“EARLESS PETER,” GUERILLA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1570, 29 June 1916, Page 4

“EARLESS PETER,” GUERILLA.

HINDENBURG’S GRIMMEST FOE

Guerilla King, “Earless Peter,” not Czar Nicholas and not Generals Brussiloff, Evert, or Kuropatkin, is the grimmest foe of Hindenhurg and Archduke Frederick. Even the unbeaten Hindenhurg dreads Earless Peter; and his Chief of Staff has offered £4,000 for Peter's dead or alive body. Peter at different periods rages all over the thousand mile front between Baltic and Bukovina, raids, kills, burns, cuts railroads and telegraphs, spies, escapes in incredible ways; and does everything done by Christian De Wet in Africa, but does it with double zeal and a jncturesque spicing of Tartar ferocity, .lust now. Earless Peter is raging in Galicia. His last exploit was to get right behind Pllan-zer-Baltin’s lines, cut off an outpost and circumvent a much stronger force sent to relieve the outpost. Peter and his horsemen rode through the foe. They lost twenty men out of eighty, but on their wild ride home they cut to bits a picket, and carried the pickets' caps as trophies into Tarnopol town, where Peter got gloriously drunk, smashed a mirror with his sabre, and threatened to slay the persistent newspaper men who worried him to tell them varus.

All over the thousand mile front, guerilla warfare is being waged, and for months at a lime the slaughter done by guerillas exceeds the slaughter done by the inert trench warriors. Austria’s guerillas are the Cracow Polish Legion, who are all men from Western Galicia, with a sprinkling of fugitive Russian Poles. Hindenhurg has seven battalions of volunteer guerillas, men over forty-live, free from compulsory service, but picked men of Junker and farmer class, who can ride, shoot, and weild cold steel. Best off is Russia. Russia has a vast healthy male population, too numerous to be uniformed and armed, ready and eager to light, and lit to bear the hardships which guerilla lighting brings. Captured enemy rifles, scraps of lost enemy accoutrements, and miscellaneous ammunition are till these warriors need. In nationality they are ns mixed as in equipment. There tire Russians, Little Russians, Siberians, Tartars, Tchuvashes, Mingreiians, Georgians, and bloodthirsty Turcomans and Caucasus Tchtchentsi. With this tough crowd is a leaven of educated ex-art students and once idle, spoiled young aristocrats who want to help their fatherland and slaughter the foe. Among the aristocrats are two, Prince Galitsin, a Count Schmeretieff, and a. nephew of Prince OrloJV, the Czar’s greatest friend. Altogether there tire fifty thousand guerillas, organised in about three hundred brave bands, with grim and relentless leaders. Bravest is the band of Earless Peter, and grimmest, most relentless of leaders is Peter himself. “Earless Peter” is in Russian “Piotr Besukhi.” Both of Peter's ears exist and are painfully sound. Peter, in fact, can hear, smell, see, and feel with the abnormal intensity of a Pawnee. He is “earless” merely because he is deaf to appeals for mercy. Earless Peter’s two brothers were killed at the Battle of Krasnik, the first stiff tight bet ween Russians and Austrians; and to-day Peter gives no quarter and asks for none. He slaughters no prisoners, but he refuses to take them. If an enemy wants to surrender Peter gives him a fair fight, which often ends in the enemy going under, for Peter tolerates in his band only picked lighters. I’eler is careful about, his men’s food, clothes, arms, accoutrements. Having private funds, he outshines in these details the hard-up rival guerilla chiefs. He punishes ruthlessly any of his own men who shirk or offend, in general, he shows himself as earless to Russian weaknesses as he does to the cries for quarter of German and Austrian foes.

Harless Peter’s biography is a parody of the perverted, whimsical, and extravagant Russians found in Dostoyevsky and Gleb Uspensky. Peter’s real name is Levashoff, and he is the thirty-six-year-old sou of a. rich Smolensk manufacturer. He is religious, a drunkard, charitable, fierce, grim, frivolous, and pleas-ure-loving. Levachoff, his father, sent Peter to a good secondary school; afterwards to Moscow University, where he got the diploma Candidate of Law. At Moscow, Peter became known as “The Reckless LevachoJf.” In those days all students had to wear blue uniforms and to carry swords. The revolutionary students resented this as a badge of Government oppression. On the day Peter got his diploma the students demonstrated. Peter led the revolt. He smacked the rector’s face, and the rector invoked

the grim General Michael Trepoff, then Prefect of Moscow. Trepoff sent Cossacks with whips into the University Square, the revolt was stamped out, Levachof'f was expelled.

Eight years later Peter got the rank of Rural Commissary, a job which consists in bossing peasants. In bossing people, Peter proved a success. He did no military service, and as he could not get taken as a volunteer he started a guerilla corps of his own. Peter got money from his rich father. The father was in despair at the loss of the two sons, and he gave their intended fortunes to Peter on condition (he money should be spent in lighting Russia’s invaders. Peter was much attached to his brothers. He went to Smolensk, prayed oh his knees with his father, and vowed that he would slay two thousand Germans and Austrians for each brother killed. This was a big order for a band numbering eighty. His eighty men were in white uniforms or covered with sewn sheets; their boots were covered with white fur; and their rifles were painted white, so that nothing but dark eye-slits showed. They began by ajiproaebing enemy outposts, sniping or pouring in volleys, and running away. Later they got bolder, for they found that on moonless nights they (amid approach silently and invisibly to within a few yards of the Germans without being detected. The Germans' nerves were strained. The “midnight ghosts” appeared in German proclamations about keeping order in the civilian population. When Peter moved south to the important railroad centre, Baranovitschi, which for nearly a year was Grand Duke Nicholases’ headquarters, he got bolder. All German outposts and trench commanders were ordered to remove the snow from a belt a hundred yards wide in front of their positions. The Germans in this way hoped to sight Peter’s white marauders before they got near. On a, background of snow they were seldom seen.

Peter began to collaborate with tin; chasseur commands. These soldiers are as hardy as Austria's Alpine raiders; they are trained ski runnel’s; and if given a rifle, a husk of rye bread, and a hox of matches Ihey can live in a wilderness of snow and ice where an Esquimaux would perish. The ski-running chasseurs provoked the flermans to attack them, and when the chasseurs ran off, easily outdistancing the Germans, Peter’s men emerged from the snow and poured in Hank volleys. Peter wrecked a German train at Gulievilchi, Next he nearly captured the famous German Staff expert, Pin (ten. Plat ten is Germany's best authority on electrical “live wire” defences; it was he who designed the live entanglements in the Masurian lakes which bathed for months Kennenkampf and Seivers. When Plattcn was inspecting wire defences, Peter’s invisible men poured in a volley. Peter was pulling Platten from his horse when a superior enemy force appeared; and Peter got away with Platten’s shoulder strap which he now wears as a trophy under his St. George’s Cross. By this time this exploit was done, Peter had already slain 500 of the 4,0(10 Germans whom he swore to slay. But. Peter is nut invulnerable. When Ivanotf began the New Year offensive in Galicia, Peter nearly perished, llis band was surrounded by Austrians, thirty wore killed and twelve wounded. Peter himself got a deformed bullet in his thigh. But Peter was now due to be a cavalryman. Of the forty odd survivors of this fight, the best were horsemen, and Peter declared that his misfortune was due to his slow legs, and began to recruit only men who could ride, llis Jirst exploit was to burn an Austrian bridge. As the snow in northeast, Galicia was too thick for riders, he got sent to the middle of the Galician positions where the ground was clear. Peter played a big role in the third partly successful Russian attack; and he accomplished his great feat of what he calls “a. voluntary massacre.” His new second in command did not know the rigid rule to accept no quarter and to give none; and he captured thirty of Baltin’s Hungarian Honved cavalry. Peter was annoyed. He had never taken prisoners, and he had no means of guarding them or feeding them; but once they were taken he could not kill them. He asked the Austrian commander —a Captain Drosek —if he would like to escape. “Naturally.” “Well, here’s your chance. You must fight us; if you beat us, you get away, and if you are beaten the survivors can take their chance and

ride off.” “That’s no chance, as you’re ninety to our thirty.” “That's not my plan. My plan is a fair tight.” He told Drosek that he would pit thirty of his men against the Honveds. The fight took place on the banks of a stream. To make things equal, Peter picked his thirty champions by lot, and as Peter is worth six ordinary fighters, he did not pick himself. The “Moscoe Viedoraosti” correspondent tells what happened; Levachoff (that is Peter) took his sixty non-lighters, paraded them on the stream bank, and watched. The Honveds were given back their arms and ammunition. Peter warned his men impressively not to interfere, and ordered the thirty to charge the Honveds. The Russians dashed wildly against their enemy; but the excellent horsemen made a wonderful manoeuvre, let the Russians pass through, and tided to crush them together so that they could not shoot or use their swords. Some Russians fell; the rest had to break away, but the Honveds were after them, but the fight developed into'a mix-up with carbines and swords hard at work. At first it was even. One of the Russian watchers observed a big Honved at the back of a Russian who was already engaged in single combat. The Russian watcher could not restrain himself; he raised his carbine and shot the Austrian dead. Peter saw the deed. He drew his revolver, rode slowly to his follower, and said: “Say your prayers!” The Russian was frightened, begged for pardon, and, seeing he would get none, crossed himself. Peter blew out the man’s brains. “Mercy is discipline,” said Peter when the second in command hinted that he might have had mercy. The Chovy Chase battle went on; nine Austrians and twelve Russians were killed; but later the Russians got the upper hand, and were about two to three strong. The surviving Austrians abandoned their dead and wounded, and rode away under a volley from the victors, which knocked four from their saddles. Peter was delighted. He buried (lie dead of both sides in a common grave, inscribed with the words, “Brave Men Both.”