The Commander of one armoured train, TE. Urachkovski, finished the military school in 1915, and went immediately to the German front, where, before the Revolution, he was promoted to the rank of lieuten nant, When after the Revolution the front broke down, he returned his home on the Volga. As soor a the anti-Bolshevik campaign began at Kazan he joined the army of Kappel, in which he served during the whole civil war from 19183 1922, After Vladivostok had been captured by the Bolsheviks he went to Harbin, where he found employment and earned some $60 a month, Which was not so bad for a refugee, His wife, being a dentist, also earned something. Yet, when he heard that Rassian units were being formed to fight Feng Yushsiang, ho at} once left Harbin, and in the beginning of this year entered the Chinese service with a pay of $50 a month. From the pecuniary point of vie hho had gained nothing by entering the Chinese military service, The diogr of the soldiers fare more varied and interesting. 1 have before me one by sergeant Chitkoff, formerly a workman of the great Votkinski iron works the Urals. Some 80 years ago, when the works were founded, each workman received a plot of land and settled down on it with his famil So the workmen at the same became landowners. In each fami some members worked in the factory, and the others in the fuds.
On a calm summer night Tw: travelling with Chirkoff on a truck, of the armoured train. He tells me what a good time ko had formerly in the Urals. He like to talk of what had been so dear to him, he wants to open his heart to me, an T listen to him, He speaks of his family and his home. He was weill ata time of necessity, his proclama. tion explaining that remnants of the Red party were still trying to stir up trouble and spread unfounded rumours. The proclamation also] appointed General Li Shou-chin Emergency Commander of Peking! and General Wang Chi Vice-Commander, which greatly weakens General Wang Huai-ching and leaves General Li Shu-chin virtually in control of the capital during Mar-—Reuter. tsi shal Chang Tsung-chang's absence. off, he had a house and a grove) a ocd deal of cattle, several acres of ind, ete. "He had to work hard but in'return hada. prosperous and happy life, The time of the great War was' especially "hard, Ths people of the Votkinski works were not enlisted in the army at the front because the factory was overwhelm-with work. All ands had. to work the whole day long at the Works, and to spend thole hours rest in working on-their fields, "It was hard," he said "but I would give trerything to have that time Yack, long' ass there. were Bolsheviks, the revolution had had little effect on the tory; there "was only a. little less order and a little But when the Bolshev jes arrived, life bear They mocked at religion and. Church, they destroyed family life by teaching that marriage was unnecessary; they levied taxes. which amounted to robbery, On a calm summer night (like the present one) the people of Votkinsk, driven to extremities, armed themselves with scythes, pitchforks, axes, and who ever they could lay their hands on fand rushed. upon the Reds. The battle did not last long; the soldiers fled and the Votkinski men seized their rifes and machine guns. 9 happened that these peaceful pes fants, who had 40 far worked at the factory and in the fields, became soldiers, Up to the end of 1922 Chirkoff went on fighting the Bolshe-vis, first in the Urals, then in Siberia, Transbaikalja and the Littoral provines When the latter fell he went to Harbin and became The Reason Our chat is nearing its end; the lights of the station Shaho are view. Before taking my leave I ask Chirkoff: "I see you have fought the Bolsheviks for seven years, but what has brought you here?—Why should you fight the Chinese, who have done you wrong?" He laughed heartily "Do you think," he said, "that we are at war with the Chinese? No, he too we are fighting the U.S.S.R. Loo'
rifle—it comes "from Moscow and was the arms-manufacture Jo. T took it, from" the enemy. 'The shells with which he bombarded us the other day were also Rus-and bore the sible and the' hammer (the arms) and the inscription We are helping China in her struggle against the U.S.S.R. and we hope that later on she will help us in hee Here then is the clue explaining the reason why these Russia ter the Chinese service, These words of Chrikoff reveal hidden Tope of a man who has spent many years in fighting Bolshevism and who sees in the victory over it the only means to work out the salvation of his country, He helps China in her struggle against Bolshevism and asks for it—not money to improve his miserable conditions of life, but only this: "When all will be fini fed here, don't forget what we ha done for you here, and help us in your turn."
Still more emphatically is this idea expressed in the words of another man Cherkasoff, a real soldier who had. been at the front during the whole of the Great War. After the collapse of the front, he returned te hhis home in the province of Perm. As ho puts it; he "conceived a bitter hatred of the Bolsheviks for the breaking up of the Russian army." At his native village life was also hard owing to the Commissars, When in 1818 detachments bee: to be formed against the Bolshevviks he joined the White army, From that time to the fall of the Lictora! province he constantly fought, the Bolsheviks, Then he went to Har-where he found employment, end led a good life, When liz heard that Russian units were being form-jed for the army of Chang Chung-chang, he hesitated a long time, but at last could resist. no more, and, on heating that most of his' former companions-in-arms had enlisted, Me Joined them, "All our people gathered here again," he went, start the fight again on Chinese soil; maybe we shall continue if, on the Russian. The Bolshevik is now ina sore plight. He won't be, able to stand even a alight attack."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.