Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-22
Wounded in Action, She
RecoUers Consciousness
in Hospital, Where She
Is Tisited by Alexander
Kerensky, Who Presents
Her With FLOWERS
THIS STARTS THE STORY


In the summer of 1917 Maria
Botchkareva founded the Battalion
of Death, a woman's fighting unit in
the Russian army, and a peasant
girl thus entered the international
hall of fame This is her story. In
earlier installments she told of the
hardships Of her childhood, the bru-
taiities of her married life, and the
realization of her wish to become
soldier. She told of battles fought
and won and of the Generalization
of the army following the overthrow
of the Car. 1t was to shame the
men into action that she formed
the battalion and that prompted her
to lead her woman soldiers over the
top while the men were l.esitating.
They followed her until two lines
were taken. and as she was about
to make another attack, word came
that the Ninth Corps was holding a
meeting and debating whether or
not to advance.
AND HERE 1T CONTINUES
WIE WERE struck by the news IS
w II by some colossal weight. 1t was
crushing, unimaginable, unbelievable.
Here we were, several hundred
women, officers. men--ali on the brink
Of a precpice, in momentary danger
OF being surrounded and squeezed out
OF existence. And there. within a verst
or two, were they, thousands of them,
with the fate Of our lives. the fate Of
this whole movement. nay. the fate,
perhaps, Of all Russia. in their hands.
And they were celebrating,
Where was Justice? Where was
Brotherhood? Where was manhood
and. decency?
How can you leave your comrades
and those brave women" the corman-
der appealed to them, ''to certain de-
struction? Where is honor and right
and comradeship?"
The officers begged, implored their
men to go forward as our calls for
help grew more and more insistent.
There was no response. Then men
said they would defend their positions
in case of a German attack. but would
not participate in any offensive opera.
ton.
II was in these desperate circum-
stances, as | was rushing about from
position to position. exposing myself
to bullets in the hope that l might be
struck dead rather than see the COL
lapse Of the whole enterprise, when
I came across a couple sneaking be-
hind q trunk of a tree. One of the
pair was a girl of the battalion, the
other a soldier. They were making
love!
This was even more overpowerng
than the deliberations Of the Ninth
Corps, which doomed US to annihila-
ton. 1t was sufficient to drive one
mad. Ny mind failed to comprehend
such q thing at a moment when we
were trapped like rats in the enemy's
wise. My heart turned into raging
caldron. In an instant / bounced
upon the couple.
I ran the bayonet through the girl.
The man took to his heels before I
could strike him, and escaped.
There being no immediate prospect
for the conclusion OF the debate in the
Ninth Corps, the commander ordered
US to save ourselves by retreat. The
difficult task was that of eXtricating
ourselves without being detected by
the Germans I had first one group go
back some distance and stop, and then
another and a third group do the
same, until we reached almost the
VI Lie rest. II was d SLOW
and perilous job, full of anxious mo-
ments during the sniftings of the line,
but everything went along smoothly
and there was hope.
Our line was drawn in and we were
preparing for the final dash when ter
rifying shouts of "Hurrah!" suddenly
rang out, almost in unison, on both
fianks. We were half surrounded
Another quarter of an hour and the
net would have been drawn tight
around us. There was no time to lose.
l ordered a freefor-all run.
The German artillery increased in
violence and the enemy's rifles played
havoc with us from both sides. I ran
for all I was worth several hundred
feet, until knocked unconscious by the
terrific conclusion of a shell that
landed near me. My adjutant, Lieu
tenant Filippov, saw me fall, picked
my body up and dashed with it
through the devastating fire, the Ger
man trench system, the open space
that was No Mans Land before the
offensive and into the Russian
trenches.
There the Ninth Corps was still de.
n~A