Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-10
THIS STARTS THE STORY


In the summer of 1917 Maria
Botchkareva startled the world by
forming the Battalion of Death, n
woman's fighting unit in tt Russian
army, and right then a Russian
peasant girl marched into the Inter
national Hall of Fame. In the ear
lier installments of this story she
told of the hardships of her child
hood, the brutalities of her married
life, and the determination to be-
come a soldier, which was realized
by the special permission of the
Car. In many battles she wins the
respect of her comrades; when she
Is wounded they are grieved; when
she returns from the hospital they
are jubilant.
AND HERE 1T CONTINUES
The commander had. in his order of
the day, stated the fact OF my return
and promotion. He furnished me an
orderly to show me the way to the
trenches. Again was hailed by every.
body as | emerged from the dugout
OF the commander of the company,
who had placed me in charge of a pla.
toon of seventy men. In this capacity
1 was to keep an inventory of the
supplies and equipment of my men, for
which purpose l had a soldier perform
the duties of a clerk.
Our positions were on the hank of
the Styr, which is very narr~w and
shallow in that section. On the oppo-
cite bank were the German trenches.
Several hundred feet from us was a
bridge across the stream thai had been
left intact by both sides. At our end
of it we maintained post while the
enemy kept a similar watch at the
nnnnSita nnd lina hoaa,tga nf
irregularity of the rivers course, was
extremely zigzagged. The Germans
were very active at mine.throwing.
However, the mines travelled SO slowly
that we could take to cover before they
fell on our side. My company occu-
pied a position close to the enemy's
first line.
l had not spent month in the
trenches when local battle occurred
which resulted in my capture by the
Germans. They had conducted their
mine-throwlng operations for a period
of about twelve days so regularly that
we grew accustomed to them, expect
ing no attack. Besides, 1t was after
the fighting season, and the cold was
intense.
One mornig about o'clock, when we
had turned in for our daily sleep, we
were suddenly awakened by a tremen.
dous "Hurrah!" We nervously seized
our rifles and peeped through the loop.
holes. Great heavens! There, within
100 feet of us, in front ana in the
rear. the Germans were wading the
Styr! Before we had time to organize
resistance they were upon us, cap
turing 500 of our men. l was i'm the
batch taken.
We were brought before the German
.NaSf fx... ....
was grilled with questions, intended TO
draw out valuable military informa-
ton. Threats were made to those who
refused to disclose anything. Some
towards among us, especially those of
non-Russian stock, gave away impor.
tant facts. As the test was proceeding
our artillery on the other side opened
up a violent bombardment of the Ger.
man defenses. 1t was evident that the
German commander did not have many
reserves, as he made frantic appeals by
wire for support. 1t required quite a
force to keep us under guard and even
a larger force to take us to the rear
AS the enemy mOmentarily expected a
Russian attack, he decided not to send
us away before help arrived.
$50 I am a German prisoner"
thought. "How Unexpected There is
still hope that the boys on the other
side will come to our rescue. Only
every minute Is precious. They must
hurry or we are lost Here. my turn
Is coming. What will tell them?
must deny being a soldier and invent
some kind of a story"
II am a woman and not a soldier
/ announced as soon as was called.
? Are you of noble blood?" was
asked.
YES" I answered, simultaneously
deciding to claim that l was Red
Cross nurse dressed in mans uniform
in order to pay a visit to my husband
an officer in the front line trenches.
Have you many women fighting ir
the ranks?" was the next question.
II don't know. l told you that
was not soldier"
What We're you doing in the
trenches. then?"
II came to see my husband, who
is an officer of the regiment"
why did you shoot. then? The sol
diers tell that you shot at them"
IT did It to defend myself. I was
afraid to be captured. serve as 6
Red Cross nurse in the rear hospital
and came over to the fighting line fol
visit"
The Russian fire was growing hotter
every minute. Somes of our shells
wounded not only enemy soldiers bu
several of the captives. Noon hat
arrived, but the Germans were too
nervous to eat their lunch. The ex
pected reserves were not Forthcoming
and there was every sign of a fierc'
counter-attack by our troops.
At 2 o'clock our soldiers went owe
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