WW I & Ethnic Chicago-- Part 7: The 50,000 Man Bohemian Army

When a Czechoslovakian independence leader visited Chicago enormous crowds of Bohemians lined the streets between the North Western Railway station and the Blackstone Hotel, where he was staying.

The Tribune reported:  "More than 200,000 cheering Bohemians turned out... to welcome... Professor Tomas Masaryk, commander in chief of the Bohemian revolutionary armies.

"In his Bohemian address, the speaker said he had left behind him in Russia a fully equipped army of 50,000 Bohemians."   This army had quite a story.  They had been conscripted by the Austrians and captured by the Russians.

They set off for Prague, but knew the Germans would block them going west so, they headed east across Siberia, fighting communists and czarists.  Upon reaching the Pacific, they sailed to Europe..

It's Total War.  --Cooter