I ended the day at the railway station, where the Russian wounded just
brought in were being attended to while the cannon sounded from time
to time not far off. Several lay on stretchers in the corridors and
others on pallets in the ambulance room, all still in their greatcoats
and with their kits lying beneath them. I had no conversations here;
there was too much pain, one could only sit by the sufferers or perhaps
help them to change their position. First aid had been given elsewhere,
but this was the stage when the wounds seem to be felt most. There was
wonderfully little complaining. Most were silent, except when a helping
hand was needed. One man shot through the chest told me that "By the
grace of God, it was nothing to matter." It was always a satisfaction
to the men that they had been wounded while attacking. A general walked
quickly round, distributing cigarettes, which he put in the men's
mouths and himself lighted.
In the night the cannonade sounded close to the town, but seemed
farther off again next morning.
To-day I also went round a hospital with the dressers. The work was
quickly executed, but much of it was very complicated. One does not
describe such scenes, not so much because of the ugly character of
many of the wounds, nor because of the end impending over many of the
patients. To this last the Russian soldier's attitude is simple--_gilt
es dir, oder gilt es mir_. He will speak of it as "going to America,"
the undiscovered country. But all these things come to be forgotten
in the atmosphere of work. Here all the resources of life are
going forward in their own slow way, for they can have no quicker,
handicapped and outpaced in their struggle to keep up with the work of
death.
General Radko Dmitriev is a short and sturdily built man with quick
brown eyes and a profile reminiscent of Napoleon. He talks quickly
and shortly, sometimes drums on the table with his fingers, and now
and then makes a rapid dash for the matches. The daily visit of the
Chief of the Staff is short, because, as the General says on his
return, simple business is done quickly. Every piece of his incisive
conversation holds together as part of a single and clear view of the
whole military position, of which the watchword is "Forward."
It is only the heavy rains that have saved the retreating Austrians
from further losses. The roads are so broken up and so deep with mud
that any quick movement is impossible. This gives the occasion for a
useful rest. The cold weather--and it is freezing now--will be welcomed
on this side; and the Russian winter kits, which have already been
served out, are immeasurably better than the thin blue greatcoats of
the draggled and demoralized Austrians.
Numbers of Austrian units are so reduced that they are only shadows
of what they were, and some seem to have disappeared altogether. The
ordinary drafts came in some time ago and are now exhausted--such is
the testimony of Austrian officers. The new Russian recruits, on the
contrary, will join the colors shortly.
* * * * *
From the beginning of the war, Bosnians, who are really Serbians,
surrendered in large numbers. Then the Poles began to come in, and now
the Bohemians. The Hungarians are sure to go on to the end; but the
Roumanian and Italian soldiers of Austria have also come over very
easily. In front of Cracow a Russian officer under fire came on a whole
number of Bohemians who were singing the "Sokol" songs and shouted a
greeting as they came into the Russian lines.
* * * * *
These wholesale surrenders have, I think, an extremely interesting
political significance. When governments turned the whole people into
an army, it was clear that the army was also being turned into the
people; but it was not clear how the people could express itself when
under army discipline. These surrenders, in their general character
and in their differences of detail, are a picture of the feelings and
aspirations of the various nationalities which are bundled together
under the name of Austria.
* * * * *
At this Staff, as at the General Staff, life was very simple. We all
met twice a day for a plain meal without any alcohol; there was plenty
of conversation, but it was that of men engaged in responsible work;
any news from outside was welcome, especially from the western allies,
and there was full appreciation and sympathy for their hard task.
There was plenty of news from other quarters of the Russian front,
and one could have a much juster and fuller perspective of how things
were going than anywhere behind the army; the two things which stood
out even more here than elsewhere were, on the one hand, the immensity
of the sacrifices which have been asked and are being cheerfully made
by Russia, and, on the other, the sense of quiet confidence as to the
ultimate result.