a
man. I said: 'Friends, when I meet the first Russian officer tomorrow my
impulse will be to shake his hand.' My comrades agreed with me. But on
the following day I was obliged to lay a number of Russians low.

"My Slovacs are the most phlegmatic people in the world, but excellent
soldiers. They shoot without anger, but simply because they are fired
upon. One fights because one is on the battlefield and cannot do any
different. The terrible thing is that often you are shot at without
being able to return the fire. But this is not as fear-inspiring as it
is discouraging. You learn to know what fear is when you begin to
realize that you might be killed without killing somebody first.

"Of course I have been scared. That was after I had been wounded. We had
been firing a long time, and when next we advanced we came into a deep
and sandy road, out of which we could not get because of the enemy's
terrible fire. We had to lie perfectly still while bullets simply poured
over us. That was awful."

The officer omitted to state that while in this position he was shot
three times in the arm, but continued to lead his troops throughout the
action.

"It is a well-known fact that the soldier sees very little of the
battle. On Aug. 24, early in the morning, we re-received [Transcriber's
Note: so in original] orders to occupy a low hill at the edge of a tract
covered with brushwood. Forming part of the reserve, we were expected to
remain under cover. In front of us was a large open battlefield. To each
side of us were batteries which had thundered away since early morning.
The result of this was that many of the enemy's shells dropped right in
front of us. I remember noticing that while the smoke of our shells had
a lilac color that of the enemy's was white.

"So far we had not been disquieted by the shells at all. On the edge of
the brushwood had been planted a yellow-black flag, showing that
somewhere in that vicinity was to be found our General Staff. Our
Colonel left us and walked toward it, possibly to get orders, but just
as he got there a shrapnel exploded a little ahead of him in the air and
we saw our commanding officer, in whom we placed all our confidence, go
down. After that it was a terrible feeling to lie still. From that
moment on, too, a veritable hail of shells began to come. Some sappers,
who had been busy digging a trench for the protection of the General
Staff, started to run. I feared that my soldiers would f