Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/217

 from Russia; they were joined by volunteers from prison camps in France. These were boys who surrendered to the Serbians in 1914 and retreated with them through Albania in the winter of 1915. Then came the volunteers from the United States, and a few dozen surviving Czechoslovak fighters from the French Foreign Legion. Toward the end we received two parties of our men from Italy. The different environments through which the various groups passed left their marks. You could tell an ‘American’ at the first glance; likewise the “Russian” and the “Serbian”. Those who had passed over the Albanian mountains in the dead of winter were a class by themselves; what they had suffered left indelible marks on their faces. Of course you could find among us all kinds and conditions of men, naturally even a few who joined from other than idealistic motives.

“Brothers who came to France at the end of 1917 and beginning of 1918 from Russia brought with them a beautiful, truly democratic spirit. It gave to our army the character of an ideal revolutionary army. Later on this democratic spirit lost much of its power. Our training for the front trenches took a long time. There were many difficulties connected with the enlistment of men who were doing forced work as prisoners of war; private employers would not release men who made good workmen for nominal wages. Often Czechs who volunteered for fighting had to wait long months, before permitted to join.

“That was one of the things that created discontent in the training camp. In spring we came under French instructors who did not like the democratic spirit prevailing among us and who tried to have everything in our army on the French style. So the French discipline was introduced, but the democratic spirit could not be wholly eradicated and always remained a sore point with the French officers. Even among our own officers, specially those that came last, were many ambitious men who liked just that which most of us disliked, namely the separate castes of officers and privates. For we were only soldiers from urgent necessity, revolutionaries in uniform, not mercenaries.

“A decided majority of the Czechoslovak volunteers in France consisted of socialists. They gave expression to their sentiments at various occasions. Our bands on special occasions, like the presentation of flag to the 23rd regiment, had to play the international hymn. We Americans with our greater freedom and openness agreed with them well. In fact the two regiments, 22nd and 23rd, where the American element was strongest, gained the reputation of kickers. No wonder. We had become accustomed to the American standard of living; though we knew it was higher than in Europe, we did not realize how much higher, until we came to France. Naturally we looked at everything from a different point of view than the boys who had suffered terrible ordeals in the Austrian army and as prisoners of war, and to whom the status of an Allied or rather French soldier meant a substantial improvement. But let me say, that we Americans did not kick merely because we came from America, [sic]but because we had reasons for it.

“The principal cause of dissatisfaction were poor communications with home. In the early days we had to wait whole months without getting a single letter from the United States. Later ordinary first class mail functioned better. But then we had cause to complain about shipment of packages. We read continually in newspapers and letters, how you collect tobacco fund, knit sweaters and send us all kinds of comforts. And then months passed by and nothing came. The reason was to be sought partly in the awful confusion that came upon all France as a result of the successful German campaign in the spring and summer of 1918; partly the explanation lies in the clumsy French bureaucratic system and troubles with handling shipments. Our boys who used to work at the ports as prisoners of war told us, how the German workmen would purposely let a box smash so that they could steal its contents. Blame was also placed upon our own central offices in Paris. I may say that just as the boys worshipped Masaryk, so they disliked the officers of the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris.

“Song and music helped to make us known in France in the earlier days, when the Frenchmen knew very little about us. Not merely the common people, but even the educated men did not know who the Tcheques or Tchecoslovaques were. Even after events made our nation better known, we continualy met Frenchmen who did not know where to place us. We learned to appreciate the task of those who started to make our cause known to the different peoples of the world at the beginning of the great war.”

It would be interesting, if the Foreign Language branch of the Liberty Loan organization of the Treasury could give figures showing how well the different foreign speaking groups in the United States did their duty in the last loan campaign. The Czechoslovaks feel confident that their race would come out as well, as it did in Chicago, where there vas a keen rivalry between the various groups.

The results are as follows: