The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-08-10
Am IONS Battle Again As
Sain Tries To End Revolt
wom1 Armed With Rifles
AnRevolvers Put Forth
Evy Effort To Block
Faist Advance
d CHARLES NORMAN
(Asa6afaJ prase CR.fe Vita

(Asshated Press Staff Writer)
Tn Amazon, fierce female
warrF depicted by ancient writ
ers, is her modern counterpart
in SIN, where women enrolled to
defeH the Popular Front govern
mengagainst the Fascist rebels
are wing good account of them
selv} under fire.
Dpatches from the mountain
passes guarding Madrid report
won en- armed with rifles and re-
volRrs fought like tigresses to
blodk the Faciss advance. while in
citi's loyal to the Leftiss govern
me1t ehey have organized armed
str1et patrols 10 maintain order,
freeing the men for from. service.
The courage and devotion to
duty shown by Spanish women re-.
call the military exploits of female
warriors of the past. the Amazens
of antiquity, Joan of Arc, Molly
Pitcher, of Revolutionary fame,
and the far-famed but ineffective
battalion Of Death" formed to
defend the winter palace of the
car in revolutionary Russia.
Legendary Warriors
The Amazons were a Legendary
nation of female warriors dwell
ing in an Independent kingdom on
the Euxine sea. Old writers credit
them with successful invasions of
Scythia, Thrace, the coasts of
Asia Minor, and the islands of
the Aegean, even penetrating to
Arabia, Syria and Egypt. No men
were suffered in their kingdom,
although once a year, to prevent
their dying out, they visited the
Gargareans, a neighboring tribe.
Male children were put to death
or returned to their fahers; fe-
male children were brought up as
Asnazons.
Some writers regard the story
of the Amazons as pure fiction !:
others see historical foundation
for it. The sixteenth century
Spanish explorer Orellana report
ed tribes Of fighting women in
South America.
The story of Joan OF Arc, who
led the French soldiery against
the English, is well known. while
America has her gallant woman
soldier-patriot in Molly Pitcher,
whom Washington made SER
geant for her bravery against tho
British.
Aided French Revolt
Dahomey, a colony in French
West Africa, maintained female
battalion as part of the regular
army. The women soldiers were
seen by Sir Richard F. Burton,
translator of arabian Nights" in
1862, when hey numbered $500.
During the French revolution
the women of Paris armed them
selves and marched on Versailles
and it was they who formed the
guard for the royal prisoners to
prevent their escape. Women's
battalions also were formed in the
provinces during the revolution.
The Battalion of Death" made
up of women in uniform, was or.
ganized by the Kerensky govern
ment after the downfall of the
car. and not by the Bolsheviks, as
is generally supposed. The bat
talon functioned until the Octo-
Der revolution when the reds seized
power. The women soldiers CAPT
tulated in the face of certain an
initiation. In the Russia of . TO-
day women may enter military
academies for the study of tech
meal subjects like engineering and
communications. According to the
Soviet consulate in New York City
there are no regiments of women
in the red army.
The present Russian ambassador
to Sweden. Nine. Alexandra Kol-
lantay won her fame as a fighter
during the revolution.