The Omaha Sunday
women
1
Ugion of Death' a Regiment
How They Are Fighting in the Trenches Side by
Side with the Men, Undergoing All the Hardships
of War, and Being Promoted to Lieutenants.
Captains and Colonels Through
FROM time to time alnee the great
war began report! bare leaked
through , of women fighting in
the trencbea aide by aide with their
huabanda, broth era and kver or eltnplr
their own countrymen. . Theae report
have been received with more or less in
credulity. ' It did not aeena poaarble that
women ould undergo the hardahlpa, the
complete rereraai of all their habita and
the primitive, tnannera that neceeiarily
accompany trench life.' .
' Incredulity ' haa, lowerer, giren way
before actual official reporta of women
decorated and promoted for bravery on
the battleflelda. ,' It aeema now that in
Europe the women actually do put on
the uniform of the men, fight, not only
in trencbea, but in the cavalry, and in
very way measure up to the atandard
of a aoldler. '
Indeed, they are harder to conquer, it
aeema, than the men. ' A recent aeml
offlclal report from Petrograd mentioned
that the Raaaiana were aurprlaed, when
they captured a line of trenhe along the
Bzura River in Poland, to And a number
of German women among their oaptlvea.
Theae women were found In the very
firat line, with hot rtfiea ettll In their
handa. .
"There waa much more difficulty In
making theae women prlaonera than the
men." reported the officer in charge of
toe victora, , "They would not aurrender
until after all their men comradea had
thrown down their arma, and they taunted
the men with cowardice. Theae women
were pot at all heavy, unsexed peaaanta. -Some
of tbera ahowed all the in ark a of
refinement. Inquiry developed that only
a few had donned the uniform becauae
aome loved one waa in their company. "
The majority had enlisted beonuse . of i
pure patrtotlam.
"I waa told, that the German author!- ,
tlea," aald the officer in charge of the
vie tore, "do pot openly encourage enllot
mrnt by women, but they do wink at It.
The men In the trenchea, the officers
know perfectly well that thla aod that
aoldler la a woman, but they prtend nut
to know It officially,"
The Ruaalana could not have been aur-'
priaed at eeelng women aoldlera, however,
becauae hundreda of women are appa
rently fighting In the ariplea of the Ciar,
Mme. Alexandra Koudaaheva la the
moat dlatingutahed woman aoldler in the
Ruaalan army. She command tb Sixth
Ural Oonnaolc Regiment, which haa, cov
ered itself with bonora In many battlea In
Eaat Pruatla. Wounded twice, Mme.
Koudaahera beara the Croaa of St.
Oeorge, that ia given only for exceptional
bravery, and many orders of Inferior sig
nificance. 8he is back again to her regi
ment, which consists of msny Cossack
woman volunteers, though the majority
of the aoldlera are men. A few more suc
cessful battles aod Mme. Koudaslieva
will be promoted to a general..
When the war began Mcie. Koudaahera
entered the army as a volunteer. She
distinguished herself in daring raids on
the Herman uctana, and waa made a
lieutenant, and soon thereafter a colonel
of the same rerfment in which ber hus
band had served years ago.' During the
two months that she has. acted as a com- s
mander of the regiment aha haa given
proof of 'exceptional strategic glfta and
courage. She haa never stood behind,
but always In front, of ber men. Natural
ly, no man to be surpassed by a
woman, and this haa given her company
a reputation for unusual bravery.
Colonel Koudasheva la by no means a
eml-barbarlc adventurer or a Salome
who revela in bloodshed. She ia a lady
of highest culture and refinement. , He
aides being a talented poet and brilliant,
writer, abe ia a fine musician and a pas
alonate lover of sports. She haa made
twice a trip on horseback from China,
through Manchuria, Siberia and Kuropean
Russia to Petrograd. She made the
trip alone, and passed the most danger,
oua deserta of the two continents with
out having bad any great difficulties. '
"I have felt Juat aa safe in the wildest
deserta of Siberia, as I do on the atreeta
of Moscow or Petrograd, simply because
I have the absolute conndenre In my abil
ity to command the man. regardlesa do I
,tneet him In a fashionable aocletv of a big
,city, or aa a highway robber to the wild
est wilds. A woman if she only knows
iher feminine powera--can, conquer any
man." thua writes Mme.. Koudaabeva la'
Iher "Diary of Ride Throurti Siberia."
' Tbla la how aha wrltea in a letter to a
friend In New York of one of ber ad-'
ventures while abe waa still a lieutenant
and was out to ascertain the strength of
the enemy at night i -
"It waa a ghastly, moonlight nlgut of
the Fait A "bleak wind whistled and
bowled around the ruins of ha village, ia
So
of Servian Women at Rifle Practice Before Being Sent to the Front Agaimt
the Autro-Lerman Forced.
which there had been ao much human
Joy before and so much mlaery aftor. I
waa riding with a company of twenty-five
men to trace the retreating enemy.
Though the amphltheatrlp Mile that rose
before ua seemed dead and bare, yet
mysterioua flashes of light appeared
here and there, like magic signals. They
warned ua of the hidden batteries of the
enemy. As we galloped on, I could aee
the road strewn with broken boxes,
1 ST f
t
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f-K.
Stanialawa Ordinska,
the Poliah League of
Been Promoted
Bravery at
knapsacks, household implement. d'ai
horses and men which the cnemr had
left behind In bis hurried retreat.
"Excellency, whispered my orderly,
'I see there beyond the hill a moving dot.
It's probably the head of a "dady" (aa we
called the Germans). Aa we were In the
shadow of the niina, we could discern
distinctly the bare field In the moonlight.
Before ua was the first line of the
trenchea of the enemy. I pulled my rifle
and aimed. A ahot. The dot became a
black figure that rose and staggered and
fell, it waa a distance of 150 steps, and I
could aee how a gray ribbon of trenchea
etretched In both directlona before ua a
ribbon that always fssclnatea and yet
frlghtena becauae It la the home of death.
Mre black dota were visible, moving ia
... ,
' v v ' v ; - -v x f'
I
v
do
TS UIW the
Their Bravery
the direction where the one before bad
fallen.
"Little by little I could aee dots in
every direction beyond the ribbon. A
few figures climbed out and started run
ning toward us. "One, two, three!' I
whispered and then followed a salvo from
ay men. The figures either fell or ran
back behind the ribbon. From behind a
hill flashed a light and then the battery
of the enemy opened fire at the village
where we were. It was the machine
guns. 'Nu-ka, Mlaha, tickle the dadles,
Qulckl waa the humorous remark of one
of my soldiers to me. We must have
killed and wounded a hundred or more.
Then we turned around and rode away,
without having lost a single man and
without having any men wounded."
Mme. Colonel Koudaaheva is a student
of soldier psychology on the battlefield,
as Is shown in another letter.
"When you feel the invisible fingers of
fate so close to your life, as on the bat
tlefield, the problema that interest you
before and the feelings tnat you expert-
M 1
ence In a peace
ful feminine ac
tivity die out
and a new view
opena. it is not
the feeling of
sport, it Is not
the feeling of
being killed,
that takes hold
of the mind on
the battlefield,
but it la a
queer, dramatic
hypnose, like
an actor, feels
before opening
a play.
"It all seams
a huge cosmic
play a stern
tragic pano
rama of life
but atlll a play.
The whole
human organ
ism aeema to
work against
all laws of
a Woman Soldier in
Austria Who Has
to Sergeant for
the Front.
nature, for,
though you stay in the cold and. rain
day and night, yet you catch no old, no
ailments that are uaual in everyday life."
Mme. Colonel Koudaaheva may require
a atrlct discipline of her inferiors, but she
never applies any punitive mea mires. She
commauds with, the moat polite words.
"Gentlemen, please, would you do me the
favor" la her usual command to the aol
dlera. "My boys and girla go to any fire
without any forcible measures." she
writes. "I just need to hint at an Instruc
tion, and already it ia carried out. I
have taught them not to shoot with hate,
but to leve the man they shoot. And they
do love, which ia proven by an incident
when once we chaaed the enemy into a
river and when we saw that they would
be drowned we all went to pull them out.
Copyright. 1111. bv the Star Company.
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Servian Women Recruits for the "Legion of Death" Receiving First
Instructions After Enlistment.
and thua saved a whole company."
Another Russian heroine is Natalie
Tychnlnl, a high school girl of Kier, who
haa received the decoration of the Order
of St. George for distinguished service at
the front. She had arrived at Opatow
among a detachment of colunteers tor the
campaign against the Austriana. She
waa dressed like a man, and pasaed for
a remarkably handsome boy. She waa
detailed to carry ammunition to the
trenches. She waa In the hottest fire
and waa wounded twice. The Russians
were forced to retire, and she waa left
lying on the field.
The Austrian Red Croaa workers found
her.
"Why. thla la a woman!" exclaimed
the Austrian surgeon who examined her.
The Auatrlana nuraed her. When the
Huaalana again took Opatow she was
atlll In a hospital. She waa recaptured
by them and aent back to Kier. where
she waa given her bonora.
Austrian women are also fighting Stefa
Pa Ilea la a young Croatian who enlisted
with her husband in the same regiment.
In thla caae her ex waa well known, and
she waa not forced to uae men'a clothea.
She haa already been made a corporal for
her bravery In the field.
A almllar caae ia that of Stanlslawa
Ordinska. who enlisted, masquerading; aa
a man, in the Polish legion for Aus
tria. She waa made a eergeant -for
bravery ahown at the front before it
waa discovered ahe waa a woman. Then
she waa allowed to keep her rank and
her gun.
One of the moet intereatlng bodies of
x.oraen aoldlera la the Serbian organize
Hon called the "Leg la Smlrtl." or le
gion of Death.
The Legion of Death ia composed of
women who have been trained in the
uae of firearms and In the acience of war.
In the Balkan tStates, where women
frequently fellow their husbands through-
Ortat Brltajn Rlajite Rjrvi
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out military cam
paigns, acting as
pack-carriers, camp
attendanta, and even
as trench-diggers and
sappera when neces
sary, it is not unusual
for them to take their
places beside their
huabanda or their
lovers on the firing
line. There are many
expert rifle shots
among them, many
indeed who are ca
pable of taking
men's places under necessity. Accus
tomed to attack In solitary places, and
more or less Inured to bereavement, a
kind of grim quiet follows them wnerever
they are seen.
The Legion of Death Is recruited from
sll classes of women, from the wives
of rich merchants to the wives and
daughters of peasants. This Amazon
corps had Its origin in the patriotic en
thusiasm of a woman sixty-two years
old, whose husband died for Serbia in
the war for liberty against the Turks.
The women handle the regulation rifles
and are held In deadly fear by the Aus
triana and Germans.
Indeed, it seems that on both aldea
the aoldlera dread the women soldiers
more than they do those of their own
sex.
Kipllng'a "The female of the peciea
la more deadly than the male," recalls
Itself, of course. Dr. Hans Hulduckson.
writing of this same phenomenon, said:
"Women are not natural combatants.
They do not rush into war for war's sake.
Tbey are without the blood lust that
makes fighting a Joy for fighting's sake.
Tbey w ill fight only. In desperate straits,
and then only for their honor, their chil
dren or the exltitent-e of their country.
Standing at one of tbeae last dltchea,
J i
if' u
Mme. Colonel
Alexander
Koudaaheva
Who Commands
he Czar's
Sixth Ural
Cosaack
Regiment
of Which One
Fourth of
the Soldiers
Are
Women.
Mme. Colonel Koudaaheva
Showing the Trousers and
Typical Male Dress She Wears
n the Battlefield.
however, they fight with the ferocity of
tigers. They do battle without rule or
reason -and to the death. An English
woman, who U endeavoring to organize
a company of women for military train
ing, said that ahe did not fear that they
would not flibt. but the fear was that
they might fight too fiercely. They are
the most cruel of combatants when they
so far overcome their native womanly
gentleness aa to enter Into combat.
"A aoldler of experience said that he
would rather fight a company of male
aoldlera than one woman eoldier. He ex
plained that woman is too resourceful
in the matter of weapons. War trana
forma woman the time Into a beast."
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