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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1904)
The Men Behind the Russian Guns 7 T ' : ; 1 ... ,- , : -n . ?''T'ls ,1"' 1 ' ' . .'' !yg. - -Ph- v -V') ' - , V s -7 ' rv; MLS : -- ' ' . J ' w m ON TUB DKCK OP A (Copyright, 1904. hy T. C. Mcdtirp.) llllON Cotnmitndrr AlexandtT Hou- takoff, tho naval attache of th ItusHla crnhfipsy at WnpliinKton, was iufcirnifd thut ttio cruiser VariiiR liud been mink, Inntcid of having bren ciipturrd, ho Ha Id: "It la bi tter 8i. for If tho report that It liud ben taken by the Japuneno wiik true It would mean we had surrendered. V never mirrender." Of coin up, this was a pleoo of flamboyant imtrlotlmn verKlnK upon boantfulnesH; but It oxpreBHrd, with fair accuracy, the pplrlt Uhlih dominates the cunr's soldiers and Bailors There are cowards among the JtUBHla.m, us there are among all peoples, but their number Is very umall. There ara urrenders In Russia's military history, but they are few. Tho Russian soldier has been much mtg. represented In this country, lie is sup posed to be simply a dull, heavy-wltted peasant, devoid of nil spirit and patriotism, a clod who Is driven Into tho ranks on peril of the knout, and kept there by brutal offi cers who are nothing better than s'ave drlvers. Thus, tho KusMnn army figures In the American mind as a machine-mad article destitute of Intelligence and of that . ardent plrlt which Is ewential to the wln ' Iilng of vlctoilcx, however great tho dis parity of the opposing forces may be. This view Is altogether incorrect. Com parisons arc odious, but there can be no question In the minds of men who know both armlefl. that Cerman discipline bears much more hardly npon the enlisted men than Russhin. Russian officers are usually beloved by their men; German officers cer tainly nro not. There Is probably no large army In the world In which the officers are more popular, as a general rule, than they are In the Russian service. This will surprise most people, but the reason Is plain. All government In Rucsla Is autocratic, nnd the soldiers have bi en brought up under the system. They learned the lesson of obedience from their earliest youth It Is the same with the nobleman and the general as it Is with the peasant. Everybody in Russia obeys, ex cept the rear and he has been rigidly trained to obey his conscience and his God. Therefore, when the ronscplpts are draftei Into the ranks they do not chafe under the discipline, strict though it may be. They accept It as a part of the natural and right order of things to which they have always been accustomed. It is Impossible for them to cherish bitterness against their officers, as do the soldiers of socialistic Germuny and other democratic countries. Of course, all this is not true of the con acripts who have lieen affected by tha teachings of the social revolutionary party, better known us the nihilists; but they are only as a drop In the bucket in the vast organization of the Russian army. An Immense gulf Is supposed to separate the nobleman und the peasant in Russia, the officer and the private sollder. In a measure that lb true; but at the rnme time there Is a keener sympathy, a greater com radeship between them than there Is be tween similar classes In any other country. In Russia the nobleman Kivts the bevgar the kiss of Christian fellowship, and the colonel asks the raw recruit all about t Is people There is no sense of ondeccen lon; It is a matter of course. Within their degrees, officers and men commonly strike up warm frl ndshtpa, Which often last for life. Most of the officers who go into the army from country estates are accompanied by some young peasant from the ancestral lands the son of an old family retainer who In his day acrved the officer's father when the latter was In the army. The young officer con trives to have the peasant enrolled in his troop or company, and they serve "together throughout their military career. Often they are foster brothers. General Bkobeleff, the greatest hero of the Russian army, had a favorite sergeant who had been with him in this manner from the days when he was a sub-lieutenant. This sergeant was killed at the storm- RUSSIAN CRUISKB. REPRESENTATIVE FIGHTERS OF THE CZAR'S NAVY. MEMBERS OF THE CREW OF A RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP. Ing of Genk Tepe, when Skobcleff won his great victory over the Turcomans. "Skobeleft was Inconsolable," said an offi cer who there at the time. "He had won a magnificent victory where other gen erals had failed. The Turcomans had bie.i utterly routed after a month's terrible fighting. Yet tho victor wept like a child when the news of the death of bia bumble friend was brought to him. Ho was niel uneholy for days, and could take no inter est In anything." Many peonle Imagine that the Russian soldier is not required to think for himself, and that any display of initiative or in telligence Is frowned upon, and somotlTe? even punished. This is not the fact. True, lie is not supposed to have his own Ideas regarding politics and military dlclpline; but the private soldier who thinks out the best way to do his work and shows energy In coping with new situations is the one who gets promoted In the Russian army . not the one who does absolutely nothing except obey orders. Skoheleff used to do all In his power to stimulate the intelligence of his suldltr.i. Any man who hit on a bright idea duiing a campaign could take It direct to Skobe leff, and if it seemed good to him he would adopt it, even though it might involve radical changes in bis plans. At tho siege of Geok Tepe, Bkobeleff would sit all day long at the mouth of one or other of the numerous mines, watching the progress of the sappers who were tun nelling undergtound In the direction of the fortress. If he noticed a sapper who worked with intelligence as well as muscle, and who thought out ways to lessen tho toll and increase the result, he would kiss and caress that sapper, and perhaps treat him to champagne or vodka. Hut he woul I roundly abuse the men who worked faith fully but stupidly. . This Is typical of the attitude of the Russian officers toward their men, be ca ise every Russian officer today tries to model himself on Skobeleleff. An enlisted man is not expected to oley all orde.s blindly when it is mani festly absurd to do so. He Is supposed to use his Intelligence and act for him self If the conditions were misunderstood by the officer giving the order, or if the conditions have changed since the order was given. Initiative Is always en couraged and promptly rewarded in the Russian service, whatever may be the rank of the man who displays It. The courage of the man behind the Rus sian guns has been amply proved time and again. No nation can point to heroic deeds of Its fighting men which cannot be paral leled from the annals of the Russian service. Englishmen are Justly proud of tho dogged pluck of Moyse, Sir Francis Doyle's "drunken private of the Huffs," who, having fallen into the hands of the C'hlneso during the Opium war, was ordered, on pain of death, to perform the "roton" to a mandarin. He refused, saying that ho would not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive, whereupon he was Immediately knocked on the head, and his body thrown on a dunghill. That incident has almost an exact parallel In the behavior of a soldier of tho I'ereslaff Dragoons, who was captured during the Khlvan campaign, and ordered to kneel before the khan, to whose "kibitka" (audience tent )ho was taken. "I only kneel to God and the Emperor," said the Russian. "Take him outside and flog him with leather whips," commanded the khan. It was done. After over a hundred strokes the man fainted. He was revived and taken back to the "kibitka," but again he refused to kneel or pay any kind or reverence to the enemy. Then the khan, mad with rage, sub jected him to a favorite Turcoman pun ishment. A sword was plunged Into a brarler until It was white hot and then passed In front of his eyes, nt the distance of about two Inches, burning away his sight forever. Still the Mind hero, in his agony, adhered to his resolution, until at last the khan drew a dagger and stabbed him to tho heart. This story is told to recruits in the Rus sian army as an example of the manner In which they should uphold the honor and prestige of Russia among its enemies. To teach tKem to be ready to sacrifice themselves cheerfully for the cxar, they are told of the heroic conduct of a com pany of Infantry In the Khokhandese cam paign. The artillery was badly needed at the front in one of the battles, but Its ad vance was stopped by a deep ditch. In stantly the foot soldiers threw themselves into the ditch and filled It up with their bodies, so tiiat the guns could gallop over them and engage the enemy. Dogged determination is the main char acteristic of the Russian soldier, as it is of the Russian nation. He is used to re verses and they make little impression on him. No soldiers have been more fre quently beaten than Hie ciar's. but in the majority of cases they have won In the end. Week after week and month after month their furious assaults on Plevna were repulsed with terrible lo-soes, but rievna was ultimately taken. No series of campaigns was ever mora disastrous than those against the Tur comans In the years from 1873 to 1879. Dur ing that long period the Russians had to bear up under an uninterrupted wries of reverses, which culminated In the crushing defc.it and rout of the Lazarcff-Eomakin expedition. Yet next year they took the field again, under Skobcleff, ns fresh and ready for fight as ever, and tiiey con quered the Turcomans in less than two months. A RETIRED RUSSIAN OFFICER. A 3Iodern Shrew A Philadelphia judge recently made a decision which proves that the shrew is Ftlll a very popular member of society. A locomotive engineer was arrested by his wlfo on tho charge of desertion and non support. The man admitted having made his escape, but testified that her nagging made it impossible for him to live with the woman, which was proved by other wit nesses. The Judge excused him from being: responsible for the support of his wife and commented as follows: "A man who has the core of hundreds of lives in his hands should be soothed Instead of annoyed when he comes home. Peace of mind is one of the essentials of careful workmanship at the throttle, and a wife, by pestering her husband, may endanger the lives entrusted to his keeping as an engineer." In days gone by shrews were publicly punished in divers ways designed to di minish their stock of self-conceit and boig terousness. In these days the disagree able wife who has missed her mission hera is often well received In divorce and other courts, where she Is frequently provided for at the expense of her better half. An exception so marked as that just cited la decidedly unusual. Baltimore Herald. What is Expected "How are you getting along with your project of organizing a breakfast food club?" asked Clarke. "Fairly only," replied Ttgg. "Tou see, I sent out a lot of tentative constitutions and by-laws, and I suppose the recipients have not yet fully digested their provi sions." "That's where you made your mistake, man," said Clarke. "Mistake? How?" "Such a club should have a prodlgesta4 constitution," was the answer.