RUSSIAN RETREAT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 60, 11 March 1915, Page 3

RUSSIAN RETREAT.

THROUGH GEBBIArf EYES.

TiTKEr A- -GREAT ."RABBiT-BEIVE;

j i tbe -Berlin newspapeas-hysterically acclaim; General"yon "Hihdenbefg'- as~» "'. hero. - "■■■ " .-.-. _■ ' ■" says^; c "Tlie hat tie-ranks of the ..Czar'have;, •been, torn asunder "and crushed to the earth." This 7 paper ' vainglciriouslyclaims/ that "Bluchers victory at Waterloo" wan as nothing'" compared with! Yon Hinden- , -_„.--.- ; 7 _ _ :.^-. : ' -*_ : : ~-;i[-r? ■ account has been issued by the German Preae Bureau' from Suwalki, -via Berlin and London:— Russians composing the Tenth : Army were under General. Sievers. While true and" skiff til 'manoeuvring "re-~ suited in. the saving cf the greater part of Jthe than 60,000 - ,oflthe; 150,000.hive already: been counted -•'■'■ •* among, the .German. prisoners,' "while the .killed-! .and,':, wounded. .in" the/ . ; . battle "are. estimated at 130,006. '"7.'". .. cannonading ..couldvia hear.dL7yesteT.day vMd.; tordayi ~- -;> swampy region .to, ,|he.BoutlL-east,,wEara an. Bolated...Kussian7.divi6iph, perhaps 10,00^). Btr(?i)g,..S. completely.surrounded,, r bnt-is'stffl^bfferaig-resisfa»ioel''7Several thousands "more stragglers are probably in;the ring-: which the; Germans, have, now enclosed around the woods and swamps between, Suwalki, Augustovo -and' tha frontier. -■■■■ y. >..•■-.-■-. .. . . ; : : -_ "German officers spoke of their mv pending_capture;as7 merely an incident, and/as/a .prelude. They "declare, that Sievere was -;unahle to bring 'one-fifth-of/ bu!"'£r%py'.raKiy""bebmd 'ferrodnp'."-''"'-'" ' V' '-""/" '"-'.'"-. "7- '77/. DEFEATIAfifDDJaiORAOSAIION.7 A correspondent with • the? Germans, . who motored along the line/of retreat, says that he gained an impression of defeat and- demoralisation -that could scarcely conveyed, in words. Abandoned guns and automobiles, wrecked -'/7-' and"overturned wagons, sleds, and am- ' " munition caissons' encumbered'"the way, . with dead horses,"-"and occasionally a fallen.soldier. 7-Everywhere?there large bands of prisoners, Many of these had never fired a shot. ' ' ; In Suwalki, Augustovo, and Lyek he enTOuntered great of.'rißes and bayonets, apparently abandoned by'the' RtMK : siaasj;.wh6. seemed-to' have had time .'. only-to-turn horses on the German : side of tbe frontier and destroy livestock. ■They-had'done work so thoroughly that in 17 miles only one was seen, and " dogs-and cats -were, the only living animals. - - -~ • .-"•».* s _ ... Von.Hinden berg'scoup was comparable to a great rabbit-chrive.. While Russian attention was-.-concentrated on -Warsaw 7.-7 tbe German leader quietly assembled huge forces, .behind .the Masurian Lakes, and suddenly' "launched" them' fo¥waiir"in two columns. One- drove' in from the south, and',-threw7backvthe. .Russians who for months .bad .been besieging the lake ways,7and the other to;the. north swung round in wide circles southward and .east- " ward, - aiming to '■■ join hancis wiic the southern column andcut off the retreat of the enemy. The'two wings closed to the east of Suwalki and Augustovo only a fW hours top late to catch the entire Russian army. " "'■■*" " """ """-■*""- .-'-

The delaywhich' enabled'the,remnant to escape was due solely fo -nature. Nature always favoured the Russians. ~-Said one comihauder-: days hard frost, we should have had every mam". The - southern column's line Of advance lay through the belt of swamps that form the Natural'defences'dtf the'BuasTan ffonfier, and which is almost without .roads. The Germans were hopelesssly bogged, and der tachments of men dragged the guns through miie more than aiMe-deep. gress was estfeinely slow 7 ' ~ The heaviest fighting fell on the left wing,_ sweeping-down-from/the-Tiorth: The men on- this- side: were-called -upon' to' do principally leg-workj marching 40 miles a day.'.'-'/--".'".'-" -V- -■-:..:;-..-.5.__-v. . ,_7-7The-battle itt was-in Vdriving snow anda thatrdrbve toe flakes into th& eyes Germans, and when they"came to grip! they- found their, rifles so. chokad with icicles that .they could not he fixed. Theie twr«were_mostjy young and newly " formed,--They rWe r6 left to.finish with the-bayonet, and stuck desperately to their task, despite heavy - - , rallied to the offenawe when their long-delayed artillery arrived, Md the RussianCommander-in-Oiief »ade desperate efibrti to of a fairway only a doreff nules 7 was forced to turn three times to beat W attacks from the amUk. ■— -; <■ ■ :-:•: --.