a large village over three miles long which had several good clean
quarters; the Polish peasants are excellent hosts. Neither side was
making any move, but our Staff went up every day to the positions
to direct the work of entrenching, which was being carried forward
with the greatest energy. The General in command, who is very hearty
and sociable, was just starting in his motor when I arrived, and he
invited me to come with him. It was a far drive, and at one point we
were stuck in the sand; we passed quite a number of different lines of
defence, carefully planned and executed. As large drafts of recruits
had come in recently, we halted at the edge of a wood and the General
gathered the men round him and made them a very vigorous little speech.
He described how Germany and Germans had for several years exploited
Russia, especially through the last tariff treaty, which was made when
Russia was engaged in the Japanese War, and set up entirely unfair
conditions of exchange. He said that the German exploited and bullied
everybody; and that was a thing which the peasant could understand,
often from personal experience. Then he got talking of the great family
of the Slavs, of little Serbia's danger and of the Tsar's championship,
of Germany's challenge and of Russia's defiance. Next he spoke of the
Allies and of their help. And then he spoke of the regiment, which
bears a name associated with the great Suvorov; they were always, he
said, sent to the hardest work, often, as now, to repair a reverse; and
he spoke plainly and without fear of the recent retreat. Concluding,
he told them a story of Gurko: some of his men had said that the
enemy would have to pass over their bodies, and Gurko answered, "Much
better if you pass over his." He ended by telling them all to "fight
with their heads." In the wood he addressed another group. Both his
little speeches were manly and effective, and they were very much
appreciated; one of the men (I wear no epaulettes) called me to closer
attention.
On the further edge of the wood there were good trenches, and from them
ran a long and very winding covered way to the front line of all. The
enemy here was only some sixty yards off, and we could get a good view
of his lines; but this day he only sent a few intermittent shrapnel
over our heads.
The next day we motored again to this side, which was on our extreme
right flank. We left the motors and rode fast through thick brushwood.
Most of us got separated from the leaders, but we picked up their
tracks, and our Cossacks gave us a great gallop to catch up with them.
We had tea in a beautiful wood with an outpost of the Red Cross, which
was living in tents; the regimental band played to us, and gave us
"God save the King." We were just beginning to talk about the stifling
gases. "Confound their politics; Frustrate their knavish tricks"
seemed to have a new significance. After tea we rode and walked to an
artillery observation post, from which the enemy's lines were clearly
visible. This day wore a holiday atmosphere, with music and snapping
of photographs and the forest picnic. But the General's alertness was
soon to be proved. Three days later the Germans made their new advance
exactly at this point, but of that I will write later.
_June 13._
Next to the L Corps on the right is one of the most famous corps in the
Russian army--3 K. In this war it has been put to hard and dangerous
work all over the front.
At Kosienice, which saw some of the hardest fighting in the war, two
regiments crossed the Vistula--the Vistula, mind; and those who have
seen it will know what that means--under fire and in face of two German
corps and three Austrian; another brigade of 3 K came along the river
from a Russian fortress on the western bank, marching knee-deep through
marsh and water with the general at its head. The two regiments that
crossed moved forward to a vast forest near the river, and there they
had an hour and a half's bayonet fighting--one may imagine what that
means. An enormous number of officers went down; the B's lost forty,
and the S's in the course of those five days had seven successive
officers killed while commanding the regiment. In the midst of the
bayonet fighting, when most of the Russian officers fell, some of the
Germans shouted out in Russian, "Don't fight your own men!" and in the
confusion which followed the Russians left the forest and lay, half
in marsh and with only the most elementary cover, under a devastating
artillery fire; however, they held their ground on this bank of the
river, and, as soon as they were reinforced, they again moved forward
and scattered the Germans, drove them off westward, and then pushed the
Austrians, in more than a week of fighting, beyond Kielce, where they
feasted their triumph with the old corps song, "God has given victory."
After this followed arduous fighting in the Czenstochowa region. Later
the corps went to the eastern Carpathians to stem an Austro-German
advance, and it was thence brought rapidly across to the assistance
of our army when the tremendous artillery impact of the enemy fell on
Galicia between Gorlice and Tarnow.
I first saw General Irmanov the day he had entered Kielce. He is one
of the most remarkable and sympathetic figures of the whole war. I
saw what seemed an old man of middle height, of sturdy figure, with
a curious outward kink in his walk as of one who had lived much on
horseback; he has a singularly peaceful and gentle face, with a high
colour and grey hair and beard; a child-like simplicity and directness
blended with a fatherly benevolence; but the suggestion of different
ages ends, when one sees much of the General, in one's forgetting age
altogether. The voice is a mild, high one which sometimes comes out
like a little bark. I had a long talk then with General Irmanov, and
for every one of my questions got a clear and full answer. Irmanov was
not a General Staff officer; in peace and off duty he lives a quiet
domestic life in his mountain home. His staff is like a family; there
is a peculiar smartness and spirit in the salute when the General
appears and all line up to greet him. He mounts without delay and is
off in a moment; he is one of the fastest riders in the army, and in a
few minutes his suite, trained riders as they are, are all streaming
behind him.
In the battle of Gorlice the corps was set a desperate task. It was
to turn the German flank and get to the devastating heavy artillery
and take it. It is always shorter to go forward than to go back; and
this was the one way in which bold hands could beat metal. When I
first heard the order, some one said, "Irmanov can do it"; and he
very nearly succeeded. The Prussian Guard Reserve was against him, and
their prisoners, who held their heads high in other matters, were all
agreed as to the heroism of 3 K. There followed tremendous rearguard
fighting, battles or marches every day. The corps was 40,000 when it
marched on the guns; it was 8000 when it stood covering the Russian
rear beyond the river San. It was 6000 when it made its counter-advance
on Sieniawa, and then it took 7000 prisoners and a battery of heavy
artillery. Not much of the beaten army in this!
I reached the pleasing white farmhouse in which the staff of the corps
lived, and felt at home from the first. They made me feel myself to be
one of the party; there was no ceremony, but the General, who found
time for everything, saw to it himself that I had a little room of my
own, which he visited to see that all was in order.
Next day he asked me whether I would like to go with a colonel of
Cossacks. This seemed simple enough. We went to the colonel's quarters,
took a quick lunch and then mounted. The whole regiment, I noticed,
was behind us; we started at a dashing pace, breaking a way through
thick forest, the branches often lashing our faces. The Germans had
come through at one point, and we were on our way to stop them; if
we found them on the march, the regiment would charge; if they were
taking cover, we should take cover opposite them and possibly advance
on foot to a counter-attack, in which the Cossack's sword would replace
the infantry bayonet. At a signal all heads were uncovered and, while
we still rode forward, there rose a solemn hymn which is always sung
before action. Later the colonel said, "We have been serious long
enough; let's have some songs"; and with the music of the Don and
Caucasus rising and falling we rode forward.
I had begun to wonder what exactly was my part in the day's
business--for I was riding, with only a Red Cross brassard, next to
the colonel--when we were all told to dismount, hide in a wood and
await further orders. We were here for about two hours; I woke from a
good sleep to see the divisional general come out of his hut with our
colonel. The General made vigorous gestures which I thought must be an
order for attack; but it turned out just the opposite. The gestures
meant that the German advance had already been stopped, and the colonel
came back, saying, "Got to go home." From my point of view it was just
as well, for I am sure I could have done nothing to help except fall
off. We rode slowly back in the evening; and every now and then the men
sang long melodies that fitted the hour and the bare plains.
_June 16._
The day after our ride there was nothing doing, and it was difficult
to make any plan. I spent most of the day lying about the big garden,
as many of the soldiers did. There were pleasant gullies, and beyond
lay the long, rambling, white-walled village with a pretty church. The
village girls were all on the way thither dressed in bright colours. It
seemed that there were services twice a day; and the people, who were
Poles, met whenever they heard the cannon, to pray for the success of
the Russian arms.
I sat for some time in the church. The younger girls all knelt before
the chancel and sang a long and beautiful prayer, into which, in the
second half of each stave, there joined the voices of the men behind.
Then the priest, who looked both kind and clever, had a talk with the
younger children. Poland is one of the few countries where all the
church music is congregational, and it is often sung very beautifully.
For the Pole the church is the fortress and shelter of his country;
and in this terrible war, which has fallen so hardly on Poland, this
comfort is more needed and more real than ever. It is many times that
the inhabitants of this region, especially old peasant women, have told
me how they feared the coming of the Germans.
The Staff was a very pleasant company. The chief, also a general, had
the face and manner of a conscientious English country gentleman; he
was widely read in military history, and his judgments were always
weighed. The senior adjutant had been contusioned and invalided, but
somehow had managed to return almost at once; he was humorous and
talkative; in his room he had a placard, "There is no air in this room,
don't spoil your health and GO AWAY." Over the General's door he had
written, "Don't disturb work or rest."
Two officers examined our prisoners, assisted by a Czech interpreter.
There was one very militant Austrian German, who would have it that
Austria would win; he was so rude about the Austrian Slavs that I asked
him at the end whether Austria wanted the Slavs. He said they wished
to be quit of Galicia, and in fact of all their Slav provinces; I
suggested that Austria proper and Tirol might find their natural place
inside the German empire; he answered with alacrity, "Of course, far
better under Wilhelm II." It is a view which offers possibilities of a
settlement; but I did not see how it would suit Austria.
In the evening the Cossacks, encamped in different groups in the wood,
struck up their strange songs and the Russian national hymn, which they
have their own way of singing, suggestive of cadences in the music of
the north of England. I came back from a walk in the cornfields to hear
that the General invited me to come with him the next day.
At eight in the morning all was movement. We made a vigorous start, and
went off at a great pace towards our left flank, the point which I had
already visited when with the SS Corps. The General missed nothing.
He had a salute in his little high voice for every one: "Good day,
sapper," "Good day, cavalier" (to any soldier with the George Cross);
and men standing far away across the fields drew themselves to sharp
attention to anticipate him with their lusty greeting. "Thank you for
your trouble," he said, whenever we passed a group of men at work.
At one point he galloped right away from all the lot of us, and when
we caught him up he said, "I thought somehow he looked like my son."
He turned round several times to ask, "Is the Englishman there?" and
insisted on superintending the adjustment of my stirrups.
After passing several lines of entrenchments, we came to the front
line. Here he ordered us all to stay on the edge of a wood and went
forward into the open alone, diving into the trenches, talking with one
man or another, patting them on the back and distributing rewards for
bravery. He was soon back again from his scramble and said he must have
an observation point. They took us to a tree with a ladder against it;
the tree was outside our lines. He was up it in an instant. "They can
come at us from three sides under cover here," he said, pointing to the
surrounding woods. "Go up and have a look"; then, "Who's on our flank?"
for we were at the limit of our positions. The answer did not satisfy
him, nor did the reply which he received from a neighbouring regiment;
he made the necessary dispositions and was off on horseback.
As we passed behind our lines we met a Red Cross outpost, where we
made a short halt. A little further on there passed us at full gallop
four regiments of Cossacks on their way to relieve our neighbours on
the left, where, as we now knew, the Germans were breaking through. As
we passed, the General called a salute to each regiment by name and
to officers or soldiers in person; and we saluted each flag as the
Cossacks swept past in full swing. We pulled up sharp at the Staff of
the brigade. The General had the men out and talked to them; to the
candidates presented for the George he said, "I will give it to any one
who accounts for ten Germans;" then he spoke of England, and asked me
to give a greeting, so I told them how grateful we were for all that
they had done for the Allies, and how we meant to do our full share of
the work.
Rewards were distributed, and we were off for home; but we had hardly
got there, with every one except the General fairly tired, when he
ordered his motor to take him off to his opposite flank, the right.
He invited me to come with him, and I asked leave to spend the night
in the trenches of the Q regiment, which held that flank. He gave his
leave, as there was no disquieting news from that side, and my traps
were put in the motor. We had a long push through the oceans of sand,
but at last were travelling along the rear of the right flank. At one
point some sinister hand, well in the rear of our front, had laid a
whole line of fire through a great wood.
Suddenly there opened before us such a sight as I had seen at the
beginning of the great fighting in Galicia when I was with the J Corps.
There was one long line of fire, shell on shell bursting at close
intervals and almost continuously in the twilight, with a deafening
noise, though we were some way in the rear. It was the smashing tactics
again--and again at the expense of the J Corps--which had suffered so
much in the previous fighting.
General Irmanov thought for a moment that we had gone beyond our own
positions; but it proved otherwise. We found the Staff of the Division
in a garden outside a hut. It was a General whom I had met elsewhere,
with a new Chief of the Staff, very conscientious and painstaking. With
a lamp on the table we sat in the garden and heard the news. At four
o'clock the Q's were intact. The neighbouring regiment of the J Corps,
which was only at half strength, had had to retire from its positions;
and the Q's, with their flank uncovered, were pounded till they had
but few men left. These retreated in good order, guarding as best they
could against further outflanking; but there was no question of getting
to them that night.
In a single day our corps, which the enemy respected enough to leave
till last, had been turned on both flanks; and at each of the
threatened points so far distant from each other, General Irmanov, who
could not have anticipated the danger, had managed to be on the spot as
soon as it presented itself.
_June 19._
The morning after our return from the right flank every one was very
busy, and the best thing that one could do was not to get in the way.
I had a chat with the Chief of the Staff, who, when he could snatch
an interval at an anxious time, usually spent it with one of the
more fantastic novels of Mr. H. G. Wells. We talked of the military
reputations of the war. He told me we were engaged along our whole
front; I had thought of getting to the regiment which I had accompanied
near Biecz, and which belonged to this corps; but he said that it was
difficult to send me. Shortly afterwards, in the most business-like
way, everything in the house was packed; we, too, were to retreat.
General Irmanov believed in meeting attack by counter-attack, and
almost every day his corps had contrived some surprise for the enemy,
usually by night; on the day of my arrival it took over a thousand
prisoners. Altogether the corps had taken in prisoners much more than
its own original strength. But this time there were reasons which made
retreat imperative. "If I had what I need," said the General, "I should
advance to-morrow."
The retreat was conducted in the most perfect order. The General
visited on his way the new line of entrenchments, which had been
prepared with great care. I accompanied the senior adjutant to the
new quarters, which were only four and a half miles off, but, alas!
beyond the old frontier and in Russian Poland. What of our friends,
the poor inhabitants, whom we left behind? In our new halting-place I
could not fail to notice the delicacy of the corps authorities in their
arrangements for their quarters. Everything was done to lessen the
inconvenience for the townspeople; and the General's own quarters were
asked, rather than claimed, of the local priest. The General had given
a special order as to my own accommodation; I was again to have a room
of my own.
By now I was coming to a conclusion which I had long been considering.
I had visited these last corps to complete my information on some
points which seemed to me to be of the first importance, not only to
the army, but to Russia and to the allies. The data, of which I now
had much more than enough, were overwhelming in what they indicated.
Clearly the troops had lost not an atom of their fighting spirit;
equally clearly they were fighting under the most unfair conditions and
would continue to do so until their technical equipment, in arms and
munitions, was much more on a level with that of the enemy. I wished
to report in person what I had seen; and in this conclusion I was
encouraged by the General. He thought I should not wait for the end of
these operations, which might last a long while, but that I should be
off as soon as possible. "Come back and live with us when we've got
what we want," he said; "and we'll show you how we use it."
He gave me his motor to go and pick up my luggage. It was a curious
journey. Apparently I had twelve miles to go, but one could not
tell how fast the enemy was advancing elsewhere. We ourselves were
retreating twelve miles next day. Besides, the roads were mostly a
hopeless waste of sand, in which motors stuck fast and had to be
dragged out by horses. I was therefore advised to make a circuit of
something like eighty miles.
For most of this distance I had a glorious paved road, constructed, I
believe, by a Polish count, and certainly as good as asphalte. Late at
night I was only five miles from my luggage: but it took me till the
morning--something like seven hours--to get over those five miles, and
it was a wonder that we got through at all, for the aquatic feats of
the chauffeur were astonishing. However, by the evening of the next day
I was with the Staff of the army and making all preparations for going
further. Among the Staff I found not the slightest trace of agitation.
The situation was fully recognised, and there was a clear-cut plan for
dealing with it. I saw all my friends, got all further information that
I needed, and started for Moscow and Petrograd.
The last words of the Chief of the Staff of the army were these: "Be
sure to say, after everything else, that we won't consider a separate
peace and that we are perfectly confident of the final result."
DIARY OF AN AUSTRIAN OFFICER DURING THE AUSTRO-GERMAN RECONQUEST OF
GALICIA
[This officer served in the 12th Rifle Battalion of the 10th
Austrian Division. He was at the front opposite the Russians in the
neighbourhood of Gorlice. He took part in the Austro-German advance
from that place, which was the point selected for the first and most
crushing artillery attack by the enemy. With an interval due to
indisposition, he advanced as far as Sieniawa. This Diary, in many
particulars, supplies interesting confirmation of the intelligence on
the Russian side. I was myself for some part of this period opposite
to the troops in which the Austrian officer was fighting. The chief
value of the Diary is the way in which it illustrates the striking
contrast between the very great successes of the enemy's artillery fire
and the inferiority of the spirit of the enemy's troops to that of the
retreating Russians. I am fully persuaded that no such Diary could have
been written in any of the Russian regiments with which I was during
this period.--B. P.]
_March 18._--At 7.45 p.m. we left Liebertz.[2] It was a merry send-off.
They gave us lots of flowers, cigarettes and a bottle of liquor; the
band plays and the train slowly moves off. I am very tired and soon go
to sleep.
_March 21._--At 8.45 a.m. we arrived at Gribow. We had a rest at Rona.
The detachment was reviewed by the Commander of the corps. The chief
thing is to keep up the men's spirits. In the night of March 23 there
was to have been an attack on our flag. We bivouacked at Lossie. There
I found our field train with Siegel Novak and Kolaris.
_March 22._--At 10 o'clock in the morning we marched out to Riechwald;
the roads were sunk in mud. Kolaris tells us of a four days' fight
at Sekow; of his company there were very few left. The division is
attacking the heights with the Imperial Rifles, the 26th and the 21st.
The Commander of our company was told that in the trenches there were
about fifty Russians who were only waiting for us to surrender. When
we attacked we found as a matter of fact that we had no less than two
Russian regiments against us with four machine guns.[3] The company
of Kahlen marches out to a bare hill, but is met by a murderous fire
and is almost destroyed. The Little Russians are almost all left on
the field, either dead or seriously wounded. They are very lacking in
initiative and resource. When one goes up-hill the heavy knapsack is
a great hindrance. According to what the officers think and what the
soldiers say, this attack was an evident impossibility. Of the officers
there fell Nietsche and Haube. Heavily wounded were Andreis, Lajad and
Ensign Steiner. Riechwald is a dirty Ruthenian village. Near the church
we buried Ensign Buhlwas. Our company is in the trenches eastward of
Riechwald in the direction of the Dukla Pass. The company has been
in the trenches there for seven days in all. At times the Russian
artillery bombards our trenches. Our cannon reply. After dinner, work.
Close to us on the right there burst two shrapnels, and two hundred
yards from my house a Russian shell went past. In front of us, twenty
yards away, there is a hut with our Staff. Not long ago a shell fell
there; luckily there was no one here. In the evening at 9 o'clock the
company returned from the trenches.
_March 24._--At 5 o'clock in the morning there was an alarm. We go off
to the trenches to relieve the 21st Regiment. Our trenches are not very
sound. We are always improving them. The Russians look at us from their
trenches, but do not fire.[4] They, too, are working at their trenches.
Our sixteen-year-old volunteer went out on the Mahlsdorf side _and saw
there_ seven Austrian soldiers. Perhaps they were Russians disguised.
The Brigadier-General has forbidden us to send any scouting parties to
Mahlsdorf. The 21st Regiment sent out a Czech and a German scouting
party, but neither of them came back. We could not hear any firing.[5]
In front of our trenches there is a wire entanglement, at which we put
a sentry, to listen, especially at night, when any danger appears.[6]
By night our outposts fire on the Russians, but the firing soon dies
away.[7]
_March 25._--We have come out of the trenches. In the evening we all
sat together and had a good time with music and beer. The news came
that Przemysl had fallen. Probably now the Russians will march on Dukla
and on Krakow. Lots of complaints against our generals. No one has
anything to say in favour of our offensive.[8]