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[Illustration: RUSSIA'S RENOWNED CAVALRY ON THE MARCH]
IN THE RUSSIAN RANKS
A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland
BY
JOHN MORSE
_Englishman_
ILLUSTRATED WITH
REPRODUCTIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR
II THE SCENE AT KALISZ ON THE 2ND AUGUST, 1914
III THE EVENTS PRECEDING ACTUAL HOSTILITIES
IV THE FIRST FIGHT
V THE FIGHTING UP TO THE 26TH AUGUST
VI THE CAVALRY FIGHTING BEFORE KOENIGSBERG
VII THE FIRST INVASION OF EAST PRUSSIA, AND THE RETREAT
VIII THE KAISER NOT A SUCCESSFUL GENERAL
IX CHIEFLY PERSONAL MATTER
X THE FIGHTING ON THE VISTULA IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, 1914
XI THE RETREAT OF THE GERMANS FROM THE VISTULA
XII AN INFANTRY RECONNAISSANCE
XIII THE BUTCHER'S BILL TO THE END OF 1914
XIV "DO NOT FIRE ON YOUR COMRADES"
XV SMALL AFFAIRS AND PERSONAL ADVENTURES
XVI A NIGHT ATTACK ON A BRIDGE-HEAD
XVII THE FIGHTING NEAR SKYERMEVICE ON THE 3RD, 4TH, AND 5TH FEBRUARY
XVIII CHIEFLY GOSSIP
XIX THE FIGHTING BEFORE PLOCK
XX HARD MARCHING AND DESULTORY FIGHTING
XXI RECONNAISSANCE AND TRENCH FIGHTING
XXII FROM THE TRENCHES OF PRZASNYSZ TO THE CAMP OF MAKOW
XXIII A RIDE TOWARDS OSTROLENKA
XXIV A PRISONER IN GERMAN HANDS
XXV ADVENTURES DURING THE EFFORT TO ESCAPE
XXVI MY LAST DAYS IN RUSSIA
AN ENGLISHMAN IN THE RUSSIAN RANKS
CHAPTER I
THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR
On the 1st July, 1914, if I could have seen one step ahead in my life's
course, this book would not have been written. On the day named I
crossed the German frontier west of Metz; and, for the first time,
beheld the territory of the Hun.
Always a student of military matters, at this hour I loved war, and all
that pertained to war; now I loathe it with an ineradicable hate and
disgust, and hope never again to see ground crimsoned with blood.
But at this time I had heard no hint of war in the centre of Europe and
of civilization, and no thoughts were farther from my mind than those of
martial contention.
My object in going to Germany was business; but also to spend a holiday
in a country I had heard friends praise for its beauty and hospitality;
and particularly I wished to visit places renowned in history, art and
romance. Little I dreamed that I was to see a horrible blight, a foul
leprosy, settle on much that had a hallowed past for every cultivated
intellect.
I arrived at Metz from Paris via Chalons and Verdun; and, as my time and
means were both limited, I went on, after only two days' delay, to
Mayence and Frankfort, and thence to Leipzig, where I had some business
to transact. On the 16th July I was at Dresden; on the 20th at Breslau;
and on the 22nd I arrived at Ostrovo, a small German town barely ten
miles from the Russian frontier, and not more than twelve, English
measurement, from Kalisz, which is the capital of a Polish province of
the same name.
At Ostrovo I went, by previous invitation, to the house of a German
friend, from whom I received the most kindly treatment, and to whom I
owe my liberty and possibly my life. It will be obvious that I cannot
reveal the name of this person, nor the nature of my business with him.
It was my intention to remain a month at Ostrovo, which was a convenient
place from whence to make excursions to some of the most interesting
Prussian towns.
I loved the sight of armed men; and during my journey, as opportunities
occurred, I watched the soldiers I saw in the various cities I passed
through. I could not fail to notice the great difference in the military
forces of the two countries--France and Germany. On the Continent one
expects to see a more prominent display of soldiers than is usually the
case in our own quiet island home; but there was no great parade of the
military element in any of the French garrisons I passed through. In all
the large towns a force of some kind was stationed; but in so important
a place as Verdun there did not appear to be a stronger military
garrison than one would see at such stations in England as Plymouth or
Chatham. In the French fortress I saw a battalion marching to the music
of bugles. The men did not exceed 600 in number. In another part of the
town about 150 infantry were drilling; and many artillerymen were
walking about; yet the numbers showed plainly that France was not
mobilizing at this time.
As soon as the frontier was passed I saw that quite a different state of
things existed. As I left the railway-station at Metz three battalions
marched by--two of a line regiment, and a battalion of riflemen, or
jagers, distinguished by wearing shakos instead of the nearly universal
_Pickelhaube_, or spiked helmet. These battalions were quite a thousand
strong in each case. In other words, they had their full war complement
of men. A regiment of hussars was 600 strong; and field-artillery, with
fifty-six guns, besides machine-guns, extended about a mile and a half
along one of the country roads. Everywhere in Germany the towns, large
and small, were crowded with soldiers. Cavalry and artillery and long
lines of waggons lined the country highways and byways. I remarked on
this to a fellow-passenger who spoke English. His reply was that the
troops were assembling for the autumn Manoeuvres. I was sufficiently
surprised to exclaim:--
"What! Already?"
"It is rather early, but they are probably going to have preliminary
exercises in the forest-lands," was the reply.
After this I perceived the passenger was regarding me with a peculiar
air; and, recollecting certain cautions I had received concerning the
danger of making inquiries about the movements of troops on the
Continent, I did not recur to the subject.
At Dresden a large number of troops, infantry and cavalry, were
departing northward by rail and road. At Breslau at least 20,000 men of
all arms were concentrated. These circumstances had no particular
significance to my mind at the time, but a very great one a few days
later.
Even when I arrived at Ostrovo and found the country-side crowded with
troops, impending war did not occur to my thoughts, though I did ponder
on the extraordinary precautions Germany seemed to be taking to insure
the inviolability of her powerful domain. Now I know, of course, that
the mendacious Hun, with the low cunning of a murderous maniac, was
preparing for a blood-feast, before a taint of it was floating in the
surrounding air; and if it is thought that I am putting the case
strongly, I shall have that to relate shortly which would make it
remarkable if I were not to use forcible language. Blood and lust: lust
and blood--this is the awful and disgusting story I have to tell--a
story set in military surroundings which, for skill and magnitude, have
never previously been approached; but military ability and the hugeness
of the operations have only intensified the hellish misery of this the
vastest struggle the world has seen. And that it may never again see
such must be the universal prayer to God.
In Germany it is the custom to billet soldiers on the people, and most
of the houses at Ostrovo were full of men whose behaviour, even to their
own countrymen, was sickening in its utter lack of decency. Complaints
against soldiers have to be very strongly corroborated before their
officers or the magistracy of the land take serious note of them.
In my friend's house some officers of the --th regiment were lodged. With
these I speedily became on friendly terms, and, through them, with
officers of other German corps, particularly with those of a Pomeranian
artillery regiment, one of whom was a quiet and affable little
gentleman. With him I thought I might venture to discuss military
matters, and on the 28th July the following conversation took place
between us. I should premise that I cannot read or speak German and that
I had not seen an English newspaper for more than a week previously.
Certain information had been communicated to me by my friend, but I had
not been given to understand that war was imminent between Germany and
Russia, or any other nation.
"All your units are very strong," I remarked. "Is it usual for you to
embody your reserves for the manoeuvres?"
"Our troops are not on manoeuvre. We are going to fight," was the
officer's reply.
"Fight!" I exclaimed, much astonished. "Whom are you going to fight?"
"The Russians and the French."
"The two most powerful nations in the world! Are you strong enough to do
that?" I said, amazed, and hardly able to believe that I had heard
aright.
"The Austrians are going to join with us, and we shall be in Paris in a
month."
I laughed--rather scornfully, I think.
"Are you joking? Is not what you say absurd?" I asked.
"Not in the least. You will see that what I say is correct."
"But is war declared? Has the matter been discussed in the Press?"
"In this country we do not permit the Press to make the announcement of
such things. War is not declared yet, but it will be on Sunday next."
"Against Russia, you mean?" said I, astonished beyond degree of
expression.
"Yes, and against France too," replied the officer.
"But why? I have not heard that France has given cause of offence to
your country."
"She has been a standing menace to us for years, and will continue to be
so until she is completely crushed."
This is how I heard that the Great War was about to begin. I hardly
believed it, but my friend read me certain passages from German
newspapers, and the following day I received a batch of journals from my
own country, which, together, showed that the political situation of
Europe was rapidly becoming serious.
On the 30th I noticed a change of countenance on the part of most of the
officers who had been friendly with me. The young artillery officer I
have mentioned and a Colonel Swartz, who was, I believe, a Landwehr
officer of the 99th regiment, continued their friendly behaviour towards
me. Swartz was shortly afterwards killed near Turek, where his battalion
was destroyed.
Early in the evening of the 31st, a lady came to my friend's house and
strongly advised me to quit the country without delay. She gave as a
reason that she had received a letter from her brother, an officer in
the foot-guards at Berlin, in which he declared that it was well known
that the Kaiser intended to send an ultimatum to England, and that a
rupture with this country was the almost inevitable consequence. My
friend backed the lady's advice, and my own opinion was that it would be
wise of me to return home at once.
But later that night Swartz and the young officer came and declared that
it was almost impossible for me to get out of Germany by any of the
usual channels before war was declared, as nearly all the lines were
required for the movements of troops and material. Swartz said that it
would take at least four days for a civilian to reach France by railway.
I suggested a motor-car, but he thought that all motors would
immediately be confiscated--at any rate, those driven by foreigners.
The above circumstances and the date, of the correctness of which I am
quite sure, show that the German Sovereign had preconceived war, not
only with France and Russia, but also with England, before the actual
declaration of hostilities.
Down to this time, and until several days later, I did not hear Belgium
mentioned in connection with the war, and for several reasons, not the
least of which was my ignorance of the German and Russian languages,
many facts relating to the operations of the Allies on the Western line
of hostilities did not become known to me until some time after they had
taken place. It must not be forgotten that this book is in no sense a
history of the Great War, but simply a narrative of my experiences with
the Russian Army in certain areas of the Eastern line of operations.
These experiences I purpose to give in diary form, and with little or no
reference to the fighting in other parts of the war area, of which I
knew almost nothing--or at any rate, nothing that was very reliable.
All day on the 31st July it was persistently declared at Ostrovo that
war had been declared against Russia and against France, and that it
would be declared against England on the morrow, which was Saturday, the
1st August. The persons who were responsible for these assertions were
the Army officers with whom I came in contact, and the people generally
of all classes. Not a word was said about Belgium.
On the afternoon of the 1st August the Kaiser is said to have ordered
the mobilization of the German Army. The German Army was already
mobilized so far as the Russian frontier was concerned, and had been so
for eight or nine days. On the line between Neustadt-Baranow, a distance
of about eighty English miles, there were concentrated five army corps,
with three cavalry divisions, about 250,000 men. These were supported by
two corps between Breslau and Glogau, two more at Posen, a large force
at Oppeln, and other troops at Oels, Tarnowitz, and places which I need
not name here. My calculation was that about 1,000,000 men were ready to
act on the line Neustadt-Tchenstochow. There was another 2,000,000 on
the line of frontier running northward through Thorn and East Prussia to
the Baltic, and probably a fourth million in reserve to support any
portion of the line indicated; and what was worth at least another
2,000,000 men to Germany was the fact that she _could move any portion
of these troops ten times more quickly than Russia could move her
forces_. It is officially stated that only 1,500,000 Germans were in
line in August. I think that my estimate is correct.
Meanwhile, conscious that I had not permitted myself to be over-cautious
in acquiring a dangerous knowledge, I was particularly anxious to leave
Germany as speedily as possible. Chance had brought me to what was to
become one of the most important points of the operations between
Prussia and Russia, and chance greatly favoured my escape from what I
began to fear was an awkward trap. Had I known what a nation of fiends
the Germans were going to prove themselves, my anxiety would have been
greatly increased. Thank God there is no race on earth in which all are
bad, all devoid of the attributes of humanity.
Late on the night of the 1st August (after I was in bed, indeed) the
young artillery officer I have several times mentioned came to my
friend's house. I do not think it would be wise or kind on my part to
mention his name, as he may still be alive. He was accompanied by Swartz
and a servant, with two horses, and recommended that I should cross the
Russian frontier immediately, as all Englishmen in Germany were in
danger of being interned. War with England was assumed by everybody to
be inevitable, insomuch that, being ignorant of the true state of
affairs, I assumed that an ultimatum had been sent to Germany by the
British Government. I was told that many leading German papers asserted
that it had been so sent.
I consented to leave at once, with the object of trying to reach Kalisz,
and from there taking train to Riga, where, it was thought, I should
find no difficulty in getting a steamboat passage to England. It is only
twelve miles by railway from Ostrovo to Kalisz, but the line was already
occupied by troops, "and," said the officers, "our forces will occupy
the Russian town before daybreak to-morrow."