Evening star., 1939-03-18

ton freed of Austria and Hungary.
Thirty years ago, with this anti
Germanism deeply ingrained il
him, Vladimir Hurban left his ma.
tive Slovakia after learning ths
business of soldering and put him.
self at the disposal of Russia. Fol
five years he taught military tactic.
in st. Petersburg. Under the sur
face, significant things were hap
pening in Slovakia and Bohemia
The groundwork was being broker
for Czech and Slovak independ
ence, which had been lost almos
300 years before, following tn
Thirty Years War.
Cast Lot with Allies.
When the World War broke out
Hurban's sympathy, and the sym.
pathies of almost all Czechs, iaA
with the Allies, as against Ger.
many, and with their fellow Slavs
the Russians and the Serbians
Hurban volunteered for service in tn
Russian army. Gradually the Czech
strength in the Cars forces at.
tanned considerable size, for Slo.
vakian and Moravian troops in tn.
Austrian armies made it a practic.
to slip across the Carpathians anc
join the Russians. and Czech prison.
erS became Muscovite soldiers.
BY the time of the Russian Revo
luton, the Czechs in the Russian
armies numbered about 10000. Theil
relations with the Kerensky gov.
ernment which followed the czaristi
regime was at first pleasant unit
HurbAn and other Czechs fell ou
with Kerensky because he woull
not permit the Czechs to fight a.
unit. Later, Hurban termed Ker
ensky an "aSS."
The second Russian Revolution
the overthrow of Kerensky and tn:
establishment of Bolshevism as thu
ruling force In Russia, brought new
problems to Huzban and his Czect
fellows in Muscovy. It also pre-
cipitated the most adventurous per.
iod of Hurban's life.
Treaty Brings Complications.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
which the Russian Communist gov.
ernment reached with Germany
made the Czech soldiers position
in Russia anomalous. They coule
not well continue their fight agains
the Central Powers. And they hae
to face the added problem of tn.
freed German prisoners in Russia
who gained great influence over thu
Bolshevist rulers.
The Czechs, under these circum
stances, began their long AM
famous trek toward Vladivostok
where they meant to depart from
Russia. For. Hurban every step o.
that journey heightened his dis
taste for Germans. He was as con.
temptuous Of them then as he i.
today. In an interview which h,
gave in New York in 1918 he said:
Word was sent to us in the nam,
Of the Austrian Emperor that i
we would cease fighting and sur
render, the autonomy of our coun'
try would be recognized. We an
swered that we knew no such per
son as the Austrian Emperor"
The Germans in the Ukrain'
sneered at the Czech force, Hurbal
reported. But he and his fellow
armed themselves by buying rifle
at 10 cents apiece from the soldier
in the Red Guard. They obtained
machine guns for as little as 80 cent
and 3-inch guns for IS. When the,
had marched 100 miles east of Kie,
the capital of the Ukraine, they me
German troops in battle. The Ger
man commander, after four days
asked for a 48-hour truce, and
with the acquiescence of the Rus
sian government, Hurban and tn
other Czechs renewed their progress
toward the Pacific Ocean, abou
5000 miles away.
Hurban was 81 days on the jour
ney. Its purpose was to enable tn
Czech soldiers to proceed by boa
from Vladivostok to France an,
there renew their fight for the Allie.
AS 1t turned out, most of the Czecl
troops remained in Russia almos
until the Armistice, rendering nj
the German strength in the countr,
and German attempts to make tn
Russian government an active forc'
for the central powers.
Captured Trains for Journey.
In New York later Hurban gav'
this report Of the manner of tn,
Czech progress across Siberia:
Whenever we found out ther,
was train, we got hold of q loco
motive and put 10 or Is of our boy
armed with machine guns on 1t, ant
sent it to meet the train. We tolt
the Bolsheviks that we would shoe
if the train were not turned over t.
us. That was all that was neces
sary. Then we would I'LL the cap
tured train with our troops"
When Hurban reached Vladivos
tok on the Pacific, In early 1918, h
was a member of the local commit
tee of the National Czech Council
The World War was still in progress
the provinces which later made u
Czecho-Slovakia were still part O
Austria Hungary; but Thomas Ma
saryk, the Czech patriot, had estab
lished the council as the rallyinl
point for Czechs and the center O
opposition to the Austrian Empire.
Hurban and the Bolsheviks b,
then were inimical. But the Czech
held 5000 miles of the TRANSIT
berian Railway, from Irkutsk t.
Vladivostok, and the attempts o
Trotsky and Lenin to curb their in
fiuence were futile. Hurban reporte,
in the United States:
> "The danger In Siberia Is from
the Germans. The Red Guards o
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