ATTACK ON CRACOW

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 124, 21 November 1914, Page 7

ATTACK ON CRACOW

THE RUSSIAN COMMANDER GENERAL RUZSKY'S TASTES. . According to the latest English file* the commander of the Russian Armywhich took Lemberg and is now operating against Cracow is General Ruzeky. In. the London Observer Mr. Francis M'Cullagh gives the following sketch of the General :•— When returning once from the front outside Mukden to the telegraph office in that city I met a general who happened to be riding the same way. Had he belonged to any other nation he would have been too much wrapt up hi his sense of self-importance to take *ny notice of two, but, being a Russian, he began talking. He invited me to visit him at the headquarters of the second army on my way back from Mukden, and I did so. He was chief of staff of the second army. I found him to be quite &t& t special type of Russian office*', simple in his tastes, clear as crystal in. his thoughts, methodical, hardworking, scientific, an iron disciplinarian, and at the same time a revered and trusted chief. In his thoroughness he resembled & German; in his passion for neatness, order, and the open air he wa* like an. English country gentleman. He did hot drink or smoke, and his spectacles gave him the look of a professor. The little Chinese house which my host occupied in Manchuria was scrupulously dean, and I noticed with surprise that it contained quite a little library of books— pocket editions of several Russian classics, bbutt t mostly very recent and very technical scientific books on the art of war in German and French. The orderlies about the house had the contented appearance winch the Russian soldier usually has when his master is just as well as strong, knows his own mind, and maintains always the same equable temper. The name of the General whom I thus met in Manchuria was Ruzsky, the soldier who has now distinguished himself by the capture of Lemberg. When first I met him he was > nearly 50 years of age. Now he is sixty. His hair' and his moustache have turned grey, but are still abundant; and, with hia wrinkled brow aad his slight stoop, he looks more than ever the lecturer on strategy, the Stonewall Jackson' of -the present war. WORSHIPPED BY THE MEN. General Ruissky is a curious combina* tion of the Skobelieff and the Moltke types. He has the science, experience, and infinite patience of the latter, to« gether with the popular appeal of the Former. He has certainly gained the hearts of the Russian soldiers as no Gen* eralhas ever done since Plevna. Russian soldiers are irresistible when they follow a leader whom they worship; and the Russian army in, Galicia is now following such a chief When the public began to learn^ more of General Ruz&ky'a record and mannerof life, its admiration for him increased enormously. It was found, for instance, that in peace time he occupied a small flat in Kiev, where he was in garrison. He lived there very modestly with his wife and three daughters. The eldest daughter is now^a Red Cross nutse with the troops in Galicia. The second daughter is attending a hospital in Kiev it> order to qualify also a Red Cross nuree at the front. The third daughter and the mother are connected with the Wai? Distress Fund, and ( are indefatigable in helping soldiers' wives and children^ in Kiev, as well as in visiting the sick and wounded. THE RUSSIAN SPIRIT. The numerous deputations that have called on the General's wife have been, much struck by the air of cheerful Bim> Slicity and order which pervades General luasky's home. The reception room is small, and on the wall hangs a map whereon the position of the combatants in Galicia is indicated by pins. An examination of these pins shows that in stickihg them into the map Madam© Ruzsky has to depend entirely on. tho news which appears ih the papers; 'and gets no assistance whatever from' her husband. His letters from the seat of the war give no indication, even to his family, or what he is doing or intends to do. He speaks a good deal, however, of the splendid spirit of the soldiery. "They are not the uSnie men," he says, '¦whom I knew in Manchuria. There they had no grew, enthusiasm for fighting and no great hatred for the Japanese, whom they had never heard of Before. Here they know and hate the German., tt'hetlict he be Anaaiinsau <sff Prussian.; ana desire notMttg better fclktfk to ixe Jsfi against mm " A DISTINGUISHED fASfIOT. Nearly all General Tftua&y c relatives are people of high education and scientific standing. One of his nephews, Dimitrnts ttuzsfcy, was the director of the Kiev Polytechhical Institute ; but, being a man of liberal views and of deter* mined character, he resigned his post witli the other professors as a protest against a curtailment of the institute's autonomy. Another nephew, Alexander Ruzsky, is a professor in the Kiev Polytechnic. A third, Nicholas Ruzsky, is a distinguished financier. The general's elder brother is one of the # best lawyers in the South of Russia. The atmosphere in which the general has lived is an atmosphere of culture, science, education, hard work, and selfcontrol. One of the general's admirers describes the hero himself to me as "a man of very keen intelligence ; a disciplinarian with rather a contempt, however, for red tape ; a worker who brings to his work a living \ spirit, a piercing eye, and a powerful initiative. In practical military work he is no less brilliant than in theoretical work. In matters whirh concern war his judgment is always sound ami his response iitwnJrß ready. ' Unlike > sonic great theoretical strategists, he is a man of quick but stiro decisions. Whet; confronted with an unexpected situation lift doos not need time and discussion to make up his mind.. Ho decides iv a flash, t Tlua

tmioh- of good judgment, vast technical skill, practical ability, and hypnotic attraction over his soldiers, makes him undoubtedly one of the best generals in the Russian army. Before the war ends he may '.be recognised as the very best."