
heart my gratitude for your highly use
full service and your gallant work.
"At the head of your glorious fy-
ing column you We're always at the
front Fastening whore there were dan
gers and where you could make light
er the sulferings of thousands of our
gallant Siberian fighters. The care
you have taken of them shall never be
forgot by them, and they will always
bless YOU in their prayers
You are taking up a long journey
for a good cause, and again in the
name of the entire corps let me wish
you good journey. May success at
tend yo'r every effort and undertake
ing. are looking forward with
great pleasure TO your return to the
old command in the corps that loves
you so much. Yours,
IN. PLESHKOFF,
"COmmanding First Siberian Corps,
Active Army Nc 3d."
In Eir"teen Battles.
Eighteen hn ties of first magnitude
stand now to Colonel Kolpachnikoff's
credit In three of these, Tchervonaia,
Niva and Tschidlovskaia, where the
relief work of the Twenty-first was
carried on under Shell-fire that was
as heavy as it was uninterrupted, Colo
mel Kolnachnikoff was accompanied by
First Lieut.. Sherman Miles Y. S. A.,
military attache Of the American en-
basSy to Russia.
TIL zee other Americans Colonel KOl-
pachnikoff counts among his personal
friends. Foremost among these is
DR.. Malcolm Grow of Philadelphia,
who is chief surgeon of the Twenty
first, and who won medal of the or
der of st. George for his work. Colo
mel KOlpachniknff tells how, when this
medal was conferred, the commander
of the Tenth army said to Doctor
Grow:
II hone that by the time this war
ends Americans will like us as sincere
ly as we like you and all your people
who have visited my army. I am very
glad to see among my Siberians rep
resentative of the glorious nation of
the Stars and Stripes
The two other Americans of whom
the colonel speaks affectionately are
Stanley WaShburn and Walter G.
Whifen, correspondents. Whiffen was
wounded by an explosive bullet when
at the front with the Twcnty-first.
Colonel Kolpachnikoff's column en-
braces 200 men. All are mounted and
in mobility they equal light cavalry.
Three surgeons are attached to the
column. two nurses and five medical
students. One Of these students Alex
ander BrailovSky, has comportcd him
self with such gallantry that he wears
on his breast the medals of all four
degrees of the Order of st. George.
His distinction is, in a way, as great
as his commander. who was the first
of the three colonels now decorated to
be given the Cross of st. George.
"RuSsia, like America, is a land of
vast distances" he said to a New York
World reporter. "You. however, have
mastered the art of conquerng space
as we have not Our fighting fronts
are we'll supplied with roads. but we
lack adequate means of swift locomo-
tiOn at any rate. for those in whose
welfare I am most deeply interested,
the wounded. Rapid transit to the
rear means the saving of thousands of
lives.
Needs Motor AmbuIances
"I have after two years effort, sue
ceeded in mastering IA motor am
balances for my flyer but what are
If ambulances for work with such
fighters as the Siberian Ironsdes?
"Our whole Red Cross organization,
which has 81 900 tra ned nurses work
ing at the front does not boast more
than 400 motor ambulances altogether.
"Instead of IA ambuances, I ought
to have, to serve such a corps as the
First Siberian, from 100 to $50. had
been promised some cars by various
British organizations, but they need
all they have and friends have encOur-
aged me to hope that in the never
failing generosity of Americans may
find some assistance toward providing
the Russian Red Cross with this sore
ly needed equipment.
"Modern warfare makes such terri
BILE demands upon the physical and
nervous powers that unless a wound
ed man can be got swiftly away from
the inferno in which he has been at
work. his chances of recovery are Sc
riously imperiled. Motor ambulances
will do this, and no motors are so ad-
mirably adapted to use in Russia as
your American makes. IF know, and
think / do know, the heart of the
true American, my mission will prove
an easy one"