Page:Albert Beaumont - Heroic Story of the Czecho-Slovak Legions - 1919.djvu/14

 headquarters of General Radko Dimitrieff. So it was to General Radko, the Bulgarian patriot, we had surrendered! It pleased us, and we were glad to have an opportunity of meeting him. A Bosnian Serb, who was one of our sub-lieutenats, also joined us, and he was able to speak to the Russians. The battle still raged very near, but we fell asleep that night with intense relief. For us the war was not yet over, but our service under the detested Austrian was over for ever. There could be no question of our going back.

We slept soundly, most of us, perhaps, for the first time in the campaign, and dreamt pleasant dreams. All were cheerful in the morning, and our band once more played our hymn at the request of the colonel himself. He pushed his kindness so far as to give us a carriage, in which we were conveyed to the headquarters of General Radko Dimitrieff, about thirty kilometres away, in the beautiful old castle of Okocin. We were given lunch in the big hall of the castle with the Russian officers, who all treated us very kindly and like brothers.

In the afternoon we were questioned for military information. We gave in detail all we knew about the composition and the disposition of the Austrian Army. I think many of the details were useful, and we gave them gladly. General Radko Dimitrieff, who passed at that moment, came up to us and saluted us. He was pleased at seeing us Czechs and the interpreter told him that we had voluntarily surrendered and were friends.

We were then taken on foot to the village of Dembitza, close by. The following morning we were put in a train and had to go a little distance. An Austrian officer, who had seen that the day before us Czechs had been given a carriage, obstinately refused to walk. He persisted in asking for a carriage. A Cossack sub-lieutenant finaly walked up to him and gave him a few cracks with his whip. The Austrian quickly changed his mind, and started to walk briskly.

The train took us around Przemysl, which was then being besieged, and all day long we heard the big Russian guns. In the evening our train reached Lemberg, and we left the same night for the frontier of Galicia. In the morning we arrived at Volocyska, in Russian territory. Two days later we were at Kieff. On the way we were profoundly impressed by what we saw of the immence reserves of the Russian Army. These reserves seemed inexhaustible, and there were camps between all the stations, where we saw the recruits drilling. It gave us a high idea of the gigantic resources in men which Russia seemed to have, and their equipment seemed to us also perfect. We commented upon