Chapter I: Introduction

Many of my friends have urged me not to publish this, the second volume of Field Notes from the Russian Front, on the ground that the fortunes of Russia and the Russian armies were on the wane, and that the optimism which I have always felt has proved itself unfounded by the events of the past few months. It is for the very reason that conditions in Russia are momentarily unfavourable that I am glad to publish this book at this time, as a vindication of my faith and belief in the common soldiers and officers of an army with which I have been associated for nearly a year.

During the advances and successes in Galicia and Poland a year ago I found the Russian troops admirable, and now in the hour of their reverses and disappointments they are superb. I retract nothing that I have said before, and resting my faith in the justice of the cause, the unflinching character of the people, and the matchless courage of the Russian soldiers, I am glad in this moment of depression to have the chance to vindicate my own belief in their ultimate victory in the East.

The Russians for more than a year have laboured under innumerable difficulties. Without munitions, and handicapped in a hundred ways, they have held themselves intact before the relentless drives of the most efficient army in the world. Though they have fallen by the hundreds of thousands, their spirits have not been broken. The loss of Warsaw and numerous other positions has not shaken their _morale_. History will record this campaign as one in which character fought against efficient machinery, and was not found wanting. In the final issue I have never doubted that character would prevail. When the Russians get munitions and their other military needs, they will again advance, and no one who knows the Russian army doubts that within it lies the capacity to go forward when the time is ripe.

Nothing is more fallacious than to judge the outcome of this campaign by pins moved backward or forward on the map of Europe. There are great fundamental questions that lie behind the merely military aspects of the campaign; questions of morals, ethics, equity, and justice. These qualities, backed by men of tenacity, courage, and the capacity to sacrifice themselves indefinitely in their cause, are greater ultimate assets than battalions and 42-centimetre guns. That the Russians possess these assets is my belief, and with the fixed opinion that my faith is well-founded, and that the reverses of this summer are but temporary and ephemeral phases of this vast campaign, it is with equanimity and without reservation that I have authorized my publisher to send these pages to the printer.

The defects of hurriedly written copy are of course apparent in these notes, but, as in my first volume, it has seemed wiser to publish them with all their faults, than to wait until the situation has passed and news from Russia has no moral value.

STANLEY WASHBURN.

PETROGRAD, RUSSIA,
_September 3, 1915_.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I THE FALL OF PRZEMYSL 3

II WARSAW IN APRIL, 1915 41

III AN AMERICAN DOCTOR IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY 53

IV GENERAL RUSSKY’S SUCCESSOR 63

V CHECKING UP THE SITUATION IN POLAND 75

VI A VISIT TO THE POSITIONS 87

VII A SUMMER DAY ON THE RAWKA LINE 99

VIII THE CHANGE OF FRONT IN POLAND AND THE BATTLE OF OPATOV 113

IX WITH THE ARMY IN SOUTHERN POLAND 127

X AN AFTERNOON AT THE “POSITIONS” 141

XI HOW THE RUSSIANS MET THE FIRST GAS ATTACK 157

XII SOME DETAILS REGARDING THE GAS HORROR 169

XIII THE BZURA FRONT IN JUNE 185

XIV THE GALICIAN FRONT 199

XV THE GERMAN DRIVE IN GALICIA 209

XVI THE FRONT OF IVANOV 221

XVII HUNTING FOR THE ARMY OF THE BUKOVINA 235

XVIII THE RUSSIAN LEFT 247

XIX WITH A RUSSIAN CAVALRY CORPS 259

XX ON THE ZOTA LIPA 273

XXI A VISIT TO AN HISTORIC ARMY 289

XXII THE NEW ARMY OF THE FORMER DUNAJEC LINE 301

XXIII BACK TO THE WARSAW FRONT 311

XXIV THE LOSS OF WARSAW 319

XXV CONCLUSION 339

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TO FACE
PAGE

His Imperial Majesty the Tsar of all the Russias _Frontis_.

Occupation of Przemysl by the Russians. Austrians
leaving as prisoners 4

Austrian prisoners leaving Przemysl} 6
}
Russian occupation of Przemysl }

Cossack patrol entering Przemysl }
}
Russian occupation of Przemysl. Governor’s bodyguard} 8
entering Government House }

Destroyed by the Austrians before leaving Przemysl}
} 12
Principal street in Przemysl }

Austrian and Hungarian prisoners en route to Lwow 14

Austrian prisoners resting by the roadside during their
march from Przemysl 17

Austrian prisoners leaving Przemysl 20

Russian Governor of Przemysl 33

Russian occupation of Przemysl. Headquarters of Staff 35

Feeding Austrian prisoners en route to Lwow 37

General Hubert, Chief of Austrian Staff in Przemysl 38

A Russian officer inspecting eight-inch gun 44

Russian bath train 48

The Emperor with his Staff }
} 56
Russian nurses attend to the feeding of the soldiers}

Russian soldiers performing their native dance 68

The Polish Legion. Note the small boy in the ranks as
mascot 76

The Vistula (winter) 80

Russian officers in an artillery observation position 92

A first-line trench in Poland 104

Russian General inspecting his gunners 106

Telephoning to the battery from the observation position 108

In the trenches near Opatov 116

Second-line trenches, Opatov 118

A second-line trench near Opatov 122

A Russian first-line trench near Lublin}
} _between_ 128 & 129
German position near Lublin }

March-past of the Gonogoriski Regiment 130

Men of the Gonogoriski Regiment cheering King George V 132

Men of the Gonogoriski Regiment 134

Howitzer battery in Poland 142

Cossacks on the Dniester. Officers’ quarters in the woods 144

The Polish Legion 150

The colours of the Siberians 164

Respirator drill in the trenches}
} 172
Austrians leaving Przemysl }

Siberians returning from the trenches 178

General Brussilov 213

General Ivanov }
} 222
My car in a Galician village}

G. H. Mewes 248

Stanley Washburn, Prince Oblensky, Count Tolstoy,
Count Keller 251

Cossacks dancing the Tartars’ native dance 254

H.I.H. The Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch,
Commander of two divisions of Cossacks 261

The Russian soldier at meal-time. Ten men share the
soup 268

Cavalry taking up position }
} 280
Russian band playing the men to the trenches}

After the Russian evacuation of Lwow. The Bug
Lancers retreating in good order 290

A Russian eight-inch gun going into position during the
fighting round Lublin 302

Russian artillery officers in an observation position
during the fighting round Lublin 306

Retreat from Warsaw. Burning crops }
} 312
The retreat from Warsaw. A Jewish family leaving Warsaw}

Retreat from Warsaw. A Polish Jew 314

The evacuation of Warsaw. Copper and bells were all
taken away 316

The retreat from Warsaw 319

The retreat from Warsaw. Ammunition on the road 320

During the retreat from Warsaw}
} 322
Russian armoured motor-car. }

The retreat from Warsaw. Wounded in a barn outside
Warsaw 324

The retreat from Warsaw. German prisoners housed
in a barn 326

The retreat from Warsaw. Artillery on the road 328

During the retreat from Warsaw. Note wounded man in
foreground 330

The retreat from Warsaw. One of the last regiments to
pass through Warsaw 332

Siberians leaving the last trench before Warsaw 334

A batch of German prisoners captured during the retreat
from Warsaw 339

Refugees on the road to Brest-Litovsk 340

Roll call during the retreat from Warsaw. All that was
left of them 342

Resting during the retreat from Warsaw 344

Wounded returning to Warsaw }
} 346
On the banks of the River Dniester }

THE FALL OF PRZEMYSL