from an amnesty offered by the Romanovs to writers guilty of criminal opinions, returned to Russia. The First World War surprised Zinovy in Italy in August 1914. As in 1905, he had no desire to serve the Tsar. Without our being able to know the deeper reasons – he had no particular ties to France during his exile from the empire, having resided mainly across the Atlantic or in Italy – he went to the French consulate in Genoa to enlist in the Foreign Legion. The hero of the Foreign Legion Guided to the recruitment post in Nice, he enlisted on August 31, 1914 as EVDG (an acronym for “voluntary enlisted for the duration of the war”) in the marching battalion of the 1st Foreign Regiment. Two months were sufficient to equip and train the volunteers at the beginning of the conflict. Peshkov, who was special – in addition to Russian, he knew French, English, Italian and German, which was useful in a unit containing men from all over the world – was given the rank of 1st class on October 21, 1914. Named corporal on April 1, 1915, he was put in command of a squad. Several days later, in May 1915, during combat with his division before Arras, he was seriously wounded. During the capture of Carency, a bullet shattered his arm while he was leading his soldiers. Peshkov’s regiment, like its twin, the 2nd marching regiment of the Foreign Legion, absorbed many Russian Jews assembled in these two units, who distinguished themselves in the battle of the Somme and that of Artois. The attack at Carency in May 1915 was a bloody one for these volunteers, as their losses were very great. Treated near the front, he had to find the strength to make it to the rear. After succeeding in borrowing a train, he found himself in the American hospital at Neuilly, where only amputation saved him from death. Decorated, Corporal Peshkov underwent rehabilitation and then was pensioned. He then returned to Italy. Introduced into high society, where he was a sensation, he gave lectures on the horrors of war, probably inspired by the meetings organized with Gorky several years earlier, which had a great public success. He then found himself again in Paris. On June 22, 1916, Peshkov again enlisted “for the duration of the war” with the grade of 2nd class. He was attached