When first reports of the Battalion of Death—the regiment of Russian
women—were read in the western world they were regarded as the fiction
of correspondents hard pressed for material. Fighting Amazons belonged
to the legendary past. But the authentic confirmations of the story and
the official recognition of the battalion’s services presently roused
a curious interest in these women doing heroes’ work, and there was
demand for information concerning the redoubtable “Madam Butchkareff”
and the circumstances leading to the organization of the regiment of
which she was given command.
The story when told more than gratified the expectant interest. The
London _Daily Telegraph_ was the first to give the particulars as they
are here presented.
“Vera Butchkareff, or simply Yashka, as she has been christened by the
men of the regiment to which she belonged, got much of her war-like
spirit from her father, who fought through the whole of the Turkish war
and was left a cripple for life. Her mother was a hard-working woman,
with five children, of whom Yashka was the eldest, and she had to go
out washing and cooking to earn enough to clothe and feed this flock.
[Illustration:
© _Underwood & Underwood._