The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-06
BOHEMIA HAS PRODUCED
 NEW DIVISION OF DEATH

Washington, July 2.-Russia, in a fine emotional moment. produced a Battalion of Death women soldiers with poison phials in their blouses, sworn never to surrender. Bohe- mia, the enslaved and downtrodden, the mere historical remnant of na- tion, has produced the first Division of Death.
 It has been known for some time that there were about 10000 Czecho- Slovak troops in g. single group with the Italian Army = first in training near Perugia and later at the battle front itself. It is not commonly known, however, that these soldiers will never be used on the defensive ex- cept in the last extremity, and are be- ing held by the high Italian command to be flung across No Mans Land when Italy strikes her next great blow.
 The reason for this is simple. These men will be hanged if they are cap tured by the Austrians. Four hun- dred and seventy Czecho-Slovaks since the war started have been hanged in Trieste alone-over 1 per cent. of the population-for offenses much more venia1 in Austrian eyes than that of serving in the ranks of the enemy. An army loses most prisoners when 1t stands on the defensive. When it strikes, it's casualties in killed and wounded are higher, but the wounded can be cared for in the rear of the advancing forces. Therefore the Czecho-Slovak division will be thrown &o,-v reeling backward.
 | To Fight for a Dream.
 And yet these Bohemians, with the possibility of the Austrian moose all ways ahead of them, are the happiest ! of men in Italy. They are in arms | to realize dream-to establish a new republic upon the ancient "coast of Bohemia and in the very heart of the present Austro- Hungarian state. Throughout Italy they have excited the greatest enthusiasm. They are 1 instantly recognizable, for though they wear grey-green Italian uniform they carry on their collars stripes of their national colors-red and white-with another touch of red and white in their Alpine caps. Unlike the Ita1- i ians, they are mostly big and blonde, and as they pass along through the cheering crowds of the towns and will lages near the front with flowers be- hind their ears or stuck in their coats they seem always to be laughing or singing.
 They have been assembled from all quarters. Many of them are desert CTS from the Austrian armies. Others were taken prisonersLmost willingly Tin successful Italian drives. The Italians repeatedly found Czecho-Slo- yak machine gunners in the noun
 tains attached to their weapons by stout chains forged upon ankle brace lets. Victims of such a practice, of course, furnished ready material for the Bohemian division. Others came from Russia, creeping through one out
 of-the-way channel or another into
 Italy. Still others volunteered for
 this foreign service in the United States.
 This spring and summer, as the Bo- hemian movement for independence has grown within Austria itself, re- cruiting for the Bohemian armies has
 received a tremendous impetus. IT
 addition to the division already on the front in Italy, another complete divis- ion is being organized in France. From
 Russia 30,000 more Czecho-Slova are now on their way to Italy over a