essence, his calling does not foster scepticism. He is ingenuous, childlike and has childish weaknesses. The fact that an army is a hierarchy of duties and obligations gives rise to not a few jealousies; and men who are heroes when facing the foe may be childish and petty in the mass. Nearly every man in our Legion ran the gauntlet of censure and envy. Between the members of the original Družina and the later Legionaries there was often some degree of friction, the newcomers from the Serbian Legion being sharply criticized, and the shortcomings of which officers had been guilty in the Austrian army being remembered against them. Besides, the men from the various prisoners’ camps in Russia were jealous of each other—another instance of the abnormal conditions in which our army was formed.
My intercourse with the men proved that they trusted me. They knew that at home I had advocated a sober and discriminating policy. Hence they expected that what I undertook and demanded of them in Russia would be well considered. I offered them a well-grounded programme which they accepted. They were educated enough to understand, judge and adopt historical and political arguments. I appealed to reason, sought to convince and, by conviction, to engender a spirit of self-sacrifice. Our chief difficulties I discussed with them quite openly. They saw and learned by daily experience that I cared for their welfare; and I think that the simplicity of my own life and my fearlessness or, rather, my show of fearlessness, made a good impression on them. During the Bolshevist Revolution at Petrograd, Moscow and Kieff, as they knew, I had never avoided danger in the fulfilment of duty. Thus I earned the right to ask sacrifices of them, even the sacrifice of their lives.
I know well that the quality of an army cannot be assured by personal gallantry and individual efficiency. Efficiency must be upheld by general discipline. It is not only a question of courage under fire but of endurance in wearisome and exhausting service in the field. And soldiers do not live by discipline alone. They need bread. A good commissariat is a fundamental condition of success. A man, a regiment and a whole army may be valiant to-day, panic-stricken to-morrow. An army needs the right organization and management, and continual leadership. Individual courage is only one factor in victory. Hence the great importance attaching to officers and non-commissioned officers in a democratic army.
Our Czech soldiers are good fighters, brave to the point
