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.
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.
"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.
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.