Their First Engagement
“We went into action a fortnight after our arrival at the front under heavy German cannon fire. Given the order to advance, we rushed out of our trench. Feeling no sense of danger, we dashed toward the enemy in the wood. The machine guns began knocking over my companions. We were ordered to lie down. I noticed those at the front with me were all women. The men were further back.
“I began shooting, the gun kicking my shoulder so hard that it is still blue and stiff. I was glad when we were ordered to charge the machine guns in the woods. We paid dearly, but we held on, and by night our scouts discovered the machine gunners and we shelled them out.
“After the first attack I was attached to a machine gun, carrying ammunition to an advanced position under the fire of hidden German machine guns. We were advancing and constantly in danger of capture by the Germans. On one trip over newly captured ground I saw what I considered a wounded German officer lying on the ground. I went to help him with my gun in my right hand and the machine gun ammunition in my left.
“Seeing me, he jumped to his knees and pulled out his revolver, but before he could shoot I dropped the ammunition and killed him.
“How did I feel on taking a human life? I had no sensation except to rid my country of an enemy. There was no sentimentality. We were trying to kill them and they were trying to kill us—that is all. Any Russian girl or any American girl in the same position would have the same feeling.”
Mme. Butchkareff—Commander Butchkareff—the peasant born leader of the heroic girls, was not only endowed with the highest quality of courage but she seemed to have an instinct for military command. She was, as her soldiers testified, “here, there, everywhere,” directing the action, adding the fire of her own spirit to the enthusiasm of the members of the battalion, urging them to “fight like real Russian soldiers,” and they met the demand. Said one of them:
“None of us was afraid once we got started. We were in the midst of a great fusillade of shots. Then terrific big shells began bursting around us. We were again frightened a little when we first saw the dead about, but before very long we were jumping over the dead and quickly forgot all about them. We just forgot ourselves entirely. We were simply Russia fighting for her life.
“As we ran forward we suddenly came upon a bunch of Germans immediately ahead of us. It was only a second until we were all around them.
“They saw they were caught and threw down their rifles, holding up their hands. They were terribly frightened.
“‘Good God! Women!’ they exclaimed.”
It might have been better for Russia had all her soldiers been women.