New-York tribune., 1918-07-22
Russian Woman Forms New
death Battalion in New York
Mime. Prochorof to Offer
Services to u. S. or Any
Of the Entente Allies

1t you cannot fight abroad you can
fight at home--yes, fight.
That is one side of the inspiration
which has impelled, Nine. Lvdia Pro-
choroff to set out in this city upon the
recruiting of brand new, made-in-
America, Russian Women's Battalion
OF Death. ready for action on any front.
The other side of the inspiration is
summed up in psychological refec
tion:
Where loyalty will not make a man
night for his native land, shame may.
The men of Russia failed to save
Russia she cried passionately, in tell
ing OF her project last night, land so
they have called this feminist age.
Let us prove that it is, and feminist
age OF the right sort, by tackling the
biggest Job this age has to offer, the
saving of Russia. and by doing so now.
II woman's inspiration, if The power Of
"oman's influence is not sheer myth
now is the time for woman to take the
lead.
Fourteen Have Enlisted
Saturday night" she went on, "a
little group of us--fourteen in num-
ber-took the first active step in
launching this scheme. outlined to
them my plan. Fourteen enlistments
IN the Battalion of Death was the i'm
mediate result That sounds like a
very insignificant number, does it not?
But we have not begun yet. Friday we
viii hold our first real meeting. On
that night we hope-and expect-to
gain about 200 volunteers. From that
we shall go on and on until our ranks
number thousands
"No, am not talking wildly. I know
the Russian women in this country. |
have watched them, restive and i'm
patient, while their menfolk did moth
ing They have been waiting for the
chance to express themselves-to find
some outlet for the feeling that is
blazing within them while the news of
their country's sacrifice mounts up in
more and more sinister detail
Want to Do Real Fighting
''T can say without hesitation that our
wish, our real objective, is to man guns
There is no reason why we should not
Russian women have already demon
strated how we'll they can fight in
this war Any front at all would serve
our purpose, so long as it was within
rifle shot of the Germans. But of
course it is on the Eastern front that
we wish to fght-that we think of
ourselves as fighting.
ITO overthrow the Bolsheviki, who
are strangling our country, and to
drive out the Huns, who have despoiled
lt-those are our aims. After our
meeting this week VIC intend to wire
Secretary of War Baker, asking him
to send us officers of the regular army
to train US. The matter OF rifles and
uniforms We will look after ourselves
All we ask is the backing, the sanction
we will do the rest"
"The Russian within our gates" she
added-and her voice lowered and be-
came infinitely saddened as she con-
fessed it's Stacker. BY the tens
OF thousands in this country he is
skulking around, shirking his duty.
Usually he came to this country many
years ago. In the majority of cases
he never took the trouble to take out
citizenship papers. On that account
he is to-day comfortably and safely
ensconced in Glass S. He will neither
fight for this country, which has shell
tered him, nor for the country which
bore him, and from which he has never
technically withdrawn his allegiance"
THAT is the condition which prevails
in this Russian colony in this country,
and particularly in this city to-day.