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]6
[Cossack patrol entering Przemysl]8
[Russian occupation of Przemysl. Governor’s bodyguard entering Government House]8
[Destroyed by the Austrians before leaving Przemysl]12
[Principal street in Przemysl]12
[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]56
[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]128
[German position near Lublin]129
[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]172
[Siberians returning from the trenches]178
[General Brussilov]213
[General Ivanov]222
[My car in a Galician village]222
[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]280
[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]312
[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.]322
[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]346

THE FALL OF PRZEMYSL

CHAPTER I
THE FALL OF PRZEMYSL

Dated:
Lwow, Galicia,
April 1, 1915.

I

The news of the fall of Przemysl reached Petrograd on the morning of March 23, and the announcement was given out by the War Office at noon. The spring is very late in Russia this year, and so much snow and such intense cold have not been known so late in March for more than a hundred years. On the 23rd it was snowing heavily in Petrograd and a biting wind was sweeping through the streets. Save for an occasional street car and foot passengers the Moika and even the Nevsky Prospekt were at noon almost as empty as at midnight. And then came the announcement that the great fortress in Galicia had fallen. In an hour the news was all over the town and in spite of the inclement weather the streets were thronged with eager Russians, from Prince to Moujik, anxiously asking each other if the news which had been so long promised could really be true. The fall of Przemysl it must be remembered had been reported at least a dozen times in Petrograd before this.