Evening star., 1937-09-12

1 w ONtdft . 4 tuIC
scrubbing, camp toiling orderlies, san
itation, serving and, of course, hos
pital duty.
The high degree of selectivity nee
essary is emphasized in bill which
! Czech war minister is preparing for
submission to Parliament. This bill
is aimed at placing women nominally
on the same footing as men in so-far
as military service is concerned. Yet
only such women will be taken as
have. no children, have no one to sup
/ port, are physically and morally sound,
| are 80 years old or under. and, as far
/ as 1t is possible, are unmarried.
| The proposal is to use the resultant
recruits exclusively in the admins
trative services and behind the lines.
President Benes has horror of
Amazons at the front or in the air
in fact, anywhere save in the purely
auxiliary, non combatant branches.
But in this realm he wants women
badly in order that men may be freed
| to swell the ranks of an army more
/ AAhtts bioh liiOoL w DC III tllt III 81
heat of any new conflict Czechoslo-
vakia may have 100000 inhabi-
tants-but many millions OF these,
among the Slovaks and Sudeten-
deutsch. can hardly be counted as
reliable material
Czech Women Healthy.
The last democratic island in Cen
tral Europe. surrounded by five states
that are either openly covetous and
hostile or the distinct reverse of
come hither," the Prague Republic
needs every defensive ounce it can
secure. Fortunately, its women are
fine and healthy tribe
The three authoritarian" great
! powers have different ways Of looking
at the subject. although each takes
hold of its girlhood from very early
| years. Italian girls go through all
the Ballila gradings from years of
age to II, wear uniforms OF kind.
submit to training and discipline. So
| do the Hitler Maidens," or the fem
nine element Of the Hitler Youth. Not
to be outdone, Moscow has ordained
'pre-conscription training for boys
and girls from 8 up:
"A minimum of 100000 juvenile
sharpshooters Zone reads. 10000 air
and chemical defense experts and
10000 young airplane constructors
are to be trained by the end of this
year. In addition. it is proposed that
the whole of the 5000. 900 Pioneers
Soviet Boy and Girl Scouts between
and 16--shall be put through tests
IN three military special subjects be-
fore November 7, the twentieth an
niversary Of the republic Among
the subjects for instruction are sharp
shooting, cavalry, naval warfare, COM
munications topography, airplane
building, defense against air and gas
attacks, and the breeding of dogs and
carrier pigeons"
Soviet Stand Explained.
Some confusion has been occasioned
oy decree dlSsolving women's bat
tailons on the ground of their per-
nicious effect on the morals of the
Red soldiery and because such units
are useless from the military point
OF view. Their (the women's) place
Is at home in the kitchen and darning
SOCKS. This was widely taken to
mean that the Soviet had tried the
Women-soldler idea and found it want
ing. Such is hardly the case. What
was being suppressed were the aI-
woman bsttalions. incorporated in
normal divisions beside men. There
Is no intention of deleting the young
Soviet women, running into scores of
thousands, who are qualified to serve
in specialized ways.
AS an instance, the "Voroshiloy
Sharpshooter" badge is worn by
100000 young Russians. women as
well as men. Again. young women
parachutists are numbered by the
Thousand, and this is a novel form
very dear to the heart of the Red
army stah. Or one might cite that in
Moscows and Leningrads "children's
infantry regiment" girls up to is are
accepted as we'll as boys-though un-
| der protest from the latteri
1t amounts to this: Some time ago
1000 wives of Soviet army officers
convened in the Kremlin to discuss
schemes for increasing the efficiency
and scope of the u. S. S. RS women's s
army, and they became hysterical
ABOUT it, At the time officers wives
could provide among themselves 25. 900
nurses, 5000 air defense experts
$4,000 snipers and 1000 horsewomen.
Ihat wasn't considered enough by
any manner of means Speakers got
all worked up
Are we, women of Soviet Russia,
going to stay at home cooking and
sewing While our men die at the
front? Or busying ourselves with
charity affairs. like the women in
rotten mourgeois countries? Our place
is out there fighting the Fascist
enemy! Our children will be looked
afterl"
Actually, it seems to have been even
more frenzied than that. 1t is upon
this wild notion of red women surging
into the battle line that the Soviet
commander in chief has. put his veto.
He does not envisage his mighty host
in action on the same terms as the
Spanish government militia, hastily
thrown together from all sources
rather as highly masculine and dis