Evening star., 1920-03-03
CzECHS WONDERING
AS THEY co HOME
Few Who Served in Siberia
Had News From Native
Land During War.
BY HIRAM X. MODERWELI.
Special Correspondence Of The Star
and the Chicago Daily News.

I iSh green. and covered with a long.
!, Russian looking overcoat. They are
iCzechoslovak troops. returning from
Siberia, after five years of strange ad- |
ventures. Commanded by Lieut.. Col.
| Kutlvass. they arrived yesterday on
the Japanese steamer Yonan Maru.
having come from Nladivostok by way |
of Singapore and the SueZ canal. This |
afternoon they entrained for home. J
and on Sunday they will be in PraGu' |
| Most of these men have not heard
! from home since the early months of
the war. One man had card from
his brother in 1916. but he was the eX-
ception.
Il don't know whether she's alive
private. But the four children Will
be almost grown up by this time"
Another had had a sweetheart. whom
he had almost persuaded to marry him
when the war came.
But she will be waiting for you, l
suggested.
You think so?" he said with the
diSillusioned smile of one who has
seen much of the world It's easy to
forget when one is away. After five
years you have to start something
new"
Peaceful Bohemian Peasants.
l had always thought of these
Czechoslovak troops as romantic
minded heroes. like Robin Hood or Ro-
land. But talking with them l realized
that they were Bohemian peasants or
workmen. who never meant to be he
roes. They wanted to live with their
families and do their work in peace.
The war came and threw them into
the ARMY to defend the power that
tyrannized over them. This was in the
days when every one thought the war
would be over in three months.
1t is now nearly twice that number
of years and they are only now see
ing their homes again. They thought
the war was nearly over when the
Russians were sweeping the Austrians
before them in the fall of 1914. They
seized the first opportunity to sur
re nder. either individually or in
groups. Most of them We're sent to
the concentration camp in Kiev. Some
were given considerable freedom, even
becoming teachers and craftsmen in
various Russian towns.
When the first revolution came.
kerensky organized these Czech pris-
orers into fighting regiments. in or
der to Stiffen his own wavering lines.
There were nearly 100000 of them.
When the second revolution came and
the bolsheviki made peace with Ger
many their status became that of
prisoners of war and traitors 20 their
government. They could be shot on
sight when they went home. They de-
manded to be allowed to join the
fighting on the French front. Still
they were not seeking the role OF
heroes. They merely disliked being
stood against the wall by the Aus
trians and shot. Their only safety
was as soldiers. and the only place
they could function as soldiers was
with the allied armies. So they asked
leave of Trotsky to depart by way of
jEladivostok. and received it. They
set out across Siberia on trains pro-
| vided for them by the soviet govern
| ment.
! Proved Great Soldiers.
Just what happened then has not
even yet been made quite clear. The
| charge is commonly. made that the
bolsheviki deliberately aimed at sep
!aratinE the various Czech units and
i t!en annihilating them in detail. The !
| bolsheviki assert their certain knowl- |
! edge that the Czech soldiers were
used by the counter-revolutionary
forces to do what they eventually did
seize the trans-Siberian railway and
| cue off soviet Russia's supply of food
| and raw materials
! But what the Czech soldiers them
selves know is something as hard and
unmistakable as bullets. Many of
! them found themselves separated
from their comrades. Mysteriously
| their trains failed to proceed. Then
| the bolshevjki came and demanded
that they disarm and. the demand be-
| ing refused, ATTACKED Cnem.
Everywhere, in those skirmishes,
the Czech soldiers won. They were
then the best disciplined soldiers in
Russia. The bolsheviki had attacked
them. Under orders from the Czech
national council in Paris they re-
manned to fight the bolsheviki.
They went, some of them, with
Gaida and captured Perm. They de-
Tended important portions of the
great railway across Siberia and con-
1 rn11 1n1 oofi oil ~ %~.
time. They held the key to a great
|empire of endless wealth. No gov
ernment could exist in Siberia with
out their support They could have
any figure. They could have put them
selves at the head of a socialist gov !
ernment of the social revolutionaries !
and the mensheviki. They could have |
dictated terms to the bolsheviki gov !
ernment. for they held it's mines and |
its granaries. They could have be- !
come the dominant race in a new EN-. |
pire.
Desired Freedom and H0me.
But they did not want money. or |
| land. or power. They wanted only |
two things. |
They wanted to see Bohemia free.
They wanted to get home.
They supported the first Omsk gov !!
ernment, when 1T seemed to be dem |
ocratic. and wherever they went they |!
| chalk made dictator and royalist ten |
dencies too strong they said mo"
They consented to guard great por- !
tions Of the railroad against the boil |
sheviki until better times should
come. That was all.
For eighteen months this regiment
lived in boxcars in central Siberia.
Life was never safe. They were con-
tinually attacked, sometimes by boil
shevik regulars, sometimes by bands
gathered in the neighborhood. They
had pitched battles in which hun
dreds were killed on both sides. Their
trains would be derailed. or they
would find the tracks torn up or
bombs in critical places.
magnificent body of soldiers. Down
the streets of Trieste they march
ed, with uniforms spotless. their pay
onetted rifles at a precise angle and
their lines exact. At their head
oneted rifles at precise angie and
have ever heard. And with the band
marched Sonia.
Pony Pulls Bass Drum.
Sonia pulls the bass drum on cart
in parade. She is a pure bred Sibe
rian pony chocolate brown and with
an enormous neck. While the band
plays she is the best soldier in the
terror At the railway station, after
| the parade. she had dinner tied TO
shed But first she used her hoofs to
clear a semi-circle for herselt among
the onlookers. beginning at one side
and going, kick after KICK, around
to the other Sonia has been given
citizenship in the Czech republic
On the ship were the other regi-
mentaI mascots Kodya and Mischa, |