WARSAW IN APRIL, 1915
Dated:
WARSAW, POLAND,
_May 1, 1915_.
With the sunshine and balmy weather of the beautiful Polish spring,
there has come to Warsaw an optimism and hopefulness that is deeper
rooted and certainly more widely spread than the feeling of relief that
swept through the city in October last when the Germans, after their
futile effort to take it, began their retreat to their own frontier. On
that occasion the population had barely time to get its breath, and to
begin to express some optimism as to the war, when the news came that
the Germans were advancing for a second time on the Polish capital.
Warsaw, as I have seen it in nearly a dozen visits here since the
war began, is a little panicky in disposition, perhaps with reason;
and there have been such a continuous ebb and flow of rumours good
and bad, that for months no one knew what to expect. All through
December and January one heard every few days that the Germans would
take the town almost any time, only to be told the next day that all
chances of Teuton success were forever gone. Tales of German raids,
aeroplanes, Zeppelins on the way to destroy the city were circulated
so persistently, that perhaps it was not strange that genuine optimism
found the soil of local public opinion a difficult one in which to
take root. The end of the first week of February left the public here
greatly encouraged, for had not the stupendous German attack failed on
the Bzura-Rawka line?
But following close on its heels came the news of the movement in
East Prussia and Russian retirements, and once more confidence
fled. Later still the enemy’s advance on Przasnys and the threat to
the Petrograd-Warsaw line made conditions even worse. This was the
low-water mark. When the terrific attacks began to weaken and at last
the columns of the Kaiser began to give place, conviction that the
worst was over for Warsaw began to be felt generally, until to-day, May
1, I find a buoyancy and hopefulness here that I have not seen in any
part of Russia since the war started.
The reasoning of the people here is something like this. In the attacks
of January and February the Germans were putting into the field the
best men and the most of them that they could lay their hands on, and
still not weakening their position in the West. The onslaught on the
Bzura-Rawka line is believed to have been one of the fiercest efforts
that the Germans up to that date had made on any Front. Six corps and,
as it is said, 600 guns were concentrated on a short front and almost
without interruption they attacked for six days. The net result was
nothing save a few unimportant dents in the Russian line, and the
German loss is placed at 100,000 men. The Russians certainly did not
lose half that number, and some well-informed people who have been on
this Front for months think it may have been little more than a third.
The East Prussian attack and its corollary movement against Przasnys
raged with the same fury. For nearly a month Poland was taking an
account of stock. Now it has become the opinion of practically every
one, even down to the common soldiers, that the whole German movement
has proved an utter failure and at a cost to the enemy of not under
200,000, a figure from two to three times as great as was the decrease
of the Russian forces. Even the East Prussian retirement which was so
heralded abroad by the Germans has been gradually shrinking, until
now it is said that the total loss to the Russians was only 25,000
to 30,000 against the 100,000 which the Germans claimed. “How is it
possible,” people say here, “for the Germans to accomplish something in
May that they could not do in February?” Certainly they can never be
materially stronger than they were when the first attack on the Bzura
line was launched in the end of January, and the chances are that they
are greatly weaker.
The Russians, on the other hand, are stronger now by a very great deal
than they were on February 1st, and are getting stronger and stronger
with every day that the war lasts. It is probably safe to say that
there are 25 per cent. more troops on this Front to-day than there
were when the Russians threw back the Germans two months ago, and the
feeling that Warsaw will never be taken has become a conviction among
the Poles. The rumour-mongers, and there are hundreds here who wish
evil to the Russians, find it more and more difficult to start scares;
and even reports of Zeppelins and air raids create little comment. So
common have bombs become that the appearance of aircraft above the city
creates no curiosity and very little interest. I have been especially
impressed with the determination with which the Poles are planning to
combat the German influence in the future. Though Poland has suffered
hideously through this war, there is small cry here for peace at
any price, and the opinion voiced a few days ago by one of the leading
papers seems to be that of all the practical and most influential men
of the community. This view was that the war must be fought out to
a decisive issue, and though Poland must suffer longer thereby, yet
anything short of complete success would be intolerable. While the
Poles are still thinking a great deal about their political future,
they are perhaps more keenly alive as to their industrial and economic
future. As one well-informed individual expressed it, “With economic
and industrial prosperity we may later get all we want politically. But
without them mere political gains will profit us little.”
[Illustration: A Russian officer inspecting eight-inch gun.]
What the Poles want most perhaps in the final peace is a boundary
line that will give Russia the mouth of the Vistula at Danzig. With
an absolute freedom of trade with England, America and the outside
world, Poland will have a prosperity which will go a very long way
toward helping them to recuperate from the terrible blow that their
nation has received in the war. That this is serious no one can doubt.
Conditions within that portion of Poland occupied by the enemy are
said to be deplorable beyond measure. It is difficult to know here
exactly what the truth is, but it is probable that the suffering of
the unfortunate peasants, who are for the most part stripped of their
stock and in many instances without homes, is very severe. With the war
lasting all summer and no chance for a crop, their plight by autumn
will be serious. What is being done about putting in a crop for the
coming year is uncertain, but it is said that there is practically no
seed for sowing, and that the harvest this year (where there is no
fighting) will be very small. In the actual zone of operations there
will probably be none at all.
Reports are coming from a dozen different quarters of the condition of
the Germans. A story from a source which in many months I have found
always trustworthy indicates that the soldiers are surrendering to the
Russians in small batches whenever a favourable opportunity offers.
The reported complaint is that their rations are increasingly short
and that there is growing discouragement. There are dozens of similar
stories circulated every day. One does not perhaps accept them at par,
but the great significance is that they are circulating here now for
practically the first time. When I was last in Warsaw I questioned many
prisoners but never found one who would criticize his own fare. This
condition seems to have changed materially in the past ten weeks. No
one however must dream of underestimating the stamina of the enemy on
this Front; for however one’s sympathy may go, they are a brave and
stubborn foe, and months may elapse, even after they begin to weaken
in _moral_, before the task of beating them will be an easy one. Their
lines on this Front are reported to be extremely strong, and I am told
by an observer that they are employing a new type of barbed wire which
is extremely difficult to cut, and presents increased difficulty in
breaking through.
The condition of the Russians is infinitely better than at any time
since the war started. Their 1915 levies, which are just coming into
the field now in great blocks, are about the finest raw fighting
material that one can find in Europe. Great, strapping, healthy,
good-natured lads who look as though they never had a day’s sickness
in their life. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that I have seen
nearly 100,000 of these new levies and I have yet to see a battalion
that did not exhale high spirits and enthusiasm. They come swinging
through Warsaw, laughing and singing with a confidence and optimism
which it is hard to believe possible when one considers that we are
in the 9th month of the war. Surely if the Germans, who are straining
every effort now to raise new troops, could see these men that Russia
is pouring into the field they would have a genuine qualm as to the
future. And these are but a drop in the bucket to what is available in
great Russia that lies behind. Over here there will never be any lack
of men, and the Czar can keep putting troops just like this into the
field for as many more years as the war may last. After nearly a year
on this Front of the war, one just begins to appreciate the enormous
human resources which Russia has at her command in this great conflict.
During the winter there was a pretty widespread apprehension of
conditions which might result among the soldiers when the spring and
warm weather came. As far as one can learn, the authorities have
made a great effort to improve sanitary conditions at the Front, and
there is very little sickness in the army at present. Those who are
in a position to know, seem to feel confident that such steps as are
necessary to maintain the health of the men at a high standard during
the summer have been taken. It is certain that there has been a pretty
general clean up, and that there is less disease now, even with the
warmer weather, than there was in February.
In the meantime, the Spring has come and the roads are rapidly drying
up. The occasional rumours of the Germans reaching Warsaw are becoming
more and more rare, and the gossip of the town now is as to what
date will be selected for the Russian advance.
[Illustration: Russian bath train.]
The life of the city is absolutely normal, and I am told that the
shopkeepers are doing a bigger business than ever before. The
restaurants are preparing for their out-of-door cafés, and the streets
are bright with the uniforms of the Russian soldiery. A German officer
who came through here the other day (as a prisoner) could not believe
his eyes. “Why,” he is reported to have said to his Russian captor, “we
supposed Warsaw was abandoned by everyone who could get away. But the
town seems as usual.” And the officer was right. The casual observer
finds it hard to realize that there is a line of battle only 30 miles
away.
AN AMERICAN DOCTOR IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY