A NEW ALLY: THE BOHEMIAN ARMY
like the Serbs than the Russians; this shows sufficiently how they can be relied upon.
“The new army will be composed partly of Czech and Slovak citizens living in Allied countries, partly of prisoners who surrendered to the Russians and Serbians, and who only ask to serve side by side with those against whom their oppressors had sent them. No pressure, no material or moral constraint, was needed to enrol them. In Russia, as soon as the enrolment of prisoners was authorised, over 20,000 Czechs offered themselves. The work of the Czech politicians consists in spreading, by persuasion, this patriotic enthusiasm, and to negotiate with the Allied Governments, the ways and methods of execution. This was the task of the members of the National Czech Council—Professor Masaryk in Russia, Mr. Stefanik in Russia and America. Mr. Beneš in Paris, London and Rome.
“The Czecho-Slovak Army will number about 120,000 men. This is something even among the gigantic effectives of to-day. The valour of its fighting men is known. We have seen them in Artois and Champagne, and in the East Brusilov has done full justice to the Czecho-Slovak Brigade. In one of his communiqués he quotes it among the exceptions which throw into relief the general collapse: ‘The Czecho-Slovaks, perfidiously abandoned at Tarnopol by our infantry, fought in such a way that the world ought to fall on its knees before them.’”
“These 120,000 men will be distributed on the various fighting fronts. An important section of them is to be included in the French Army; the highest cadres will be, for the time being, French, for a reason which is worth mentioning. There are very few higher officers among the Czechs. In the Austrian Army the highest posts were for the most part closed, in practice, to the Slavs, as in Germany to the Jews. Thus the Czech troops at present lack leaders; but good ones will soon be formed.
“In return for this collaboration in our defence the Czechs ask us nothing! There has been no bargain between them and the Allied Powers. They claim no pledge which might embarrass us. They only claim the right to shed their blood for the cause which they feel to be just and to coincide with their destinies as a people.
“This does not mean that we ought to forget, later on, what they do for us; but such an attitude on their part is at once the most, generous and the most happily inspired. Like the philosopher who proved motion by walking, the Czech nation proves its existence by action and struggle.
“Thus we possess a new Ally—not a State, it is true, but a people, and what is better, a people personified in its heroic army. Let us welcome it, let us salute its Red-and-White banner, and re-echo its National Anthem:—
’Were the world of devils full, for every man a devil.
God the Lord is on our side, and Death our foes shall vanquish.
O’er our heads may burst the storm, the rocks may reel and shudder,
Crashing oak and trembling earth shall not avail to daunt us.
285
