THE NEW ARMY OF THE FORMER DUNAJEC LINE
CHOLM,
_July 11, 1915_.
Ever since I started up the line of armies from the Bukovina, I have
been apprehensive about the point in the line held by this army which
suffered so badly on its old position when it was the object and centre
of the great German drive in Galicia. The position which it occupies
from a point perhaps forty odd versts south-east of Cholm, through a
point somewhat south of Krasnystav to the general direction of Bychawa,
is at present the most serious point of German advance. It is clear
that the capture of Lublin with its number of railroads centring there,
would paralyse the position of the whole line. As I have said before,
this stroke doubtless represents the one that the enemy most gladly
would accomplish in their whole Galician movement, for the pressing
of the Russians back here would probably spell the evacuation of
Warsaw, an object for which the Germans have spent so many hundreds of
thousands of lives, so far to no purpose.
As I have crossed a number of the recuperating fragments of the old
Dunajec army in quarters where they were having comparatively an easy
time, I was curious to see how the new one was composed. I was received
kindly by the General in command, and soon realized that his army, save
in number, was practically an entirely new organization built up from
corps that have been taken from all quarters of the Russian Front for
this purpose. The General himself is new to the command, and so one may
regard this organization quite apart from the history of the one that
bore the burden of the great Galician drive in May. As soon as I saw
the corps here, I came to the conclusion at once that the Russians had
reached a point where they intended to make a serious fight. I at once
recognized four corps which I have known in other quarters of the war,
and wherever they have been they have made a reputation for themselves.
The sight of these magnificent troops pouring in made one feel that
whether the battle, which every one seems to think is impending, should
be won or lost, it would be an action of the most important nature.
The new General impressed me as much as any soldier I have seen in
Russia. Heretofore he has been in command of a corps which is said
to be one of the finest in the whole Russian Army. I had never seen him
until this visit, and as a matter of fact I had never even heard of
his name. When he came into the room with his old uniform blouse open
he was a picture of a rough-and-ready soldier. Steel blue eyes under
heavy grey brows and a great white moustache gave an impression of
determination, relieved by the gentleness that flickered in the blue of
his eyes as well as the suggestion of sensitiveness about the corners
of his firm mouth. From the first sentence he spoke, I realized that he
meant business, and that this army, when the time came and whatever the
results might be, would put up a historic fight.
[Illustration: A Russian eight-inch gun going into position during the
fighting round Lublin.]
At his invitation I went with him later in the afternoon to look at
some new guns that had just come in. They were very interesting and
encouraging, but cannot be discussed at present. With them had come
new artillerymen, and the general went about addressing each batch.
His talk was something like this, freely translated, “Welcome to my
command, my good children. You are looking fit and well, and I am glad
to have you with me. Now I suppose that you think you have come here to
help me hold back the Germans. Well, you are mistaken. We are not here
to hold anybody, but to lick the enemy out of his boots, and drive them
all clean out of Russia, Poland and Galicia too, and you look to me
like the men that could do the job.” The Russian soldiers usually cheer
to order, but these soldiers responded with a roar, and when dismissed
ran off to their positions cheering as long as they could be seen.
That night I dined with the General. In the midst of dinner some
reinforcements passed up the street weary and footsore from a long
day on the road. The General, dragging his staff with him, went out
into the street, and stood, napkin in hand, watching each company
as it passed him and calling to each a word of greeting. As the men
passed one could see that each was sizing up the chief in whose hands
rested their lives, and the future of their army; one could read their
thoughts plainly enough. “Here is a man to trust. He will pull us
through or die in the attempt.”
After dinner I went for a stroll with him, and he did not pass a
soldier without stopping to speak for a moment. Late in the evening I
saw him walking down the main street of the primitive little town stick
in hand, and at every corner he stopped to talk with his men. I have
never seen an army where the relations between officers and men were
as they are in Russia, and even in Russia not such as between this
man and his own soldiers. Already he has lost his own son in the war,
yet has accepted his loss with a stoicism that reminds one a little of
General Nogi under similar circumstances. This then is the man to whom
Russia has entrusted what for the moment appears as her most important
front.
The General permitted Prince Mischersky to accompany me during my
visit to the positions on the following day. The Prince who is the
personal aide-de-camp of the Emperor, and a charming man, took me in
his own motor, and early we arrived at the head-quarters of a certain
army corps. From here we drove to the town of Krasnystav where was
the General of a lesser command. This point, though 14 versts from
the German gun positions, was under fire from heavy artillery, and
two 8-inch shells fell in the town as we entered, spouting bricks and
mortar in every direction while great columns of black smoke poured
from the houses that had been struck. While we were talking with
the General in his rooms, another shell fell outside with a heavy
detonation. From here we visited the division of another corps, where
we borrowed horses and rode up to their reserve trenches and had a look
at the troops, some of the most famous in Russia, whose name is well
known wherever the readers have followed the fortunes of the war. We
were perhaps 600 or 800 yards from the front line, and while we chatted
with the grizzled old commander of a certain regiment, the enemy began
a spasm of firing on the front line trench ahead of us, eleven shells
bursting in a few minutes. Then they suspended entirely and once again
quiet reigned through the woodland in which our reserves were.
From here by a narrow path we struck off to the west and worked our way
up into one of the new front line trenches which are laid out on an
entirely new plan, and have been in course of preparation ever since
the days of the fighting on the San. They are the best trenches I have
ever seen, and are considerably better in my opinion than those on the
Blonie line in front of Warsaw which, before this, were the best that
had ever come under my observation. Many things that I saw during this
day led me to the conclusion that the Russians were doing everything in
their power to prevent a repetition of the drive on the Dunajec. The
German line of communications here, as I am informed, runs viâ Rawa
Ruska, and owing to the difficulties of the terrain between where they
now stand and the Galician frontier, it will be very difficult for them
to retire directly south. Success in an action here, then, is of
great importance to them. If they attack and fail to advance, they must
count on the instant depression of the whole Austrian line, for the
Austrians even when successful have not been greatly enthusiastic. If
they are driven back, they must retire in the direction of Rawa Ruska,
across the face of the army standing to the east; they must strike
west through Poland, crossing the front of the army lying beside the
Vistula; or they must try to negotiate the bad roads south of them,
which present no simple problem. If the Russian centre can give them a
good decisive blow there is every reason to believe that both flanking
armies can participate pretty vigorously in an offensive. No one
attaches much importance to the Austrians if the Germans can be beaten.
As long as they continue successful, the Austrians, however, are an
important and dangerous part of the Russian problem.
[Illustration: Russian artillery officers in an observation position
during the fighting round Lublin.]
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