starve this winter. If we follow the Czechs into Siberia with economic aid, repairing and consolidating the railroad lines behind them, installing modern methods of distribution, we can then say to the stricken people-"Some of you are starving, but this is in spite of all the aid we can give." 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! for the Can the Czechs become an actual nucleus for a nucleus the forces of freedom in Russia and Siberia? forces of They already are. The extent of their influence freedom. 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. 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 66 FIRING LINE CORPORAL H. J. BURBACH E have arrived!" "WR The French Army officer, who, skilled through years of actual artilWe reach lery service on the French fronts, had been the front. 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. "Yes, sir." I tried to be as casual, but could not disguise the excitement that filled me. "Shall the guns-" and I stopped, startled at the tone of my own voice. It sounded as if it were coming from some person a dozen feet away. And as I stood there a sense of elation, that was possibly partly fear, swept over me. I looked about me, toward the direction of the French officer who had spoken, toward the fellows of my battery who had accompanied me up to the Front. I say toward their direchidden in tion, for I could not see my comrades-the fog that had come over the land at sunset was too heavy to allow one to see an arm's length. My comrades are the fog. The officer snickered. "Is this all that there is to it? Are we really on the firing line?" I asked aloud. "Why, it's as quiet here as the Michigan woods!" The officer laughed again. "At this minute, yes," he said; then, "Wait here, I will be back directly, and no noise!" He went off through the fog, and I have never Copyright, The Forum, May, 1918. 200 ing line lonely experienced such a feeling of loneliness as The firswept over me at that minute loneliness, and seems a I really believe disappointment, for I had place. imagined the firing line to be a place of constant terror. "Gee, this is what we've been training for all these months!" I heard one of the fellows say. "Well, all I've got to say is it won't be so quiet over on the Boches' land when we get started," and they all laughed. It is absolutely impossible to describe the sensations that come over a fellow when he realizes that he is going under fire. I think that you pass through various stages that include every sensation in life. You are fright- An exened, you are glad to get into the fight. You of many are anxious to begin-you wish you had a few weeks' longer training to become a better shot. I am not sure how long we stood there waiting for the return of the French officer who was tutoring us for our baptism of fire, but suddenly he was at my side. perience sensa tions. need is a "The battery is to be over there," he pointed The first through the night, "and we will set up a signal signal station right here. The first thing to do is to station. dig in the telephone wires, for headquarters reports that there is considerable rifle fire about here in the daytime. Order a detachment of men to help you!" "Yes, sir," and I went quickly back toward where I knew the men were waiting, happy to think that there was work to be done at once. I gave the orders that had been handed to me, and in about twenty minutes we were turning over the earth. While we were working others were just as busy, for our battery was being placed in position, and some fifty feet behind the battery the others of the signal service detachment, of which I was a member, were setting up a receiving station. As I helped in in the Digging the digging of that small trench for telephone telephone wires my heart sang, and I lived again the wires. The artillery training camp. The French officers are fine fellows. Buying a village for a target. months that I had served in order that I might be fit for the service I was performing that minute. It might be well, before going further into this narrative, to say that the fellows who had accompanied me were the first American troops to take charge of a sector of the French line, a sector which some day will be moved into the heart of Germany and make old friend Hun wish that there was a way for him to change his nationality and viewpoint. The training camp where we had prepared for the front after our arrival in France had been purchased by the United States from the French, and had been in use since the beginning of the war for the purpose of putting the high spots on the training of men belonging to both the heavy and light artillery. It was a spacious place; we had comfortable quarters and lots of good food. I had been on the Mexican border, so that sound of the heavy guns that were being used for training purposes did not annoy me, though to about ninety per cent. of the rest of the fellows this was a new sound, and orders were issued that cotton was to be put in the ears. Except for the return fire, we might have been at the front, for the camp was an exact duplication of conditions under fire. Our equipment was largely French, and the officers who tutored us in modern warfare were all French-and as fine a bunch of fellows as ever lived. One of the exciting incidents of the Camp was the day that news arrived that the American government had purchased a small village just beyond the Camp (France is honeycombed with small villages,-it is almost impossible to walk a mile without passing through a village) and that it was to be used as a target for the American boys. We practiced in turn, a battery going out for a few hours' work, and then returning. Both light and heavy Artillery used the village as a target, and it was not long before there was only a heap of rubbish to tell where there had once been houses. structors One of the things that the American fellows felt proud of was the fact that they were constantly being praised by their French instructors because of their very superior marksman- The inship. Several men told me that the American praise troopers learned in two weeks' time as much American of the craftsmanship of war as the French manship. learned in three months. As the story was on themselves, I guess it must be true. marks close to We worked hard in camp, but the fellows liked it. We had good food, lots of fresh vegetables, and meat. It is a fact that the closer you get to the firing line the better care Good care you get. There was plenty of recreation the firing through the Y. M. C. A. activities, but we did line. not have many furloughs. Remember that at the time I am writing of, the American boys were new in France. One of the reasons for the lack of furloughs was that in many of the towns near the great camps that were set apart for the Americans the merchants had decided that it was harvest time, and prices had gone very high. General Pershing himself ordered that no member of the American force should A quesbuy anything in these towns until the matter tion of of prices was adjusted, and this was speedily prices. done. I had been in the training camp about a month, making a special study of telephone work as carried on between the front-line trenches and outposts regimental headquarters, and the various gun batteries of the regiment. At the end of that time I was detached from high |