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CREATION OF Czechoslovakia Army IN Russia WWI.
Document 1917
TATRANSKY Regiment was born in UKRAINE then via Siberia
arrived at home
Description:
Czechoslovakia Army in WWI from UKRAINE to Siberia
7th TATRANSKY REGIMENT
in 1917
In the old days some towns were proud of their units; and now Nitra, Old Slovak Nitra and the whole Slovakia can be proud of the „Tatranský“ Regiment whichs regarded as one of the most merited regiments within the foreign Czechoslovak Legions. The regiment was formed in the restless war years, in May 1917 in the Ukrainian town Berezan, in the former Poltava Governorate. This town is a 3-km long village with 10,000 Inhabitants; it is situated on both banks of the Nedra River and is surrounded by sandy hills and swamps. On the outskirts of this village, there was an abandoned training camp consisting of 11 dwellings called “zemljanka”, e. i. long buildings, which were half dug in the ground and half above the ground, covered with a heap of soil shaped as a roof and aligned with the ground on one side. There were some windows only in roof shields. In the interior, two rows of boards were spread along the walls and there was only a narrow passage between these two lines. Even when it drizzled, rain water was leaking in, making living in these dwellings almost impossible. The kitchen, bakery and stables were constructed as our barns and, besides these, there were two cauldrons for boiling water for tea („kipiatky”)located on columns under the old wooden roof. These dwellings were found by the volunteers, who came full of enthusiasm from prison camps. A lot of them were barefoot, dressed in ragged civilian clothes or old ragged Austria-Hungary uniforms. Only few lucky men were wearing decentcivilian clothes with several rubbles in their pockets. In May 1917, when the old and renowned Russian Army was being torn to pieces and destructed, the Russian headquarters permitted formation of the “Reserve Battalion of the 3rd Czechoslovak Tatranský Infantry Regiment”, which was first commanded by Russian Staff Captain Dremin. The regiment lacked uniforms, money, products and weapons. The volunteers often went on duties in civilian clothes and unarmed and the food was cooked in turns in one kitchen for all individual companies. Training was seldom organized because there was neither equipment nor armament.Despite this poverty, the volunteers lived joyfully and in harmony. They even organized musicand singing hobby groups and they planned to establish a theatre group. Rare training and all office agenda were ruled by Russian regulations.
NAME OF REGIMENT In the middle of June, this reserve battalion was renamed to »Reserve Battalion of the 7th Czechoslovak Tatranský Infantry Regiment«. However, in that time, the regiment consisted of only 4 companies, which were accompanied by the trench half-platoon on 21 July. This platoon was the basis for the later 2ndEngineer Company of the Czechoslovak Army in Russia.
ENLARGEMENT OF REGIMENT In that time, an issue of the 7th Regiment’s enlargement by numerous volunteers was being discussed. The question was mainly whether the 7th Infantry Regiment should be manned with volunteers coming exclusively from Slovakia or not. We do not have plenty of documents explaining the reasons why the 7th regiment did not arise only from Slovak volunteers; from my point of view, it was because of fast events coming one after another, which made solution of this issue impossible. We have only fragmentary memoirs of the 12thcompany, which was exclusively Slovak from the very beginning; this company included also one platoon which consisted exclusively of Bácka and Banát citizens - »Slovak volunteers coming from the territory of Yugoslavia«. The memoirs show that this issue was being discussed. I present the excerpt from the following records to provide more information: „23 July. Professor T.G.Masaryk should arrive in Borispol (note: consecutive garrison of the 5th Czechoslovak Regiment). He should be greeted by individual companies; for this purpose the following Slovaks were chosen as delegates: Ján Kulík, Karol Čipka and Mikuláš Gacek.“ At the meeting held in Borispol, the idea of concentrating Slovaks in the Tatranský Regiment was first put forward. The report of this meeting included the following: „On 24 July, we were visited by the precious guests who came here to welcome Professor Masaryk. They were brothers WO Dr Vl. Daxner, member of the Czechoslovak National Council Branch, Lt Miloš Gavora, 2Lt G. Čipka, 2 Lt St. Slezák, 2Lt Manica, 2Lt Čatloš, WO St. Mihal, WO P. Klimo, recruit Karol Čipka and recruit Mikuláš Gacek. As soon as the welcome ceremony had finished, they got together at the meeting.
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