UNCLE JOZEF'S STORY CONTINUED
I WAS so happy now. Every morning I awakened with a smile on my lips
and a song in my heart. For were we not going to free our dear, our
native land, of the usurper? We again sang our native songs, which
we had not been allowed to sing in the land of our birth; sang them
so often that we came to be known as "The Singing Czecho-Slovaks."
Whatever state we came from, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, or Slovakia, we
were quite united now, and had only one word for each other and that
word was "Brother."
And in the spirit in which we sang, we also fought. No longer did the
Germans and Magyars call us cowards. They now called us "red and white
devils," because of the colors on our hats. At the famous charge at
Zborov, there was almost a religious exaltation as we marched to the
field singing the glorious hymn of the Hussites: "All Ye Warriors of
God." Here we captured sixty-two officers, and three thousand one
hundred and fifty soldiers, fifteen guns and many machine guns, turning
most of the latter against the enemy.
But our bravery did little good, the Russians were deserting the army
so fast.
In 1917, I was slightly wounded. This prevented my taking part in the
terrible battle at Tarnapol, in Galicia, where our men were entirely
abandoned by the Russian troops. It was a wonderful charge they made,
the men rushing in where danger was thickest and resisting to the last,
and the officers blowing out their brains rather than surrender.
When the Germans invaded Bessarabia, before preparing to resist them,
we bound ourselves by a most sacred oath:
"In the name of our national honor, in the name of all that is most
dear to us as men and as Czecho-Slovaks, with full realization of this
step, we swear to fight alongside of our allies to the last drop of
our blood, against all of our enemies, until we have obtained complete
liberation of our Czecho-Slovak nation, until the Czech and Slovak
lands are reunited into a free and independent Czecho-Slovak state,
until our nation is absolutely mistress of her destinies.
"We solemnly promise, whatever may be the danger and whatever may be
the circumstances, without fear and hesitation, never to abandon the
sacred goal of our fight.
"As faithful and honorable soldiers, heirs of our noble history,
cherishing the heroic deeds of our immortal chiefs and martyrs, Jan
Hus and Jan Zizka of Trocnov, we promise to remain worthy of them,
never to flee from battle, to shirk no danger, to obey the orders of
our officers, to venerate our flags and standards, never and under no
circumstances beg for our lives from our enemy and never to surrender
with weapons in our hands, to love our companions as brothers and to
give them aid in danger, to have no fear of death, to sacrifice all,
even our lives, for the freedom of our fatherland.
"So freely, without pressure of any sort, we pledge ourselves to act,
and so shall we act. Such is the duty imposed upon us by honor and
fidelity toward our people and our country."
After the Bolsheviks gained complete control of the government, the
Czecho-Slovak army numbered sixty thousand. We waited hoping that
things would change for the better, until the disgusting Peace of
Brest-Litovsk, in February, 1918. Then we could not but see that our
only chance of continuing the fight for freedom was to get to France.
Through Professor Masaryk, free passage to Vladivostok was granted us
by the Bolsheviks.
It was no little thing that we undertook to do. It would have been a
big enough enterprise, even under the most favorable conditions. There
was a journey of over five thousand miles across Eastern Russia and
Asia, and then across the Pacific, across Canada or the United States,
and finally across the Atlantic. In other words, we were willing to
undertake a trip around the world in order to fight for freedom. In
the Russian part, we had to procure our trains and provisions, and
negotiate with practically independent Soviets in every district.
Since concentration at stations was prohibited, we started for the
Pacific in small detachments. Everywhere we were urged to join the Red
Guard with promises of high pay and good living. But although we had
little to eat, we refused the bribe. We were in demand, for afterwards,
Gen. Kornilov, and Kaledines, the Cossack hetman, each tried to gain
our help. Again we refused, unwilling to interfere in Russian internal
affairs.
When we reached Penza, we had a disagreeable surprise. Being the last
to leave the front, we were well armed and had many cannon, machine
guns and other equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, that
would otherwise have fallen into the hands of the Germans. These we
were asked to surrender on orders from headquarters, retaining only a
few rifles and a few hand grenades to each train. So anxious were we to
leave Russia without a fight, that we obeyed the order.
Later we heard that about this same time in Irkutsk, a train division
of our men was surrounded by three thousand of the Red Guard, mainly
former German and Magyar prisoners, and under German officers, all well
armed and with many machine guns. Our men had only one gun to every ten
men, but when the German officer gave the command to shoot, the Czechs
rushed barehanded at them, captured their guns, and in half an hour had
control of the station.
Even then the Moscow authorities were begged by Masaryk, and by the
French, British, and American consuls that our troops be allowed to
proceed in peace. Instead, Trotsky ordered every Czecho-Slovak soldier
caught with arms to be shot at sight.
At Vertunovka we had a long wait. We employed it in decorating the
box cars in which we traveled, in ways to remind us of the old brave
days of Jan Hus and Jan Zizka, when the Czechs of Bohemia held all
of astonished Europe at bay for almost a quarter of a century. As we
worked, we each resolved to prove ourselves worthy of these ancestors.
Some of the boys added inscriptions to the decorations, such as, "Long
live Little Father Masaryk and the Allies," and put Czech and Slovak
flags about so that our cars really looked very nice, each platoon
striving to have theirs the best.
As we made our way, by fair means when we could, by force when
necessary, we found Magyar and Germans in control everywhere. Our very
own first conflict came when a Magyar in a train of prisoners hit
one of our men with a piece of iron, injuring him very seriously. We
thought him killed and rushed to the train and demanded the surrender
of the murderer. This led to more trouble. We had few arms, but took up
rocks and followed the train into the city, singing as we marched. The
Soviet buildings were deserted when we reached them, and evidently in a
hurry, for we found some rifles which we seized with thanksgiving.
After this delay we resolved to pay no more attention to delays
ordered by the Bolsheviki, but to push on as quickly as possible to
Vladivostok. Fighting now began in earnest. Everywhere success was
with us. Our spirit would allow of no defeat. When we were menaced,
we took the enemy by surprise; we had set out to get to France and
we intended getting to France, no matter what difficulties we had to
meet and conquer. We seized trains; we took city after city. While the
Bolshevik propaganda failed to appeal to us, it was not it so much we
fought as the objection of its supporters to, and lack of comprehension
of our love of country. We knew that the Magyars and the Germans who
were with the Russian Bolsheviks, fought us not so much because of our
lack of sympathy with the doctrines they professed, as because of our
nationality.
In the meantime, our forces constantly grew by means of new recruits.
Our fame grew also as we advanced. Sometimes the mere rumor that the
Czecho-Slovaks were coming, caused the enemy to flee. And all through
Siberia, we were welcomed by the real inhabitants as deliverers. By
the end of two weeks, three thousand miles of railroad were in our
hands.
Then, when finally we reached Vladivostok, on the Pacific, we found
that we were not to go to France after all, that the Allies thought we
had a more important work to do where we were, especially in keeping
the railroad, and hence the wealth of Siberian grain and mineral, from
reaching the Central Powers. This was also fighting for liberty, and,
without a murmur, we accepted our new duty.