The Russian Advance

by Marr Murray

The mayor went to inform the general that it was impossible to fulfil his demands. The general replied that he would bombard the town unless the whole levy were delivered by eight o’clock.

The night was spent by the inhabitants in the impossible task of trying to raise the money. Rings, watches and jewellery of all kinds were collected. The churches were stripped of their crucifixes and plate. A valuable collection of old coins, worth at least 15,000 roubles, left the scales at an appraisement of seven hundred roubles. At half-past six in the morning it was found that not more than five or six thousand roubles’ worth of gold and silver had been collected towards the 200,000 demanded. The mayor went to find the general in the forlorn hope that the latter would relent. The inhabitants crouched in their cellars awaiting the dreaded bombardment.

Eight o’clock passed and nothing happened. The Austrian general had left during the night, leaving a colonel as governor of the town. The latter gravely assessed the levy at 25,000 rubles, returned the crucifixes and church plate and announced that he was perfectly satisfied. Then a few hours later, acting on instructions from Vienna, he returned the whole levy, to the utter bewilderment of the inhabitants.

But in spite of these half-hearted attempts to imitate the Huns, there is no doubt that for a time the advance of the Austrian army was a serious matter. General Bankal, the commander of the force, drove the Russians from position after position in a series of desperate engagements and it was not until he reached the line Lublin Kholm that he was definitely checked, and General Russki was able to advance in earnest.

The primary cause of General Bankal’s check was the fact that he found himself face to face with a strong Russian army, with the fortress of Ivangorod for a base. This army was as large as his own, and occupied an immensely strong position. Bankal, realising the necessity for maintaining the offensive, attempted to break through the Russian centre. After a heavy bombardment he threw his men forward in close formation, hoping by force of numbers to cut a way through. The attempt was a costly failure. A second and third attempt fared no better. Then, realising that his position was hopeless in the face of such superior forces, Bankal retired, and soon was in full retreat towards the south.

In this battle the Russians captured over 5,000 prisoners; whilst the Austrian losses may be estimated from the fact that over 3,000 of their dead were buried by the victors.

A secondary cause contributing to General Bankal’s failure was the lack of German support from Posen. This was the direct result of General Rennenkampf’s successful offensive in Eastern Prussia. In the previous chapter it was shown how, after the battle of Gumbinnen and the rapid advance through Allenstein, the Germans brought up several army corps to cope with the menace. They drove back Rennenkampf, but only at the cost of starving their offensive in Poland. They were unable to reinforce both the defensive line of the Vistula and the armies attacking Poland, unless they withdrew a portion of their forces from the western theatre of war. In spite of rumours, it may be stated for certain that no such withdrawal took place. There was no apparent diminution of German power in the west, and no reinforcements arrived in Poland.

The Germans, however, managed to penetrate as far as Lodz. Their advance was more due to lack of opposition than to their own prowess. They were in no great numbers, and on meeting with a superior force at Pobianitz, they at once began to retire without offering any serious resistance.

Nevertheless, their advance, insignificant as it was, is worthy of attention as affording a comparison between themselves and their Austrian allies. The latter in the course of their advance made half-hearted attempts to win a reputation for savagery, such as the incident at Kamenetz, but on the whole, their conduct, apart from much drunkenness and a little looting, was admirable. The Germans, on the other hand, fully lived up to the reputation which their comrades in Belgium had won for themselves.

Their chief exploit was the sacking of Kalisch. During the German occupation of the town in the early stages of the war it was stated that some of the inhabitants had fired on the soldiers. General Preusker, the German commander, at once indulged in the most savage reprisals. Numerous inhabitants were shot. Some hundreds of the leading citizens, including the priests, were seized as hostages and forced to lie for hours under a broiling sun. Then suddenly they were marched out of the town and were told to prepare for execution. When all was ready, and the wretched prisoners thought that their last moment had come, the order was countermanded. The town was then bombarded by the German artillery. The town hall and all the chief buildings were ruined, hundreds of innocent men, women and children were killed. After witnessing the destruction of their homes the hostages were sent as prisoners to Posen.