The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-17
HEROISM OF THE
 CzECHO-SLOvAKS BECOMING KNOWN
"Win or Die" Is Their Motto and Their Part in the Great War Will Be Appreciated Later.

Amid the snows of the Carpathian mountains occurred one of the saddest tragedies of the world war and yet the story of it is known to few .n America.
 When the great Russian army be- gan to melt and disintegrate under German intrigue and propaganda and the Hun hordes began to rush through there were spots where the Russian lines held firm like Islands of rock in a torrent.
 Those islands were the Czecho Slo- yak units, most of them prisoners of war who had surrendered to the Rus sians so that they might fight on tho | side of the allies and not against the | l cause of liberty and democracy. Sometimes without food, often with 1 | out ammunition, these units stood firm | and awaited their martyrdom. There l was a price on their heads, for they | were ranked as traitors by the Huns | and on the hills were gallows set up | by the hundreds solely for the killing of Czecho-Slovak prisoners. | One of these units was ordered to | retreat. We do not know the mean 1 ing of the word," was their reply, and | they stood their ground. They are still there covered by the Carpathian snows. They perished almost to d man, but around each dead Czecho- Slovak was a little circle of dead Ger mans-in almost every case eight or ten Huns had paid the price for the | To oF a6n- r Such is the character of the fight that this brave race has been waging against the Huns. Without sup plies without medical aid, with out a base of supplies, sometimes with only scythes and pitchforks as weapons they have held back the Ger man troops and inflicted tremendous punishment. If captured by the Aus trians their reward was death by hanging, for there was a price upon their heads-if killed in battle theirs was a nameless grave for if their names had been placed above their graves a German officer would have listed the names for reprisals on their families at home.
 Almost without hope they fought
 on for the principle which actuated them, the liberty of their race and it's
 freedom from Teuton domination and slavery.
 Today they are fighting on every
 battle front against the Huns and
 their armies are known as "Battalions 7 of Victory or Death" They must win
 or die!
 In the face of this almost hopeless ? fight their morale is still solid as
 rock and their wonderful enthusiasm
 and bravery is the one thing which / stands in opposition to German
 victory in Russia and complete domi-
 nation of that mighty nation by the } Huns.
 With their backs to the wall and a
 price on their heads the scattered 4 Czecho-Slovak armies are holding
 Russia until aid comes from the AL
 lies to nurse the sick Russian bear
 back to health and lightning trim. In Siberia, in Rumania, in Greece,
 in Serbia, in Macedonia, in France, in = Belgium, in Italy these martyrs of |, liberty are fighting to free their race
 from Teuton domination and every where with the same bravery that d marked the band which perished in ] the Carpathian snows with ten dead Gernnns around each one s What the Czecho -Slovaks are con- , tributing to the cause of world democ- ? racy will not be known until after l, the war, but it will go down in his
 tory as one of the most dramatic and
 heroic battles in the worlds history 6 These men are fighting to restore II the Russian battle front and if they | Ioor n c American soldiers on the western
 front.
 They have no national government tt to help them and are dependent upor q the Allied nations for, aid.
 To succor their wounded, to give
 them the comforts that are being law Ie ished upon the other allied armies, i
 the object of the Czecho- -Slovak wa 'r fund which is to be raised in the Uni
 ted States in a national campaign, be q ginning on September 16 Bridge 'l ports quota of this fund Is $5O,000. )r Bridgeport will miss a great patri otic opportunity if it does not largel oversubscribe this fund.
 How often the remark has beel
 made "If only Russia could get bacI ,S into the fight again Germany woul be whipped in short order.' We1 n- that is just what this fund is for, t aid the Czecho-Slovaks in rousing tn
 Russian bear to the ltack and ire 'K- great Russia from the domination C to the Huni
 on The fund has the active support ( he the national government, the Stat 2 Council of Defense and the Bridgepo he War Bureau.
 ,p- It is a great opportunity to help g will Russia back into the fight {! lc-