IN CONQUERED EAST GALICIA
Another very interesting account of conditions along the southeastern
front can be found in a letter from the Petrograd correspondent of a
London daily newspaper, who spent considerable time in Tarnopol, a
city which had been in the hands of the Russians ever since the early
part of the war:
"We are in Austria here, but no one who was plumped down into
Tarnopol, say from an aeroplane, would ever guess it. Not only are the
streets full of Russian soldiers: all the names on the shop fronts are
in Russian characters. The hotels have changed their styles and
titles. The notices posted up in public places are Russian. Everywhere
Russian (of a kind) is talked. German, the official language of
Austria, is neither heard nor seen.
"It is true that this part of Galicia has been in the possession of
Russia since the early days of the war. Even so, it is a surprise to
find a population so accommodating.
"The people in this part of Austria are Poles, Ruthenes and Jews.
Polish belongs to the same family of languages as Russian, and the
Poles are Slavs. So are the Ruthenes, whose speech is almost identical
with that of southwestern Russia. They are very like the 'Little'
Russians, so called to distinguish them from the people of 'Great'
Russia on the north. They live in the same neat, thatched and
whitewashed cottages. They have the same gayly colored national
costumes still in wear, and the same fairy tales, the same merry
lilting songs, so different from the melancholy strains of northern
folk music. Almost the same religion.
"The finest churches in Tarnopol belong to the Poles, who are Roman
Catholics. The Russian soldiers, many of them, seem to find the Roman
mass quite as comforting as their Orthodox rite. They stand and listen
to it humbly, crossing themselves in eastern fashion, only caring to
know that God is being worshiped in more or less the same fashion as
that to which they are accustomed. But in the Ruthenian churches they
find exactly the same ritual as their own. With their blood relations
they are upon family terms. There was an interesting exhibition in
Petrograd last year illustrating the Russian racial traits in the
Ruthenian population. Down here one recognizes these at once.
"No clearer proof could be found of the gentle, kindly character of
the Russians than the attitude toward them of the Austrian Slavs
generally. At a point close to the firing line, early this morning, I
saw three Austrian prisoners who had been 'captured' during the night.
They had, in point of fact, given themselves up. They were Serbs from
Bosnia, and they were quite happy to be in Russian hands. I saw them
again later in the day on their way to the rear, sitting by the
roadside smoking cigarettes which their escort had given them.
Captives and guardians were on the best of terms.
"The only official evidences of occupation which I noticed are notices
announcing that restaurants and cafes close at 11, and that there must
be no loud talking or playing of instruments in hotels after 10--an
edict for which I feel profoundly grateful. Signs of peaceful
penetration are to be found everywhere. The samovar (urn for making
tea) has become an institution in Galician hotels. The main street is
pervaded by small boys selling Russian newspapers or making a good
thing out of cleaning the high Russian military 'sapogee' (top boots).
They get five cents for a penny paper and ninepence or a shilling for
boot-blacking, but considering the mud of Galicia (I have been up to
my boot tops--that is, up to my knees--in it), the charge is not too
heavy, especially if the unusual dearness of living be taken into
account.
[Illustration: The Russian Offensive in Galicia.]
"Very gay this main street is of an afternoon, crowded with officers,
who come in from the trenches to enjoy life. A very pleasant lot of
young fellows they are, and very easily pleased. One I met invited me
to midday tea in his bombproof shelter in a forward trench. I accepted
gratefully and found him a charmingly gay host. He took a childlike
pleasure in showing me all the conveniences he had fitted up, and kept
on saying, 'Ah, how comfortable and peaceful it is here,' with the
sound of rifle shots and hand grenade and mine explosions in our ears
all the time.
"From highest to lowest, almost all the Russian officers I have met
are friendly and unassuming. The younger ones are delightful. There is
no drink to be had here, and therefore no foolish, tipsy loudness or
quarreling among them."
On June 18, 1916, further progress and additional large captures of
Austro-Hungarian and German prisoners were reported by the Russian
armies fighting in Volhynia, Galicia, and the Bukowina. However, both
the amount of ground gained and the number of prisoners taken were
very much slighter than had been the case during the earlier part of
the Russian offensive. This was due to the fact that the armies of the
Central Powers had received strong reenforcements and had apparently
succeeded in strengthening their new positions and in stiffening their
resistance. Powerful counterattacks were launched at many points.
One of these, according to the Russian official statement, was of
special vigor. It was directed against General Brussilov's armies
which were attempting to advance toward Lemberg, in the region of the
village of Rogovitz to the southwest of Lokatchi, about four miles to
the south of the main road from Lutsk to Vladimir-Volynski. There the
Austro-Hungarian forces in large numbers attacked in massed formation
and succeeded in breaking through the Russian front, capturing three
guns after all the men and officers in charge of them had been killed.
The Russians, however, brought up strong reenforcements and made it
necessary for the Austro-Hungarians to withdraw, capturing at the same
time some hundred prisoners, one cannon, and two machine guns.
At another point of this sector in the region of Korytynitzky,
southeast of Svinioukhi, a Russian regiment, strongly supported by
machine-gun batteries, inflicted heavy losses on the Austro-Hungarian
troops and captured four officers, a hundred soldiers, and four
machine guns.
South of this region, just to the east of Borohoff, a desperate fight
developed for the possession of a dense wood near the village of
Bojeff, which, after the most furious resistance, had to be cleared
finally by the Austro-Hungarian forces, which, during this engagement,
suffered large losses in killed and wounded, and furthermore lost one
thousand prisoners and four machine guns.
At still another point on this part of the front, just south of
Radziviloff, a Russian attack was resisted most vigorously and heavy
losses were inflicted on the attacking regiments. Here, as well as in
other places, the Austro-Hungarian-German forces employed all possible
means to stem the Russian onrush, and a large part of the losses
suffered by General Brussilov's regiments was due to the extensive use
of liquid fire.
The troops of General Lechitsky's command, after the occupation of
Czernowitz, crossed the river Pruth at many points and came frequently
in close touch with the rear guard of the retreating Austro-Hungarian
army. During the process of these engagements, about fifty officers
and more than fifteen hundred men, as well as ten guns, were captured.
Near Koutchournare, four hundred more men and some guns of heavy
caliber, as well as large amounts of munitions fell into the hands of
the Russian forces. The latter claimed also at this point the capture
of immense amounts of provisions and forage, loaded on almost one
thousand wagons. At various other points west and north of Czernowitz,
large quantities of engineering material had to be left behind at
railroad stations by the retreating Austro-Hungarian army and thus
easily became the booty of the victorious Russians.
Farther to the north, along the Styr, to the west of Kolki, in the
region of the Kovel-Rovno Railway, General von Linsingen's
Austro-German army group successfully resisted Russian attacks at some
points, launched strong counterattacks at other points, but had to
fall back before superior Russian forces at still other points.
In the northern sector of the eastern front, along the Dvina, activity
was restricted to extensive artillery duels during this day.