From the News

Dated:

CANADIAN TELLS OF EXPERIENCE IN RUSSIAN SERVICE
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George Sell Back From East, Enlists With Construction Corps
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WAS ENGINEER ON MUNITIONS RAILWAY
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Winter Weather Where He Was Working is Terribly Cold
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Few Canadians have visited the bleak storm swept plains of Russia since the outbreak of the present European war, and as a result little insight has been received into the actual conditions reigning in the eastern nation. George Sell born at Three Rivers, Que., and for many years employed as a railroad engineer in this country, spent the whole of the past winter with the Russians on the eastern front. He engineered one of the ammunition trains from Kola Bay over 70 miles of barren plains to the end of the railway steel and then unloaded onto reindeer sleighs and conveyed to the front lines. He has signed up with the 239th Railway Construction Corps and left for the mobilisation camp in the east last week. When seen by a Herald representative, Mr. Sell freely talked of his experiences in the service of the eastern Allied nation and asserted that, despite the frightful conditions that reign throughout the bitter winter months, the Slavs fought on with renewed vigour and struggled with the greatest courage in the face of all difficulties.

Average of 65 Below

“You haven’t the slightest idea of the severity of the winter in Russia,” he said. “It averaged 65 below zero practically all the time I was there, and on many occasions I was almost starved to death, and also the other members of the party that accompanied me.”

“Though the Russian people suffered frightfully all last winter they were undaunted and fought on through the most discouraging conditions. The peasants were living in sod huts and many of them simply in dugouts. The main food was tea and black bread, and that was about all I ever had during my whole time there.”

Situation Acute

“The situation was really acute during the winter of 1915 and 1916, for the bays were all frozen over and it was absolutely impossible for them to bring in any of the ships bearing ammunition. However, in the spring, when the bays broke up, conditions changed, and the British, French and Japanese sent great contingents of boats laden with ammunition. That is what started the big drive against the Austrian and Germans early this year.”

In speaking of the arrangement and construction of the emergency railroads in Russia, Mr. Sell went on to relate how thousands of auxiliary lines had been strung from every important point last winter and the work of spreading out these lines is still under way. But the weather, he says, is unbearable and that the suffering among practically all classes is inconceivable.”

Have Lots of Men

“The Russian losses have been terrible,” he continued, “but they have plenty of men yet. I saw thousands upon thousands of them awaiting their turn to procure uniforms and equipment in order to get away to fight but the lack of supplies left them idle. The women are grim and determined, but the peasant class, in general, are very ignorant. They do not even realize what is at stake, that is a goodly portion of them, nor do they know what the other members of the Triple Entente are doing on the west. Their idea of an Englishman is one with a monocle and a flippy little cane, the immensity of British power being totally unknown to them.”

Mr. Sell encountered numerous exciting experiences himself during his winter in the east. On no less than three occasions he escaped starving to death by eating horse flesh and gnawing harness.

This is No Joke

“To be lost in a blinding snowstorm with the temperature hovering around 65 below, is no joke,” he said. “Nor is it any pleasanter to find yourself without food on occasion. We killed one of the horses the first time and ate him. The meat was none too wholesome, but of course we didn’t want to starve to death, and sought the only source of existence. On the second occasion we slaughtered a reindeer and devoured it and on the third we had more horse flesh and a little leather.”

Despite their poverty, Mr. Sell claims, the Russian peasants are very kind hearted and do all in their power to assist their neighbours.

Prior to his departure for Russia last fall, Mr. Sell had been employed at Kamloops for some considerable time, and left Canada with a draft of 600 to assist in engineering on lines in the east. The experience along the battle lines, Mr. Sell finds invaluable and he is determined to try his luck on the western front. He speaks no less than seven languages, which accomplishment will doubtless prove a valuable asset to him when he comes into contact with the foreign element on the other side.