THE EVENTS PRECEDING ACTUAL HOSTILITIES
Why were there no Russian soldiers in the neighbourhood of Kalisz in the
beginning of August, 1914? The answer is simple.
Kalisz is an open town, with a single line running to Warsaw,
140 miles, via Lodz and Lowicz. The nearest branch lines are the
Warsaw-Tchenstochow on the south, with nearest point to Kalisz about
ninety English miles away; and the Warsaw-Plock line to Thorn, with
nearest point to Kalisz, also about ninety miles. So far as transport
was concerned, the Russians were not in it at all.
For on the German side of the frontier there is a complete and very
elaborate network of railways, so that the Teuton could mass 1,000,000
men on Kalisz long before the Muscovite could transport 100,000 there.
This is what harassed the last-named Power--want of railways. Wherever
they tried to concentrate, the Germans were before them, and in
overwhelming numbers. It is her elaborate railway system that has
enabled Germany to get the utmost from her armies--to get the work of
two or three corps, and in some cases even more, out of one. Her
railways have practically doubled her armed force--this at least.
The Germans are masters of the art of war, and have been so for fifty
years; the Russians are hard fighters, but they are not scientific
soldiers. The Germans have consolidated and perfected everything that
relates to armed science; the Russians have trusted too much to their
weight of numbers. Yet the Bear, though a slow and dull animal, has
devilish long and strong claws; and, like another animal engaged in this
contest for the existence of the world, has the habit so provoking to
his enemies, of never knowing when he is beaten.
The reason, then, that there was no sufficient force, if any force at
all, near Kalisz when the treacherous Teuton suddenly sprung hostilities
upon her on the 1st August, 1914, was that the Muscovite, through apathy
inherited from his Asiatic ancestors, combined with a paucity of money,
had no railways, while his opponent had one of the most complete systems
of locomotive transport for men and material that is to be found in the
whole world.
It was its isolated situation and great distance from a base that made
Kalisz the weak point on the Russian frontier, and the German Eagle saw
this and swooped on it as a bird of prey on a damless lamb.
But the Russian base, if distant, was strong, and the force and material
at Warsaw was powerful and great, and was in ponderous motion long
before the Vulture had picked clean the bones of her first victim.
Russia has no great fortress on the German frontier. This is another
serious fault of defence. Railways and fortresses are the need of the
Northern Power to enable her to control effectually the bird of ill omen
which has so long hovered over Central Europe, unless that bird is to
die for all time, which is what should be, and which is what will be,
unless the folly of the nations is incurable.
After witnessing the terrible scene described in the last chapter my
feelings of insecurity and uncertainty were greatly increased. By means
of a plan in my possession I found my way to the railway-station. It was
in the hands of the German troops, thousands of whom crowded the
building and its vicinity, and a glance was sufficient to show that I
could not leave Kalisz by means of the railway. According to my plan,
there were stations further up the line in an easterly direction, some
of them at no great distance from Kalisz; but I felt sure these would be
occupied by the Germans before I could reach them.
Personal safety required that I should make an immediate effort to
escape. More than once I had noticed Teutonic eyes regarding me with
suspicious glances--at least, so I thought--and I quite realized that
delay would be dangerous.
Re-entering the town, which is a place of about 25,000 inhabitants, I
reached the open country to the north through back streets, resolved to
endeavour to reach Lodz by making a wide detour from the line, which was
sure to be occupied by the hostile troops. What reception I should meet
with from the hands of the Russian soldiers I could not tell, but I
felt sure that it would not be worse than that I might expect from their
foes.
By this time it was past midday, and the streets of Kalisz were nearly
deserted. I saw only one or two male fugitives hurrying along,
apparently bent, like myself, on escape. As soon as I reached a retired
spot I tore my maps and plans to shreds and threw them away. I had no
doubt what it would mean to be caught with such things on me.
Patrols of cavalry, Uhlans and hussars, were scouring the country in all
directions. Peasants in the fields were running together, and the
hussars beat many of them with their sabres, but I do not think they
killed any at this time. The Uhlans wounded some by tearing them down
with the hooks with which the staves of their lances are furnished, and
I saw a party of them amusing themselves by rending the clothes off a
poor old woman who was working in one of the fields.
Perceiving that it would be impossible to avoid these cavalrymen, I
looked about for a hiding-place. There was a range of low buildings
about a quarter of a mile from the ditch in which I was crouching. The
place seemed to be a farm, with a number of barns or sheds on one side
of it, some of which were scattered about irregularly. I reached the
nearest of these without attracting notice, and found there a weeping
woman and two men, one of whom was bleeding badly from wounds on the
head and face. They looked at me, and the unhurt man said something
which I did not understand. A party of hussars was riding towards the
shed. As a forlorn chance of escape, I lay down on the floor and pulled
some straw over me as well as I could. Apparently the men and woman ran
away, and by so doing diverted the attention of the hussars from the
shed. I lay there till dusk, when the unhurt man and the woman came back
carrying a bowl of milk and some coarse bread, which they gave to me. I
was very glad of it, having tasted nothing since the morning. They
spoke, but chiefly together, as they perceived that I could not
understand them.
Soon afterwards, expressing my thanks as well as I could, I left the
shed and proceeded on my way towards Lodz. There was sufficient light to
enable me to preserve a general direction and to avoid the numerous
parties of German cavalry which were patrolling the country, but long
before the night was over I had got beyond these. I do not think they
extended more than ten or twelve miles beyond the points at which they
had invaded Poland.
During the night I met with no adventures more serious than floundering
into several water-courses and falling into a couple of ditches in
endeavouring to jump them, for the ditches are very wide and deep in
this country. To avoid such accidents, I afterwards kept to the roads.
These are not bounded by hedges or fences of any kind, and there was
nearly an entire absence of bridges. Arriving at a brook, the traveller
might or might not find stepping-stones. In the absence of these, one
had to wade through the water, which in one case I experienced at this
time came nearly up to the knees.
I could not know, of course, if the people knew that a state of war
existed, but I saw no watchmen or police about the few hamlets and the
villages I passed through. Once I was attacked by a couple of very
fierce dogs, and was compelled to kill one of them to get free; but
until after four o'clock the next morning no men appeared. A few of
those who saluted me seemed surprised that I did not make a reply, but I
could only raise my hat, and by doing so I perhaps occasioned greater
astonishment than I would have done by entirely ignoring them.
There were hardly any trees in this country. The farms and isolated
houses were usually marked by a poplar or two and a clump of willows,
and there were some willows along the courses of the streams. The
buildings, except the churches, were generally very low-pitched, and
there was a singular paucity of chimneys, since stoves were the nearly
universal means of warming the rooms; indeed, I saw stoves in this
country which were almost rooms in themselves, with sleeping-places
above the flues. Turf was the chief fuel used, and the dried droppings
of horses and cattle.
There was a shower of rain during the night, but the morning broke clear
and bright, and it was daylight long before I was as far beyond the
reach of the Huns as I could have wished to be. The country seemed to be
very sparsely peopled. The peasantry were early risers, and most of
them seemed to be in the fields before five o'clock. The crops were to a
great extent cut, and some were in process of cartage in heavy waggons.
It was a very hot day.
About ten o'clock I stopped at the door of a farm and made signs that I
wanted food and drink. I was afraid to offer German money, though this
would probably have been better understood than the tender of an English
sovereign. The man took the coin, looked at it, bit it, and rubbed it,
and handed it to a group of women and girls--his mother, wife and
daughters, I thought. The image of His Majesty King George was evidently
taken to be that of the Czar; but the denomination of the coin puzzled
the farmer and excited great curiosity amongst the women. However, my
wants were understood, and I obtained butter, bread, tea and cheese of a
kind I had never previously eaten, and also some excellent honeycomb,
but no kind of meat. The farmer wanted me to take back the sovereign,
but it was so evidently coveted by his wife that I pressed it upon her
until she pocketed it. In return I brought away as much provision as I
could carry.
Before midday I thought I had walked about thirty miles, though not in a
direct line. By this time I had arrived at a river which I knew must be
the Warta. It was not very wide, but the banks where I struck it were
deep, and crumbling away; and the stream was unfordable. Not knowing
what else to do I turned southwards along its banks towards Sieradz,
hoping to reach a village where I might be ferried across; but just as
I was about to enter a small hamlet, I was confronted by two policemen.
They jabbered at me and I jabbered at them; but if ever "No nonsense"
were seen in a human countenance I saw it in that of policeman No. 1. I
produced my passports. One of these gave me permission to cross the
Russian frontier; but as it was obtained in Germany I would, under the
circumstances, have gladly suppressed it. Unfortunately it was folded up
with the English-German document, and I was not sharp enough to separate
them before No. 1 sighted the document, and demanded it with an
impatient gesture. This he could read, but the other puzzled him; not
that this circumstance interfered with the promptitude of his action. I
saw with half an eye that I had to go somewhere with this Russian
policeman: and the "somewhere" proved to be the lock-up in a tiny hamlet
the name of which I never learned.
This wretched hole was three-parts under ground, about seven feet long,
and scarcely four wide--a den evidently designed for torture: for one
could not turn round in it without difficulty; and how to sleep in such
a place puzzled me, though I was spared the ordeal of having to do so.
For a few hours after I was incarcerated I was fetched out and handed
over to the charge of five mounted cossacks, the leader seeming to be a
corporal. I was handcuffed to the stirrups of this gentleman and one of
his comrades, an arrangement which gave me the option of walking or
being dragged along. All the party carried villainous-looking whips in
addition to rifles, sabres and lances. But they did not force the pace,
and when we had gone about five miles we overtook a light cart, which
the corporal stopped, and placed me therein. We then travelled at the
rate of eight or nine miles an hour, halting at a roadside inn for
drink, which I paid for with another English sovereign. Again the coin
excited much curiosity, but the corporal saw that I obtained a fair
amount of change in Russian money and I was civilly treated on the
whole.
In less than two hours we arrived at the small town of Szadek, though I
did not know the name of the place at the time. It is only twenty
English miles (twenty-seven versts) from Lodz, and here for the first
time since crossing the German frontier I saw Russian troops in force. I
did not have the opportunity of seeing the strength of these troops; but
Szadek was full of infantry, and we passed a great many tents before
entering the town. It was nightfall when we arrived; but I was
immediately taken to an hotel and questioned by an officer of General
rank. Finding that I could not speak Russian, he tried German, and I
said, in the best French I could muster, that I was an Englishman. I am
not sufficient master of the polite language of Europe to carry on a
conversation in it, so the officer sent for a Russian Major, Polchow,
who spoke English fluently, and he acted as interpreter.
My story was listened to with great interest, especially those parts of
it which related to the movements and conduct of the German troops and
the murder of citizens at Kalisz. I underwent a lengthened
cross-examination, and, I suppose, the nature of my communications
becoming known, the room was speedily crowded by officers, most of them
evidently of high rank. It was after midnight before I was dismissed,
having, I could see, made a favourable impression on all those who were
present. It was then I learned, to my great relief, that the German
accounts of the destruction of London, etc., were falsehoods. "As yet
there is no war between Germany and England; but there will be in a few
days," said the General.
Speaking through Major Polchow, the General further said, "You have come
to Russia for help and protection: you shall have them. What do you
wish?" In reply I said that I desired to return to my own country as
speedily as possible, but that if the Germans, being near at hand, came
up before arrangements could be made for my departure, I should be glad
to use a rifle against them.
It was then explained to me that all the inn accommodation in Szadek
being taken up I could be offered only a tent lodging, but that every
endeavour would be made to render me comfortable. Then Major Polchow
offered to look after me, and I accompanied him to a private house where
he was billeted.
I much regret that I have forgotten the name of this obliging officer
before whom I was examined, which name, a very unpronounceable one, was
only casually mentioned, and was forgotten in the excitement of the
events which immediately followed.
Polchow was an artillery officer, attached to a South Russian regiment,
but afterwards to an East Russian regiment, which lost all its
officers--with one or two exceptions at any rate. I was entertained by
him most royally.
On the following day I underwent another long examination before an
Adjutant of the Grand Duke Nicholas and a large number of Staff
officers, and was much complimented on my adventures and the value of
the information I was able to give. These matters I must ask to be
excused for passing over with bare mention. I expected to have had an
interview with the Grand Duke himself; but he departed that evening
without my having seen him.
The offer was made to send me on to Riga or Libau, or any port I might
choose; and to facilitate my departure to my own country; but I am an
Englishman, thank God, and I was not inclined to turn my back on my
country's foes until I had seen the whites of their eyes and let them
see mine. For by this time we were beginning to learn something of
German dirt, and German cruelty.