Evening star., 1940-01-04
Driven Into Battle
Under Secret Police
Guns, Say Russians
Firms Prisoners Tell
Of Bolshevik Force
Used on Own Troops
By LELAND STOWE,

BY LELAND STOWE,
ehicsgo Daily News Foreign CORRESPONDENT.
SOMEWHERE BEHIND THE
FINNISH EASTERN FRONT, Jan.
3 (delayed) (by radio).-We have
just heard the stories Of more
prisoners, these far removed from
the Karelian Isthumus where we
last talked with others of their COM
patriots. According to their own
words, thousands of the Soviet
Unions real proletarians, who had
been taken unframed from farms
and factories, have been driven to
fight against the Firms under the
threats Of their Bolshevik officers or
with the guns Of the o. G. P. U.
turned against their backs.
This testimony was not given
through a Finnish Interpreter but
was obtained by direct questioning
in the Russian language by an
American correspondent who has
lived for several years in Moscow.
These Is Red soldiers were In
small farm building, inclosed with
barbed wire, which serves as sani-
tation center and clearing house for
prisoners before they are transported
to a main camp much farther be-
hind the line.
Father Of Six . Prisoner.
The first prisoner interviewed was
80 years old, the father Of six chill
dren, and came from the province Of
Smolensk. His naked feet were ter
ribly cold and black and purple
from frostbite-so seriously that
both legs will probably have to be
amputated.
"They sent me out to fight with
ordinary shoes. That's how my feet
got Frozen" he said. Il had never
been in the army before, but two
months ago they took me out OF the
field. I had to leave my wife and
six children. They take you whether
you have many children or not.
Yes, they gave us soup and little
bread and that was supposed to
keep us happy. I never saw any
meat"
This Russian, who had obviously
suffered too much to have any reti-
cence about his experience, said he
had cared for horses in a baggage
car on the way toward the Finnish
frontier. Then he added:
Il didn't want to fight, but unless
you went ahead you got shot. If you
tried to go to one side they shot
at you. If you lay down in the
snow they stuck bayonet in you"
We talked next to young Jewish
doctor who looked not at all like
a doctor in any Western country.
He stated that he had heard OF
such cases, but had never seen any.
Later, we came to another prisoner.
He had a round head, a wrinkled
face, and eyes which frightened up
to make one forget the apelike cast
of his features. They hit me over
the head with a revolver because I
did not want to go forward" he
said. Then he pointed ruefully to
a large scab where his scalp had
been slashed open. -,
Tried to Hide From Firms.
This old fellow may have been
half-ignorant peasant, but he had
the manners of a born comedian
except when he talked of the fight.
"As soon as we saw the Firms at
tacking we always ran and tried
to hide in the woods" he explained
simply. They told us the Firms
would kill us if they took us pris-
oners, but finally we didn't care
what happened to u.s."
The most interesting man among
these prisoners was not a Russian
but a Sudeten German, aged %,
who had gone to Russia in 1881 be-
cause he could get no work In the
Sudetenland He came from Carls-
bad and he was far above the others
in intelligence Against his will ne
had been forced to join the Russian
army. He said the Russian prole-
tarians in his division had never
attended school for more than three
or four years at the most, but that
they did not believe that Finland
had been the aggressor in this war.
"The Russian soldiers do not talk
about the war;" he said. They just
march on. In my railroad car when
we came up there were 60 men, but
only about 80 had ever used a gun
before. had never fired a gun IN
my life and I never fired my rifle
once after we got to the front. When
we were ordered to fight I would
find a stone or tree and lie down
behind it, but I never fired shot
Driven Into War.
This Sudeten conscript declared
that the Russian soldiers had no
interest in the speeches OF their
political commissars. They merely
u