RUSSIA'S JOAN OF ARC.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 319, 29 October 1915, Page 7

RUSSIA'S JOAN OF ARC.

HER INFLUENCE OVER COSSACKS. Twice wounded by German or Austrian bullets and forced to spend some days in a field hospital, Mme. Kokovtseva. who has suddenly leaped into fame as the "Russian Joan of Arc," found time to write to a member of her mother's family in Petrograd. This letter, vividly describing her experi-f-!"os as an officer of a Cossack regiment which participated in the Russian J advance in Galicia, was recently forwarded, via Archangel, to another relative in New York, who translated from it portions which were printed in the San Francisco Examiner. Mnte. Kokovseva is the colonel commanding the 6th Ural Cossack Regiment. For bravery and distinguished ability she has recently been awarded the Cross of St. George—a decoration much coveted by Russian army officers —and listed for a military pension. Thousands of women, niauy of them successfully disguising their sex, are fighting in the Russian ranks. Nearly 500 of these, who had been able to escape the suspicions of recruiting officers, by their bravery have won their right to go on fighting though recognised as wives and daughters, in some cases as mothers. Of these Russian Amazons, Kokovt- [ seva appears to be the most gifted and ( capable in a military sense. She is a handsome, almost a beautiful, woman, apparently under 30. She is of a good family of Cossack origin. All her life up to mature womanhood was spent in the bracing open air of the Ural Mountain region. From early childhood she has been an athlete, practically born to the saddle and riding like a Cossack. She married a Cossack officer, and when the present war broke out she successfully disguised herself as a Cossack cavalryman and gained entrance to her husband's regiment. Before she had revealed herself even to him she had gained promotion by her courage and soldierly qualities. When she had advanced to the officer grade equivalent to our lieutenant her secret was discovered. But she had "made good" so emphatically that after this her advance was even more rapid. The following paragraph translated from the Russian script of Mme. Kokovtseva's letter creates a vivid impression that she had sacrificed none of her womanliness, in winning her high recognition as a soldier". t "As Jessaul (Colonel) of my daSii= ing Cossack regiment I must be discreet in my letter writing. Only last week one of my officers—in fact the Sotmk (captain) himself—let himself in for a nice wigging from the department censor for heading a letter to his his mother in Moscow with the name of the nearest village to our regimental hearquarters, and the exact date. AH such details are 'verboten,' as the Austriana would say whose bullet has given me this nice little rest in the field hospital. "Do not worry on my account. In a week I shall sit just as firmly in my saddle as ever. Never was a wounded soldier of either sex more petted and coddled as I am. Every day my little ones (Cossacks of her regiment) almost bury me under spring flowers. " 'Listen, Batjusehka,' I had to say just now to the grimmest and fiercest of them—a grizzled giant who only yesterday captured six Austrians, sin-gle-handed—'do you wish to see your Jessaul' shedding tears like a mere woman. For shame! About facemarch! ' ■ "But the wretch had the audacity to try and kiss my hand —he left a tear on it, anyway. When I'm out I ; shall have to discipline him severely. j "My splendid Cossacks!' Who would have thought that they would consent i to be commanded by a woman ? Often have I told you of their superior attitude towards women. They expect their women to work for them, to serve . them, and be always submissive. Evi- . dently my fierce little ones consider , me as a sort of Superwoman. Or, pcr- ', hape they do not consider me a woman j at all—except now that I am wounded I and in the hospital—and respect merely my colonel's uniform. j "Do you hear that the Little Father I (the Tsar) permits us to go hungry, or | 1 in rags? It is faJse! The soup boiler j ran 3 ewiftiy oc its own wheels, and j

with the boiler for the tea is never far from the trenches.

"You have heard of us in the enemy's country. Ah, there was fat living! Eggs by the hundred thousand; egg pancakes to tighten the belts of a whole army, and mutton and beef without stint. We grew fat. Our ragged and gaunt Austrian prisoners looked upon us with envy. Soon they also were fat!

"You know that we of the Cossack regiments have little to do with the fighting in trenches. For us it is to, make forays, to make whirlwind attacks upon detachments of the enemy guarding their line of communications, and to capture positions badly defended by artillery. It was my Cossacks who surprised the Austrians at Okna. 'Do you picture me brazenly calloused to scenes of human agony and violent deaths for thousands in a single engagement which probably has no effect upon the final) outcome? "You would be wrong. It is simply that if you are a soldier it is your duty to kill, and perhaps be killed, in defence of your country. No matter how dreadful the things that happen, they are inseparable from war, and you must get used to them. Gradually you do get used to them. If you did not your services to your country would be of no value. You would not be a true I soldier, who must be able always to shrug his shoulders and say to himself, 'Well*, such things happen,' and then go on faithfully with his soldier's ■ work.

"But, believe me, these duties performed" as well as I am able to perform them, promotions, honours—afterwards they will be as nothing compared with what is dear to me as a wom an. Through all this violence and carnage and misery I know that 1 shall have gained in all that becomes a woman-in faithfulness, tenderness. pity for the poor and unfortunate, and in charity.