THE CAVALRY FIGHTING BEFORE KOENIGSBERG
The battery to which I had attached myself was destroyed on the 26th. It
was overwhelmed by an opposing fire which nothing could withstand, and
an attempt was made to withdraw it. It was found impossible to limber up
the guns: all the horses were killed, and only five or six of the
drivers left. All the guns, too, were damaged; and Polchow, the
commanding officer, gave the order for the few men left to endeavour to
save themselves. As the words were being spoken a shell burst full on
him, and, riddled by shrapnel bullets, he dropped dead without a
struggle. About 20 men only got away and no horses were saved. My own
was shot the moment I mounted it, and pinned me to the ground by its
weight. I was exposed to the full blast of the German guns for nearly
two hours. Partly shielded by the carcass I escaped injury, though my
clothes were torn to rags by shrapnel bullets. The escape was
miraculous. By-and-by the Germans fell back, after suffering murderous
losses; and I was rescued from my perilous position by some infantry
soldiers of the 70th regiment.
The loss of Polchow was a serious one to me, although I had known him so
short a time, to say nothing of the shock of losing a friend from whose
hands I had received many kindnesses. Other friends, too, were lost in
these terrible fights, but the non-com. Chouraski escaped, though he was
standing near one of our ammunition-carts when it was struck by a shell
and blown up.
After dark a party went out to bring in the bodies of Major Polchow and
two other artillery officers who had lost their lives during the day. It
was raining heavily at the time; but the Germans heard us, and opened a
sniping fire, by which we lost one man killed and another wounded.
We returned the fire, but had nothing to aim at except the occasional
flash of a rifle; so we retired, carrying the bodies of our dead
comrades with us, and buried them in the middle of a small pine-copse,
with rough wooden crosses at the heads of the graves, on which we hung
their caps and accoutrements after the custom prevailing during this
campaign. The Russians always scrupulously revered German graves so
marked: I am sorry to record that the Germans were not so humane, but
hurt the feelings and aroused the ire of us all, men and officers alike,
by their beastly indecencies on the graves of brave men, the very
meanest of whom would have blushed to be so dirty-minded and cowardly.
The battery was ordered to be reformed, men, guns and horses being drawn
from some reserves which, I believe, came via Petrograd; but as I would
not have cared to serve under the officer appointed to command it, I
sought and obtained from a Staff Officer a permit, signed by the Grand
Duke Nicholas, enabling me to go practically where I liked. For a time I
was with the 11th Corps, then with the 5th, and afterwards with several
detachments and corps. It was a fortunate thing that I followed this
course, as it enabled me to see much more and learn more than I could
have done had I remained attached to a small unit.
On the 27th and 28th there was very severe fighting in the direction of
Villenberg, at which I was not present. At least 20,000 prisoners were
brought to the rear, together with a number of horses, guns and waggons.
There can be no doubt but that the Germans received a severe defeat on
these two days and were compelled to retire a great distance in a
disorganized condition.
During these two days enormous reinforcements came up on the Russian
side, including four cavalry divisions. There was great enthusiasm in
our ranks, because news came to hand that the Russians had the Austrian
army in a trap, and we might expect to hear of great things before the
week had run out.
On the 29th I rode with the 5th division of the Cossacks of the Don, and
by midday we had arrived in front of Allenstein, which is a junction of
five or six railway lines and is situated about 70 English miles from
Koenigsberg.
The people flew before us terror-stricken, and a regiment of German
hussars was destroyed. I am afraid there were some atrocities on the
part of the Cossacks. Without defending them I must remark that the
Prussians had set them a very bad example, and they were not slow to
imitate it. Villages were burnt and some civilians slain, and there were
some other lamentable occurrences.
A German brigade of heavy cavalry fell back, and the railway-station
together with a considerable part of the town of Allenstein were
destroyed, partly by fire, partly by being blown up; while the lines
were torn up in every direction; but this does not mean that the
destruction was as great as it would be under similar circumstances in
France or England, for the district is not a country of many culverts
and bridges. The ground is marshy, with numerous pools and lakes of
considerable size, which afforded good shelter to such German troops as
were seen, and enabled them to retire without much loss; in fact there
was scarcely any fighting on this day, and it became evident that they
were waiting for reinforcements before venturing to attack the
overwhelming mass of Russian cavalry, which was the largest body of
horsemen I have ever heard of as acting in one huge corps. Probably they
mustered 40,000 lances and sabres, and they covered the whole country on
a front of quite 100 versts, extending from Allenstein to Goldapp near
Suvalki.
The whole of this region is a swamp with a crescentic line of lakes and
ponds--a difficult country for cavalry to act in; but the Cossacks crept
in everywhere, and fire and lance did some fell work.
In some places there was fighting. On the 30th we came in contact with a
division of Prussian infantry with 60 guns. Our men, consisting of
dismounted Cossacks, dragoons and chasseurs, with 30 horse-artillery and
machine guns, took cover amongst some reeds and scattered farm buildings
and inflicted some loss on the enemy, who did not make a stand but soon
withdrew behind a marshy lake, their guns taking a made road where they
offered a good mark, so that a couple of them were knocked over, horses
and all, though the enemy saved them under cover of darkness.
At night the railway-station at Bischofsburg was destroyed and the line
torn up for a distance of four versts east and west of it; and we
learned that our patrols had demolished the stations at Sensburg,
Rastenburg, Latzen and Nordenburg, and had pulled up many versts of the
line. We ourselves blew up the station at Seeburg, or Seeburg Road as it
might be called, for the town is situated several versts from the
railway. Altogether we seemed to be having a walk-over in this region,
and when news arrived on the 2nd September that the Russians, after a
week's fighting, had crushed the Austrian Army and occupied Lemberg, the
excitement and joy in our division were such as I never before thought
the phlegmatic Muscovites to be capable of, and I began to entertain the
belief that the campaign would be a short one, and that the boast of the
Russians that we should be in Berlin in two or three weeks' time was no
vain one.
On this day our videttes were at Friedland, and we learned that the
Prussians had come out of Koenigsburg in force, and that there had been
severe fighting ending in the enemy retiring to the shelter of their
forts. The Russian commanders, however, do not seem to have thought it
advisable to pursue the foe to within range of their guns. On the 3rd we
approached near enough to be able to see two of the outlying forts of
the great stronghold. Many parties of Germans watched the dozen troopers
composing our advanced guard; but there was no exchange of shots. We
satisfied ourselves that certain dispositions of the enemy were intended
as a lure to attract a considerable body of our troops within
destructive range of their concealed parties. We smelt the trap and
declined to be led into it, but one of our officers, Lieutenant
Pitchchiff, with great temerity rode up to an eminence which gave him a
great command of view and was less than 200 yards from a company of the
enemy. He was not shot at, but a number of mounted men rode towards him,
and to avoid being taken prisoner he had to come away at a hand gallop.
I do not think the information he gleaned was of much importance.
The officer I came most in contact with was Captain Rudovka of the 16th
Dragoons, but acting as intelligence officer to the commander of the 5th
division of Cossacks. His bad English and my worse French enabled us to
understand one another, and his duties, carrying him as they did over a
great deal of ground, made him a very desirable companion. I had
permission also to keep the artilleryman Chouraski with me. He was an
excellent servant.
The Russian officer is usually a splendid fellow; jovial, polite,
generous and frank in a high degree. He is not so well versed in the
history and theory of his profession as the German officer, and not a
patch on his British comrade, who, after all is said and done, is the
finest officer in the world. As to pluck and courage, there is not an
appreciable difference in any of the armies. I witnessed some
magnificent instances of bravery in both Germans and Russians; and truth
to tell, acts of devilish cruelty in both nations--acts which I do not
believe it is possible either French or British officers could commit,
however great the provocation.
There are peculiarities in all peoples; and one of those of the Russians
is the number of females serving in their ranks, many of them as
officers. Indeed, I heard that one lady commanded a regiment of
Cossacks! This seems to me on a par with a General nursing a baby! But I
never was "a lady's man," so perhaps I had better reserve my opinions.
All I say is that I am glad the lady referred to was not the Colonel of
any regiment under the wings of which I fought; and I should imagine
that any "mere male" brought before a court-martial of Amazons would
stand more danger of being spanked than shot.
I saw some of these female soldiers--quite a score in all. There was
nothing particularly romantic in the appearance of any of them. Most of
them had the appearance of big, lanky raw-boned boys; faces oval,
features "puddeny," and complexions pale. One girl, said to be only
eighteen years old, was quite six feet high, with limbs that would fit
a grenadier. I noticed that all those I saw were dark-haired women. They
are said to have been enlisted as men and to have remained in their
regiments some time before their sex was discovered. When this event
took place the woman was allowed to remain in the service. I was a
little curious to know where these ladies lodged, as accommodation is
always limited enough in the tented field. I found that, in the case I
was so rude as to pry into, the girl slept amongst the soldiers, but was
relegated to a tent occupied exclusively by married men. My admiration
was great. The wisdom of the East still reigns in Muscovite brains.
Where else would one find the wisdom of the serpent combined with the
harmlessness of the dove but in a tent full of married men unless,
indeed, it would be in a tent full of married ladies?
The Northern nations are not prudish in the matter of housing the sexes
together. Men and women sleep promiscuously in one compartment in their
cottage, farms, etc.
For some days the centre of fighting was in Austrian Poland and Galicia,
of which we could see nothing. There was also a powerful advance across
the German frontier in the direction of Breslau. More weight was given
to these evolutions than they deserved. For a time the Russian attacks
were irresistible, but the Germans invariably succeeded in stemming
them. The reason lies in a nutshell. The enormous weight of millions
forced the enemy back; but he always retired slowly, doggedly; and when
he had collected a sufficient force made a determined counter-attack
which never failed, because man for man the German is by far the better
fighter. It may be unpleasant to many to hear this; but it is true; and
no man is more sorry than I am that it is so. The German is, generally
speaking, a ferocious brute, but he is possessed of the bestial courage
of a tiger, and, like that fierce animal, has an insatiable taste for
blood. To say that the German Army is an organized band of criminals, a
trained body of thieves and murderers, may seem to be far-fetched and
exaggerated to some persons; but if they had witnessed what I have
witnessed they would not say so.
Young Polish girls were forced to drink until they were helplessly
drunk, and in this dreadful condition were outraged to death. The body
of an aged female (no doubt a matron) was found hanging from a tree by
the feet, disembowelled and trussed as a hog, with this notice pinned to
her, "An old sow left to be salted." A whole company of Prussian
infantry abused one poor woman who died in our camp. In one village
about 150 men and male children, down to the age of nine or ten years,
were burned alive. In another place, a small hamlet near Shiplishki, we
heard the screams of burning people, and afterwards saw the charred
remains of them. These are not isolated instances: they were of everyday
occurrence, but I do not dwell on them for fear of exciting disgust. The
murder and mutilation of the wounded was invariable when the enemy had
time to effect it, and we became to some degree hardened to such
commonplace occurrences.
On the other hand, the Russians retaliated; and I say, what wonder that
they did so? I believe in retaliation. It is a powerful weapon to fight
with. It frightened the Germans and afterwards, to a very marked extent,
put a check on their atrocities. I stood by and saw 10 officers and 100
soldiers hanged; and as I did so I remembered that the first murders I
witnessed in this horrible war were those of Russian subjects by the
Germans at Kalisz; and if by holding up a thumb I could have saved the
life of any one of these 110 scoundrels, I would not have lifted it.
These were all clearly guilty of murder, wounding, torturing, female
abusing, and plundering. Still I must say, with regard to the
Cossacks--they are terrible fellows.
I have mentioned as a peculiarity of the Russian forces the number of
women found in their ranks and welcomed there. The great peculiarities
of the German Army, apart from its fiendish brutality, are the
prevalence of suicide and insanity in it. Some months later than the
time I am writing of, a captured German officer, a Lieutenant, I
believe, of a Landwehr regiment, told me that down to the end of
February, 1915, at least a thousand men had destroyed themselves; and he
mentioned it as a curious fact that hardly any of these miserable
creatures belonged to the artillery branch of the service. The reasons
for destroying themselves were rarely left behind by the victims of this
terrible infatuation. Some of our prisoners destroyed themselves; and I
saw one man shoot himself on the battlefield. But in this latter
instance horror at the sights around him was the probable cause of the
deed.
Insanity is even more frequent amongst German soldiers than suicide. At
the battle of Darkehmen a man, quite naked, foaming and gesticulating
wildly, rushed towards us. The astonishment this excited caused a lull
of the firing at the spot, and he dashed along for 500 yards at a
tremendous speed, leaping and springing like a stag. He made straight
for our ranks, where he was knocked down by a soldier and secured. He
bit very badly several of his captors before being carried to the rear.
I do not know what became of him; but hundreds of our prisoners were
raving when captured.