Russia’s German Soldiers
IN 1879 THE FIRST Germans to serve in the Russian army returned from their five-year service. They had served during the battles of the Russo-Turkish war and later had been kept on, stationed at the Turkish border.
Alexander’s youngest brother, Reinhart, twenty-two in 1874, had been drafted before his father, Adam Döring, knew of the danger he was in. News of German military service had spread slowly and so, without warning, Reinhart had become part of the Russo-Turkish War.
Hearing a rumor of a train with soldiers arriving in Saratov, Alexander had a troika of fleet horses put into their gear to pull the fast, light sleigh that he used to get around between Saratov, the villages, and Katharinenstadt. Running from the house, he threw a few fur blankets into the sleigh, because it was January and the cold was bone chilling.
His fur hat pulled deep into his face, his reins in gloved hands, he cracked the whip as if the horses, stabled and rested for days, needed any encouragement. They took off down the snow-packed, frozen road as if a pack of wolves were after them. Alexander felt an anxious need to find his brother, the first in his family to have served in the military, to crush him to his breast.
The horses flew across the frozen snow. He crossed the Volga on a ferry. No one had ever attempted to bridge the mighty Volga. The grand dame of rivers lay untamed from its beginning to its end, dividing East from West.
An enterprising consortium had brought a few steam-powered barges to Saratov, platformed the tops, adding railings. Any of these ferries could set a few horse-drawn carriages, sleds, or wagons loaded with farm products over the river. Despite the bitter cold Alexander stood in the wind for the entire lengthy crossing, imagining the discomforts his brother might have endured in the army. Standing between the horses, which he’d covered with blankets against the icy wind, he watched the progress of the ferry. The ferries operated in a narrow channel, which required constant effort to keep from freezing over.
He could have gone into the wheelhouse, or below where three muscular fellows, Tartars in various stages of undress, shoveled coal into a furnace, a replica of the fires of Hades. He had watched the men on previous set-overs, providing steam for the stern-wheel driving the ferry, and marveled at the ease with which one could cross now, thanks to science.
Alexander had heard stories that the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan had crossed every river in Russia, even the mighty Volga, employing ancient knowledge. They’d blown up the skins of sheep, tying them, four to six at a time, around their horses and then, with their small amount of provisions, they’d jumped on top of their floating mounts. Sometimes they had patiently waited until the rivers were frozen solid and then crossed on horseback, providing a horrible surprise to unsuspecting sleepy villages and cities.
Later people had crossed by boat. However, one had to be sure to start the crossing far above the point one wanted to get to on the other side, for the Volga, in mid-stream, had an exceedingly fearsome pull.
Staring into the steel gray water in which frozen ice floes swirled, he thought of his brother. Reinhart, the youngest of seven, was not close to him since he was the oldest. The age difference had been too great for a close relationship. However, he was fond of the boy whom he had taught to ride and race a troika.
He had arrived too late to meet the train. Throwing his reins to one of the men hanging around the station, waiting for odd jobs, he called, “Hang onto the horses for me, I will be right back.” To his amazement, he found the stationmaster without difficulty. Surprisingly, the man knew not only that his brother had arrived, but also knew where he was at the very moment.
It turned out that their inscrutable, unemotional grandfather had not only been at the station on time, but also had collected every one of the young men not instantly claimed by family.
“He has taken all of them to his house for warmth, great food and plenty of drinks,” said the stationmaster with a knowing grin. “Their families will find them there.”
Alexander walked as quickly as ice and snow allowed to his sleigh. He pushed a very generous sum at the ill-clothed, perplexed man holding his animals and was off at a fast trot.