THE FIRST RUSSIAN ADVANCE TO CRACOW.
In Chapter IX. of this volume you learned something of the first clash
of arms in Eastern Europe. I told you how two Russian armies beat a
German army in East Prussia, and overran the greater part of the
province. This success, you will remember, was short-lived. Von
Hindenburg destroyed Samsonov's army at Tannenberg, and Rennenkampf's
forces barely managed to escape. In Galicia, however, the Russians
carried everything before them. They smote the Austrians hard, and for a
time put them out of action. There were people in this country who
believed that in a few weeks the Russian right would be across the
Vistula, marching triumphantly towards Berlin; while the Russians in
possession of Cracow would be advancing into Silesia and Hungary. Let us
see what really happened.
When I broke off my story von Hindenburg was following up Rennenkampf,
who was rapidly falling back from Königsberg towards the Russian
frontier. On 7th September 1914 the German general made a great advance
towards the Niemen. His right moved along the railway from Gumbinnen
towards Kovno, his centre pushed forward by way of Suwalki,[154] while
his right, which had detached troops to besiege the fortress of
Ossowietz,[155] on the Bobr, swept towards Grodno. The country through
which he was now moving is one tangle of bog and lake; it is traversed
by only three railway lines, but the roads are few. The troops moving
east from Suwalki had to cross a causeway which threads the marshes to
the east and south-east of that town. An army traversing such a country
is at a great disadvantage. Men and guns and transport have to move
along narrow roads, with bogs and lakes on their flanks. It is almost as
difficult to cross marsh roads as to cross the passes of a great
mountain chain. The Russians had already learnt this by their bitter
experiences in East Prussia.
The country through which von Hindenburg was now advancing is famous in
history as the theatre of a campaign by one of Napoleon's armies in
1812. But whereas Napoleon invaded the region in midsummer, the Germans
were advancing through it on the stormy eve of a Russian winter, and
were hampered by much more transport than that which accompanied the
French army.
[Illustration: Map to illustrate von Hindenburg's Advance to the Niemen
and the Battle of Augustovo.]
Rennenkampf was unable to offer much opposition to von Hindenburg as he
pushed forward, nor would he have resisted him if he could. His object
was to lure von Hindenburg on towards the Niemen, where he felt sure he
could put an end to his advance. If he could force the Germans to
retreat, he would be able to fall upon their rear as they marched back
along the narrow roads with the deadly swamps and quagmires around them,
and revenge Tannenberg. He therefore let the enemy come on, and only
delayed him from time to time by a little rearguard fighting. The German
troops which travelled by railway moved fast. On 20th September the
siege of Ossowietz began, and next day the main bodies of the enemy
reached the Niemen at three points, marked A, B, and C on the diagram.
Rennenkampf by this time had got most of his men over the broad stream,
and they were now lying in deep trenches on the low eastern shore. He
had received large reinforcements, and he was now confident that he
could prevent the Germans from crossing.
On the morning of 26th September von Hindenburg's heavy howitzers began
to throw their shells across the river at B, while his engineers built
pontoon bridges. As soon as a bridge was completed, concealed Russian
guns blew it to pieces. All day long the howitzers boomed, but there was
no reply from the Russian side. At nightfall von Hindenburg felt sure
that he had driven his enemy out of their trenches, and that next day he
might safely attempt to cross the river.
On the morning of the 27th bridges were again built and swung across the
stream. The Russians waited until the Germans were on them, and then
their guns smashed them to fragments. There was terrible loss on the
German side, and nowhere could they make headway. At all points along
the river they were held up in the same way. Meanwhile the siege of
Ossowietz had hopelessly failed: in the spongy moss surrounding the
"island" of solid ground on which the fortress is built no firm
positions could be found for the big guns.
The Russians were too strong for him, and on Sunday, 27th September, von
Hindenburg gave the order to retreat. He now realized that he could not
cross the Niemen, and that even if he could, his success would not force
the Russians to withdraw troops from Galicia. The retreat was a
difficult matter; but von Hindenburg, as you know, was a master of marsh
warfare. Only in the centre, where he had to cross the swampy country to
the east and south-east of Suwalki, was he in difficulties.
Rennenkampf instantly followed him up, and by flinging his left well
south towards the valley of the Bobr, endeavoured to cut off the German
forces between Augustovo and the causeway leading to Suwalki. He had to
push through the Forest of Augustovo, a region much like that in which
von Hindenburg had destroyed Samsonov's army. Guided by the foresters of
the district, his men slowly threaded the matted woods, and by 1st
October had seized Augustovo. For two days there was a fierce rearguard
action in the woods, and the Germans lost heavily in guns and prisoners.
Rennenkampf claimed that 60,000 Germans had been killed, wounded, or
captured; and if his estimate is correct, he had fully revenged
Tannenberg. Von Hindenburg, however, managed to get the bulk of his
force away, and by 9th October they were all back again in East Prussia,
whither Rennenkampf could not follow them without the risk of being
entrapped in the woods and lakes and marshes where Samsonov had suffered
disaster in the last days of August.
[Illustration: "Three Emperors' Corner."
_Photo, Central News._
Here three empires meet--the German, Austrian and Russian--three empires
that between them hold sway in Europe over more than 375 millions of
people, Teutonic and Slav, and exercise authority over nearly 2½ million
square miles of territory--about two-thirds of the whole continent. In
the foreground is seen a portion of German Silesia, on the right is
Austrian Galicia, and in the background Russian Poland. The broad river
is the Prgemeza; the smaller river is a tributary which here separates
Austria from Russia.]
Von Hindenburg's great advance to the Niemen had failed. It had achieved
nothing; and meanwhile, as we shall soon hear, the Russians were
advancing towards Cracow, and were drawing nearer and nearer every day
to Silesia. A great effort had now to be made to check them, and von
Hindenburg was ordered southward to undertake the task.
* * * * *
Now let us return to the Russians in Galicia. In the third week of
September 1914, Russian armies appeared before the two chief fortresses
of Central Galicia--Jaroslav and Przemysl. Both these strongholds are on
the river San, and a glance at the map on page 303 will show you that
before the Russians could move either on Cracow or across the
Carpathians into Hungary both of them must be captured. At one time the
Austrians had meant to make Jaroslav a first-class fortress; but they
had not finished the fortifications, and it was now defended by a strong
circle of entrenchments and a number of redoubts on both banks of the
river. Jaroslav was expected to offer a stubborn resistance, but it fell
within three days. Przemysl, however, was a very much harder nut to
crack. It stands in a strong natural position amidst the foothills of
the Carpathians, and its forts and lines of defence were very strong
indeed. For weeks it had been preparing for the impending siege. The
"useless mouths" had been sent away; gangs of workmen had been busy
strengthening all the weak points, and a large store of ammunition had
been collected. The garrison numbered about 30,000 men. On 22nd
September the Russians closed in on the place, and soon completely
surrounded it. As the Russian commander was short of big siege guns, he
determined to starve the place into surrender. It was known that the
supply of food within the city was not large, and the fortress was
expected to yield in a few weeks at most. It held out for fully six
months.
Leaving an army to mask the fortress, the remainder of the Russian
forces in Galicia pushed on towards Cracow, which I have already
described in Chapter VIII. of this volume. Cracow stands, as you know,
on the northern edge of the Carpathians, at a point where the Vistula is
as broad as the Thames at Windsor. The hills on the north and south were
strongly fortified, but the real defence of the city was the circle of
deep entrenchments, pushed so far out from the town that the siege guns
of the enemy could not get within range of it. While the Russians were
advancing, the Austrian garrison of at least 100,000 men laboured night
and day to make the fortified zone impregnable.
They knew--none better--that Cracow was the key-fortress of Eastern
Europe. If it fell, the Russians would be able to advance both into
Germany and into Austria. Forty miles west of Cracow they would be in
Silesia, the largest and most important manufacturing area of Germany,
and the seat of its chief coal and iron mines. One-quarter of all the
coal mined in Germany comes from Silesia, and it has some of the richest
zinc deposits in the world. Its chemical and textile manufactures are
the most extensive in all the Fatherland, and it has well been called
the German Lancashire. If the Russians could enter Silesia and begin to
lay waste its crowded industrial towns, a blow would be struck at the
very heart of Germany. Berlin, too, would be in peril, for a road to the
capital would be opened along the river Oder and behind the line of
frontier fortresses.
The capture of Cracow by the Russians would not only imperil Germany,
but it would make them complete masters of Galicia. You already know
what a very important part petrol plays in modern warfare. Motor cars,
aeroplanes, and submarines must have petrol, or they cannot move. The
petroleum of the world is chiefly found in America, round about Baku on
the shores of the Caspian Sea, in Galicia, and in Rumania. The British
navy had stopped the exports of petroleum from America; the Caspian oil
fields were in the hands of Russia, and German supplies could only be
obtained from Galicia and Rumania. The Galician oil fields, which are
amongst the richest in Europe, lie along the northern slopes of the
Carpathians. Once the Russians were masters of Galicia these oil fields
would be in their hands, and the only other possible source of supply
for the Germans would be in Rumania. Before the war began the Germans
had provided themselves with huge supplies of petrol, but even in
September 1914 these stocks were rapidly shrinking.
Once the Russians captured Cracow they could begin the great task of
pushing across the Carpathians into Hungary. You know that there is no
love lost between the Hungarians and the Austrians. Should Hungary be
threatened, and the Austrians be unable to send armies to drive back the
invader, it seemed more than likely that the Hungarians would break away
from the Germans and Austrians, and try to make peace on their own
account. Nor was Hungary alone threatened. One hundred miles to the west
of Cracow is the "Gap of Moravia," through which the river March flows
to the Danube. It is the old highway from Germany into Austria, and
along it runs the great railway which connects Silesia with Vienna. Thus
the capture of Cracow would open a road not only to Berlin but to the
capital of Austria as well.
[Illustration: First Russian Advance towards Cracow.]
Now I think you can understand why the defence of Cracow was so
important. You will see from this map how far the Russians had advanced
towards the city by the end of September. On the last day of the month
Russian cavalry were within a hundred miles of Cracow, and high hopes of
speedy success seemed about to be realized. But just when everything was
promising well the Russians began to retreat, and by the second week of
October they were back behind the San. All the ground that had been
gained to the west of the river was lost. The Russian retirement was
not caused by defeat, but had been made necessary by the movements of
the Germans farther north. Von Hindenburg had launched huge armies
against Russian Poland, and the Grand Duke now needed all his forces to
stem their advance. The story of the great struggle that followed must
be left for our next volume.
* * * * *
A splendid deed of heroism was done by a Russian gunner during the
fighting in Galicia. Most of the guns in his battery had been smashed by
the shells of the enemy, and he and his surviving comrades were ordered
to retire with the remaining guns. As they sullenly retreated, the
gunner saw a baby girl toddling from the doorway of one of the houses of
the village right into the road on which the shells were falling fast.
At once the brave fellow ran to the child's rescue. Just as he reached
her a shrapnel shell burst overhead. Instantly the man threw himself
down, and shielded the child's body with his own. One bullet passed
through his back, injuring him so badly that he could not rise from the
ground. Two of his comrades went to his assistance, and carried him and
the little girl into a place of safety. For this fine deed of dauntless
courage all three men received the Cross of St. George.
* * * * *
Here is the story of a heroine--the daughter of a Russian colonel. She
cut her hair short, and, donning the uniform, accompanied her father's
regiment. During the battles in the Augustovo woods she acted as
orderly, scout, and telegraphist, and was afterwards appointed to
command a platoon. On one occasion while she was working the telegraph
she tapped a message from the German Staff giving details of a movement
about to be begun against the Russian centre. Thanks to her, the German
plan was foiled. When her regiment passed through Vilna crowds gathered
at the station to greet her, but they were unable to distinguish the
girl officer from the rest of her comrades.
[Footnote 154: _Soo-val´kee._]
[Footnote 155: _Oss-o-vets._]