CHIEFLY GOSSIP
The 5th February, 1915, closed with the heavy booming of siege artillery
used as field-pieces. What the artillery of the future will be we may
foresee from the experiences of the present war. It will be limited in
the size of the guns only by the endurance of the pieces, and the power
of man to move them. The howitzers used to throw the "Jack Johnsons" are
said to be pieces of 23-1/2-inch calibre: if they are so it is not
likely that they can throw more than fifty or sixty shells before it is
necessary to reline them. Huge guns are very speedily worn out, and are
not, therefore, of much value except for particular purposes--chiefly
the smashing of forts in siege operations. But 6-inch, and even 8-inch,
guns have been freely used in this campaign; and before such ordnance,
driven by mechanical means, no field-guns can stand, no field-batteries
exist. It is probable, therefore, that this is the last great war in
which horsed batteries will take a part. It will be one of the "lessons
of the war" that only heavy guns are of much use on the field of battle.
I am digressing a little. At first we thought the night cannonade of the
5th was a prelude to another attack; but about ten o'clock at night it
ceased; and save for the groans and cries of the wounded the night was
almost quiet. Our Red Cross men were out all night; and the German men
until a couple of hours before daybreak. We removed all our wounded that
we could find: the enemy left their worst cases to die on the field. The
Russians saved all they could; but strict orders were given to our men
not to approach near the German lines.
I should note, perhaps, that while in the West the Allies' and the
German trenches are said to often be within a few yards of each other,
this was seldom the case in the East. There was generally a considerable
space between the two lines: here near Skyermevice it amounted to 3,000
yards; but the Germans had advanced trenches in which they massed their
men when about to make an assault. Evidently trench warfare is not so
highly developed or so much resorted to in the East as it appears to be
in the West. The vast numbers of the Russians, and the circumstance that
the scene of actual fighting is constantly shifting over a very long
front, are the probable causes of this. Another cause was the extreme
hardness of the earth, which made it impossible to dig fresh trenches
during the winter-time.
It has been said that there is no such word as "impossible" in the
military vocabulary; but the forces of Nature are frequently not to be
overcome, even by military pluck and perseverance. Not even a soldier
can dig holes in solid steel; and the ground in Poland was hardly less
solid and difficult to work: hence trenches were not made after the
early days of December, nor the dead buried as a rule.
Field-works were made in various ways. Abattis, covered with barbed
wire, were very common; and batteries formed of sand-bags; but neither
were very successful. High explosive shells dashed the trees of the
abattis to atoms, and drove the fragments back on the defenders, causing
many casualties; and something similar occurred in the case of the
sand-bags, which were torn to pieces, and dashed right and left,
blinding many men. So during the winter, the rule was to stick to the
old trenches; or occupy those naturally formed by hollows of the ground,
or the deep banks of water-courses, the streams of which were usually
firmly frozen. As wet could not soak away through the frozen ground the
condition at the bottoms of those trenches which had been occupied for
any length of time was filthy in the extreme. Dirty water, blood and
refuse, was being continually added to the loathsomeness already
existing, and this, and the constant trampling of the men, prevented the
freezing of the mass; and I consider it simply wonderful that there was
no serious outbreak of sickness amongst us. But Russian doctors and
Russian officers are becoming fully conscious of the value of sanitation
amongst troops; and the soldiers were kept as clean and well looked
after as circumstances would permit. Moreover, the huge numbers of men
admitted of frequent changes of those serving in the trenches; and they
were never in these miserable burrows for any great length of time.
As the fighting seemed to be over for a time, I went to the rear with
the intention of obtaining some rest. The tiring nature of the work in
which we had been engaged may be inferred from the circumstance that in
rear of the trenches I found an entire regiment bivouacked, lying on the
snow fast asleep to a man, with their knapsacks for pillows. As they
were huddled close together they probably enjoyed an amount of mutual
warmth, though the day was a bitterly cold one.
I sought more comfortable quarters, and found them in an old broken-down
waggon and a handful of straw. Here I slept as only the utterly weary
can sleep, and did not awake until twenty-one hours had passed away.
When I did open my eyes I found myself wedged in between three soldiers
who had not seen letting me enjoy such splendid accommodation all to
myself.
I got up, shook myself together, and went in search of the battalion and
breakfast. Sawmine, not knowing what had become of me, had thought I
must be killed. He was rather downhearted: for the loss of the best men
and officers had been enormous; the survivors, however, were generally
cheering themselves with the hope that the Czar would shortly pay us a
visit, and distribute rewards to those who thought they had earned them.
He was known to be journeying along the front; and it was confidently
expected that he would appear amongst us within the space of a few days.
The scenes behind the trenches were simply awful. Transport was much
congested, and the majority of the wounded were still unremoved to
hospital. The field-tents were crowded to excess, the surgeons hardly
able to move about, and much impeded in their operations. Outside one
tent a great heap of arms and legs which had been amputated lay on the
ground; and I saw several men carried away who had died under the
operator's knife. Many of the injured men lay on straw in the open air;
others were stretched on the bare ground. These were considered to be
the milder cases, the most badly injured being allotted the first
attention and the best accommodation. But many of these mild cases were
bad enough to shock anybody with a tender heart; and I particularly
noted the great number of men who were suffering from injuries to the
head and eyes. Several had both eyes shot out, and scores had lost one.
These had received temporary dressing; but were mostly in great pain. Of
course I did what I could for them; but that was not much, as I was
without materials and instruments. Fortunately, in one of the tents
there was a doctor whom I knew by sight. I made motions to indicate what
I required, and he did not raise any objection to my taking a quantity
of bandages and other things. With the aid of these I succeeded in
making some of the waiting men more comfortable, being greatly assisted
by two countrywomen who were also helping these unfortunate men.
It evidently puzzled these people that a foreigner, who could not speak
their language, should be amongst them; but they soon decided that I was
an Englishman; I had acquired Russian enough to understand that; and
they were all very grateful, those that did not require attention not
the least so: for they all realized that what was done was done for
their beloved Russia--a holy land in the opinion of every true
Muscovite.
Some days elapsed before all the wounded could be removed, and sent back
to base hospitals. All, Russians and Germans, received precisely similar
treatment, and were seen to as they came to hand, without any
preference, national or otherwise.
One of the surprising events of this time was that several Russian
aeroplanes appeared over our lines, and troubled the minds (though, I am
afraid, not the bodies) of the enemy a good deal. They were useful for
two reasons, if for no other--they distracted the Germans, and caused
them a great waste of ammunition. I am sure tens of thousands of
rifle-cartridges were fired at them, and hundreds of rounds of big-gun
shells. They all missed the pigeon, and did not even hit the crow! It is
fair to add that I do not think that our dropped bombs did much hurt. It
is true we heard a good deal about wrecked troop-trains, blown-up
tumbrels, and half-annihilated battalions; but all these incidents
occurred at such great distances from our trenches that I was unable to
verify them.
For some days little occurred near our position, except a daily
bombardment at long range, mostly by the heavier guns on both sides.
What the object was I cannot tell: it seemed to me to be a mere waste of
big shells. If any advantage was derived from it, it was certainly on
the side of Russia, whose artillerymen made much the best practice. The
shooting was slow and the aim deliberate; but we lost only two men:
while a heavy explosion in the German lines seemed to show that we had
blown up one of their magazines. I watched their position long and
carefully through a good glass, but saw nothing except puffs of smoke
and an occasional flash of fire.
I was out several nights with reconnoitring parties; but the enemy was
well on the alert, and we gained no information; while a well-directed
volley from some hidden jagers knocked half a dozen of our men off the
roster. On the night of the 8th we captured a miserable old Polish hag,
busily engaged in robbing the dead who lay unburied. She had an apron
full of watches, rings and money, and was, I believe, shot in the
morning. I cannot say she did not deserve her fate; but I thought at the
time that not much good could come of terminating the existence of such
a wretched old creature. She could say, in her defence, that the Germans
had robbed her and destroyed her home, and perhaps murdered her
relatives.
The 10th was an exciting day for us. We received certain information
that a large force of the enemy was nearly surrounded by our troops; and
we were ordered to get ready to march immediately to an unknown
destination: but everybody was satisfied that it was intended that we
should take a part in the encircling operation; and it seemed like it:
for we marched off at two o'clock in the afternoon, a very unusual hour
in which to commence such a movement.
The force thus detailed was about 40,000 infantry and 150 guns; and
there was probably cavalry and more artillery on our right flank: but of
this I know nothing with certainty.
The enemy on our front was so quiet that in all probability he had
detached a strong force in aid of the threatened troops, and possibly
had vacated his position.
In my opinion, however, there were indications that the Russian
Commander was being out-generalled, or was rushing his troops into a
precarious position.