MYSTERIOUS RUSSIANS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11215, 22 October 1914, Page 6

MYSTERIOUS RUSSIANS.

- - —♦--• ~ ARE THEY REALLY IN FRANCE?

THAT RUMOUR AT HOME

Hare tho Russians really penetrated to Franco and Belgium? (asked a Glasgow paper on ov;iii.i.nioer 10). 'mat question nasi been exercising the iuind.s oi everyone lor some days past, and more. tnan. one story has been Heard that would seem to'point to tho presence oi tho Russians on French, and Belgian sod. When the report first appeared, no official confirmation was lorthcoming, but now tho L'ress Bureau has moved in the matter by authorising the L'ress to state that there is no truth \vha.tever in the rumours that Russian soldiers have landed in or passed through Great Britain on their way to France or Belgium. It is added that the statement, that Russian troops are now on Belgian or French soil should be discredited, Tu view of this remarkable statement, what becomes of the somewhat lengthy and apparently well-grounded reports which have been appearing in the Press of the Russian entry into the Western theatre of war? Here are two of the accounts which claim to have established the facts:—

Writing from Ghent on September 12, a "Daily News" correspondent tells how he saw a .statement in an evening paper, "from a good source," to the effect that the German army had been cut up at Cortenberg, between Brussels and Louvaiu, by the Belgian army, "reinforced by Russian troops.'' "That last phrase," says the, writer, "unseals my pen. For two days I have been on a long trip looking for the Russians and I have found them—where aud how many it would uot be discreet to tell—but the published statement that-thoy are here is sufficient, and of my knowledge. I can answer for their presence. Whether they are all hem is another matter, and so, too —one must be obscure, to say the least-—is the possibility that theirs is not the only'army reinforcing the already strong .Belgians." TRAVELLED V/ITH BLINDS DOWN. Another story of the Russians' arrival on French soil is given to a. Cardiff evening paper by Air W. H. Champion,' a _ well-known Welsh- engineer, who, it is stated, travelled in a steamer from Archangel to Leith with 2500 Cossacks. " The contingent of 2500 were." said Mr Champion,■" the last of a batch of 70,000 Cossacks who were despatched from Archangel, and as a. matter oil fact the train by which I travelled from Leith was the 193 rd which had passed through York filled with Russians." "The Russians wore delighted at the prospect. It is true that they were ordered to travel-with the blinds down, but this condition did not prevent the Russians from pulling up the blinds in order to have a peep at England, a country for whoso people they expressed the-_ greatest admiration. It was an adhesion of England to the Triple Entente which gave the greatest satisfaction. The Russians did not know in the least where they were going to land on the Continent of Europe. Even the superior officers were, I believe, quite ignorant of their exact destination. They were quite content to leave that to England. All they knew or cared was that they were to have an opportunity of fighting with the British and | the French, and this accounts for the enthusiasm with which they responded to the call."

Mr Champion, it is Eta-ted, took photographs of many of the _ Cossacks, which are notv in the possession of the " Cardiff Evening Express," but it is not intended to publish them until they have been released by the Censor. _ But their existence absolutely authenticates Mr Champion's interesting story.