MARIE BOTCHKAREVA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17946, 13 November 1918, Page 3

MARIE BOTCHKAREVA.

A MODERN AMAZON: ' . t One of the wonderful women of these tiemondous times has come to London. Her name is s Mdme. Marie Botchkarcva, and sho is ; the famous Colonel of tlio Russian Women’s “Battalion of Death;’.’ She has come by way of America, and is.now staying at tho Savoy Hotel (says a correspondent of “ Lloyd’s Weekly News ”). . She wears the unifonu of an officer —khaki tunic, breeches, gaiters and serviceable-looking boots. Her jetblack hair has been cut short, and has a side parting, 1 On her breast there are a. half-dozen medals. . Altogether a . woman of remarkable character; Powerfullyrbuilt,'" of :modilim height, with an extremely intelli-. gent face, and a capacious forehead, she has attracted considerable attention. - J It was last year,‘when the Bolshevist influence l , was beginning to' sap the fighting spirit of tho Rusian army, that she raised her ■ women’s army, 15,000 strong, to carry on the war. She herself led them in desperate and successful fighting against tho Germans. After the Bolshevists climbed into power she had to flee the country, and she reached America via Vladivostok. ' A young Siberian peasant, still only twenty-eight, her adventures' are- an outstanding feature, even in the mighty annals of this war of wars. When her husband joined up in 1915 she accompanied him as a volunteer, being the first woman in Russia accepted for servico in tho _ lino. Within a few months she was in the front trenches. Very few of her comrades knew her for a woman. At last she went forward at her husband’s side in .an attack. He was killed, and she herself was ■so badly .wounded-that she narrowly escaped death. HOW HER BATTALION WAS ■RAISED. Soon her exploits became the talk of the army, and she was several times promoted. When the- revolution came Kerensky summoned her to Petrograd. “I agreed,” she says, i “to take charge of a woman’s battalion, which was to bear my name, and was to be Bent to the front to save the revolution. There were 2000 recruits within a couple of days.. But the bulk did not take it seriously. “I ’thought they would . drive mp mad. I. could not understand their coquetry at such a time. In two weeks only 250 were left; the others could not stand tlio discipline.” Those survivors arrived at the front at a, momeftt when male soldiers had disobeyed orders. With one faithful male buttalion they moved to the attack. . • ‘‘ Inspired by our example, the whole line followed;- We took the first, second and third, line of trenches, and' Over 2000 prisoners.” Wounded four times, the heroine has twice won tho Russian , equivalent of the V.O.