" But across the Volga in Russia the people will say
to Germany--"We are starving because you took our food, because you
forced disorganization which has ruined us." Spring will allow the
intelligent Russian peasant to compare such Americanism with the blight
of Prussianism. Never fear that the object lesson will be in vain!
[Sidenote: A nucleus for the forces of freedom.]
Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for the forces of freedom in
Russia and Siberia? They already are. The extent of their influence in
Siberia, in the region of the Don and in the heart of the Central Powers
themselves, is only limited by the support they receive from the Allies
and the restraint of the latter in independent action. The fate of
history may depend on the working out of the Czecho-Slovak miracle--a
plain gift of fortune to the cause of freedom.
Copyright, Asia, Journal of the American Asiatic Association, September,
1918.
* * * * *
The spirit which animated the American soldiers in France was a
revelation to the Allies, although it was precisely the spirit which
Americans at home knew would inspire them when they reached the actual
fighting line. Some instances of this spirit, and of experiences on the
American firing line, are told in the following pages.
SIX DAYS ON THE AMERICAN FIRING LINE
CORPORAL H.J. BURBACH
"We have arrived!"
[Sidenote: We reach the front.]
The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artillery
service on the French fronts, had been my instructor through weeks of
training, and my guide up to the Front, stood still and spoke most
casually, as if our destination had been a Chicago restaurant.
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