Show Slav Slav Women Always Warriors Warriors' Russell RusselS Tells o of Old R Russia u ossia s s i a Forget Se Sex x in Fierce A Strife By Charles E dward Edward Russell Member of Telegram Staff Who nt Three Months In Russia With the Official American an Commission ERE In the tue United States H HERE many persons were greatly great great- ly astonished when they read that the Battalion of Death a regiment of women had actually gone to the Russian front drilled and trained to fight In the trenches like men We need not have been aston aston- There was nothing very novel about It Russian women had bad been fighting in tho tIm army ever since the war began When I was on my ray way from Vladivostok to Petrograd the subject subject subject sub sub- was Introduced convincingly to my attention by the vision of an armed woman soldier patrolling patrolling patrol ling the platform of a station at which we had stopped one morn morn- ing She wore the regular uniform of the Russian army with the number of her regiment done In yellow ellow on a red band at her shoulder shoulder shoulder der and very likely I should have not noticed It was a woman if it it hadn't been for her hair This was done up in a big yellow twist like a section 0 or at the back of her neck directly under her cap It must have been beena a remarkable mane she had Judging from the size of the roll it made The women who enlisted in the Battalion of Death had their hair clipped close to their l heads eads This woman and others I saw afterward afterward afterward aft aft- erward in the ranks still held to their long locks She marched up and down tho the platform exactly like the man soldier patrolling the other end and was utterly Indifferent to any staring attention she might re receive receive re- re from passing trains It was evident she was used to the service service ser ser- vice vico and its duties I HUNDREDS IN RANKS I asked a Russian officer with us liS on tho the train about this apparition apparition tion and he said it zt was a commonplace commonplace com corn sight He Ho said there were hundreds or women serving servo ing In the Russian ranks as regular regular regular reg reg- ular soldiers They had offered themselves for enlistment making mak ing no attempt to disguise their sex and the government had willingly taken them Without exception they made good soldiers sol aol diers and many of them had been decorated for acts of conspicuous courage I asked him what induced them to enlist Apparently he lie said it is because they want to fight tight They seem to be Interested in the war and want to take part in it I with some it is Is' Is sheer love of adventure but with t he most it is a patriotic impulse Some have lost their husbands Inthe in inthe inthe the war and enlist to take their husbands' husbands places Some I think are aroused by the falsehood that Russia Is to stop fighting and want to show that the old Russian Rus- Rus bian sian spirit is not dead That was what brought out the Battalion of or Deah you know Yes they are trained exactly exactly exact exact- ly Iy Use lie the men go through the same of instruction and have the same duties to do in the tho field No distinction is made In In fact when they go into the army they drop every consideration of their sex As a rule they are serious minded persons There is no skylark about their per per- They are in the army to fight I asked him what class they came from He lIe said they were mostly peasant women but there were women of all classes In the army He lIe said the only weakness the woman oman soldier developed was usually about her feet She could not stand stancl the tho long marches as aswell aswell aswell well as men Otherwise she could march fight dig trenches and handle machine guns as well as any of them There were authenticated authenticated authenticated au au- au- au cases he be said where women had bad to dangerous positions after men had retreated and he lie told me the story of ot one woman soldier who finding all her company compan officers had be been n I killed assumed tho the command rushed the company forward and I took a trench MOTHER COUNTRIES I This I found afterward was an anI Incident In the life of the woman that commands the Battalion of ot I Death The Tho Russian woman has often found more to do in this war than to sit at home and knit socks Of course she is now the conductor on all the street cars of Petrograd Moscow and other cities This Is I not so remarkable because women are doing such work In other belligerent belligerent bel I countries of ot Europe In Russia she Is working in the factories factories fac tac- tories laying pavements In the I streets building railroads becomIng becoming becom becom- ing a carpenter and machinist and learning other unusual trades At the town of Zima In Siberia a switch engine on an adjoining track came down past us as we were In the dining car for luncheon luncheon luncheon lunch lunch- eon and revealed the fact that the firing person on It was a woman She was dressed In greasy overalls overalls over over- alls ails and wore an old black cap above her hair which as In the case of ot the woman soldier was done up in some kind of a a knot a-knot knot at the nape of ot the neck She handled handle the coal shovel with neatness neatness neatness neat neat- ness and dispatch also I Judge with skill for Cor we were at that station station station sta sta- tion about an hour the engine kept steadily at its switching Job and she furnished all the firing When she wasn't handling the shovel she was ws sitting on the seat at the firemans fireman's side of the machine machine machine ma ma- chine and contemplating the tho world I with that air all of professional proCessional unconcern unconcern un un- un- un concern that the experienced railroad railroad railroad rail rail- I road man always has lias so I I gathered she was no new now hand In fact I know she wasn't because because be be- cause no one ono around the station I any attention to her Afterward Afterward After- After I ward we found that she was not the only woman firing person and no one In Russia now was as astonished astonished astonished as- as to see seo a woman engaged In any kind of w work rk that men could do I believe there are still those in the United States who are enough asleep to parrot the old talk talle about womans woman's place being the home They should take a few I trips through the warring countries countries coun coun- I tries and see I |