Bridgeton pioneer., 1917-08-16


Armies on Eastern Front Is setiex.ds
to Be Growing Steadily.
Russia's women soldiers have pledg=-
ed themselves to take their own lives:
rather than become German war prts--
oners. Each woman soldier carries q
ration OF cyanide of potassium, to be~
swallowed In case of capture
The members of the women regf-
ments, now constantly increasing.
agreed that death was to be preferred.
to the fate they would probably meet
at the hands of the Germans.
The Legion of Death fighters are
good killers" From a woman's hps
correspondent heard how she had run
German through with her bayonet,
hr1ng the rife at the same time. From
others he heard how these women and
girls, fresh from comfortable homess
and universities, went leap;ng aver.
mangled bodies in the charge, with.
enemy shells bursting all aboat them
To See It Through.
But these narrowing experiences of
the women fighters have steeled them.
and hundreds of other girls to a new
determination to see it through. Gfrt
soldiers drilling in the streets are now
| common sight in Petrograd. Huge
| crowds gather daily about the engi-
| neers' school, where 1000 girls are
drilling preparing to go to the front
In Moscow 1000 men are training,
while Kiev and Odessa have smaller
bands. Premier Kerensky has also au-
thorized the formation of women ma
| rine detachments and has promised to-
| assign them to ships. Tie ne-y women
commands attempt no ap.t q Gecola-
| ton. Their heads are 81. o.. ald they
wear the regulation Li.i.v.:u. including
| the heavy, ugly army boots.
! The five women fighters at the hos
pital were partially paralyzel by shell
shock. One Of them, peasant girl.
smiled joyously as she pointed to g.
German helmet on the bed beside her
| 1t was the first war prize of a Russian
| woman
at Was His Life or Nine"
Il saw a German in front of me as,
1 ran forward with the others in the
charge" she said. "It was his life
or mine. raised my rifle. plunged
with all my strength. I stabbed him.
The bayonet went deep into his body.
At the same moment pulled the trtg--
ger. He dropped dead. Then I took
his hat as souvenir"
The girl soldier smiled with delight.
What was the battle like?" another.
of the legionnaires was asked.
II was very nervous just before the
charge" she replied. I'VE knew the
order was coming, and naturally we
were just little scared. : =: ~ soon
as the orders to so .o:wald cane We
forgot everything else IA the at ,ance
II could hear our girls ye.iing and
shouting throughout tie march for
ward. None of us were afraid once we
got started. We were in the midst OF
great fusillade of shots. Then ter
rife big shells began breaking all
around us.
Stories Of the Fight.
! VIC NSlc again lIISuteIeu d lLLl6
| when We first saw dead men about, !
but before very long we were jumping |
| over the dead and quickly forgot aH |
about them"
1--WE couldn't tell what was going on.
anywhere" said third girl in descrtb-
ing the final stages of the battle.
Commander Bochkoreva was every
where, urging us to fight and die like
| real Russian soldiers" /
Then the girl told how the legion
took its first prisoners.
"As we ran forward we suddenly
came upon bunch Of Germans imme-
diately ahead of us. 1t was only Sec
ond until we were all around them.
Germans Surprised.
threw down their rifles, holding up
their hands. They were terribly fright
ened. !
Good God, womenw they er-,
claimed.
I'VE saw wounded German soldiers
raising themselves on their elbows ana
shooting" interjected another wound
ed girl. "We just forgot ourselves en-
tirely. We were simply Russia, fght-I
| ing for her life.
''The loss of Lena, the most popuIar
member Of our company, was keenly,
felt by all of u.s." she added soberly.
During the battle Lena heard that
Commander Bochkoreva had been kill
ed. She hurried forward into the shell
fire, saying she was going to find her.
We saw her go through one space lit
orally strewn with exploding shells;
then through the smoke and flames We
saw her blown to fragments.
1--WE also lost Sonia. She used to be
a musician with the Romanoff concert
organization. She was killed by ma
chine gun fire."
C,n,.r,,.,,, ,,,.:..o..,..,.s.