The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 2/Distinguished guests

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS.

On the very day the American Government recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as a de facto government, General Milan R. Štefanik, vice-president of the Council, arrived in New York from France for conferences with Professor Masaryk and for further important work to which he was called by his diplomatic talent. Since Dr. Štefanik left America less than a year ago, he has accomplished work of great value for his people in Italy and has received personal distinction by being promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the French Army. All his countrymen in the United States, and particularly the Slovaks, will welcome him with much enthusiasm and are delighted that he is physically stronger than on his previous visit here.

Another distinguished visitor is Major General M. Janin, commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France and as such commander of all the Czechoslovak armies, since the armies in Russia and Italy are looked upon as expeditionary forces of the army in France. The general was born in 1863 in Lorraine. His family had to leave the province after its annexation by Germany. Janin graduated from the military Academy at St. Cyr and spent all his life in the French Army. At the opening of the war he was colonel of the 66th Regiment of Infantry. At the Marne and the Yser he commanded the 35th brigade. In June 1916, General Janin was appointed chief of the French Military Mission to Russia, for which task he was well prepared by his thorough knowlewdge of Russian and other Slav languages, as well as by his previous sojourn in Russia. He became interested in Czechoslovak affairs, when Štefanik came to Russia in 1916, and when in the following year the organization of the Czechoslovak Army in France was undertaken, he was assigned by the French Government to the command of this army at the request of the Czechoslovak National Council.

Our boys believe in him and love him, and the Czechoslovaks in America extend to him a hearty welcome.