RUSSIANS IN FRANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1916, Page 6

RUSSIANS IN FRANCE.

ALL PICKED MEN. I Paris, April 2'2. All France is talking of the arrival of the Russian expedition, which slipped, unheralded and expected by only a trusted few, into Marseilles on Thursday, and to-day is being rushed to the battle line on the west front amid the cheers of the towns through which it passes. Besides the guard of honor, they were received by Colonel Ignatieff, of the Russian Embassy,. General Janin and Commandant Marsehal, of the Great General Staff, Commandant Gazague, representing the Minister of War, Gen'era.! Meunier, commanding at Marseilles, and General Coquet, commanding the department. All the officers and men in the Russian force are picked volunteers, most of whom have served since the beginning of the war. The general is one of the best commanders in the Russian Army. He was with the Russians in the advance in Galicia, took part in the siege of Varsaw, and has seen service with the Grand Duke Nicholas in the Caucasus. There is hardly an officer in the contingent who ihas not been lecorated, and all are veterans^ The general, asked why the Russians had come to France, turned, looked proudly at his regiment of giants, and replied, "We came to fight." One of the regimental officers said: "I was in Courland last December, where I took part in the battles of the Mazurin Lakes. Then I was chosen for the French contingent. You sec here only regiments of the elite—men from twenty, to twenty-live yeras of age. Our country still is rich in men, and we are ready to fight to the last one to finish Germany.

"I am not permitted to give details of our voyage, but what a journey it was—what a page of romance in our history! 'Then we learned of the fall of Trebizond. Many of our men are from that front, and you can imagine what joy it gave them. Kow we are here in France to fight beside your soldiers and the linglish against the Germans>. Truly, life is the shadow of a dream." Never has the western front of the Allies been so strong as it is to-day, and hour by hour it is growing stronger. The additional front taken by England has released French troops for the remainder of the front. Meanwhile, Germany for two months has been sacrificing thousands of men before Verdun. Their losses now are much in excess of i) 0,000 men, while the French losses are .tar below the German.