RUSSIA IN WAR TIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16214, 27 April 1916, Page 8

RUSSIA IN WAR TIME.

SPIRIT. OF THE PEOPLE, NATION NOW UNITED. A well-known English wining engineer, ; tvho has. just made it trip through Russia md Siberia, nays a tribute to the deter- , nination of tho pec pie to see the war to i successful issue. , ; "Ammunition/ he says, "is coming m , ivcll now and there appear to bo no fears n this respect .'or the future; the only 'ears arc the German influences at work mdeavouring to disorganise wherever they , :an mako their subtle influenco felt. Tho ■ .rouble with Russia is that as she has so , nany thousands upon thousands of sub- ( ieots of German extraction, it is almost mpossible to deal with this element. ' "Tho spirit of the country is fine. The i loldiers are magnificont.. In the earlier ] larts of. the war, for want of bayonets md rifles, they often fought in- the ( .renches with sticks only. What other ioldiers in tho world could they get to do ■his, " unless at least supported by hand • jrenados? .The feeling in the country is - ,hat if every man has to bo sacrificed they i vill do it. The only centro where there ; s a feeling of pessimism is Petrograd it- ■ self, where German inflows aro great; ; ret the whole nation outside Petrograd, as ■ ar as I can define, is as one. Tho Ger- : nan methods of {rightfulness have united ho nation, I believe, and in no other way could it have been done. All tho stories which the wounded and refugees are bringing home have permeated through every village in the country into the depths of Siboria, and if you ask tiny villagers if they would lib peace they say ? never," so long as the Germans are likelv to attack them again. " Russia is to-day the most sober nation, for it is as a whole without drink of any kind.. In the fashionable hotels, by •squaring' the head porter you may bo able te ? ct some brought up to your bedroom, and m the clubs, and amongst some of tho rich that 9 are still stocks in their wino cellars. But nowhere can you openly buy a drink- , The people _ themselves say : 'If we drank our soldiers would drink. and drunken soldiers could not beat the Germans.' This alone will give you some idea of the magnificent spirit that is pervading the country. Wherever I went I found no traces of anyone drinking and as I travelled away from the railways 2200 miles. I saw something of the interior of the country and everywhere it was the same spirit. In the villages right away out. hundreds of miles from the , seat of war, you will see the _ peasant i women all working for the war." -4 GERMANY'S MAN-POWER. HOW NEW FORMATIONS ARE CREATED. ' Whore doeß Germany draw her reserves 'rom for this costly offensive against Verlun? How comes it that despite their -erriblo registered losses the Germans still :ontinuo to create new formations, From vhat human material are these new formitions formed? These are questions that lave been nuzzling expert students of the var, says the military correspondent of a i/mdon paper. La France Militaire, the French nilitary organ, gives the answer. The ' lew German divisions that have sprung up mtli on the eastern and western theatres is if at the stroke of a magic wand do ' lot indicate new reserves of man-power. Recognising that in modem warfare the ' livision is the important unit, the Germa l General Staff decided to create as many iivisions as possible without weakening .lie front. To achieve this they reduced ' -ho number of regiments in a division from our to three, making it equal to the numDerof battalions in a regiment. Tho fourth regiments, thus liberated, have been utilised iii tho formation of new divisions. Of course the manning of tho defences at any given on the front has been weakened by this device; to counteract that effect tho Germans are making up for the deficiency by increased technical means of defence, such as the provision of greater numbers of machine-guns, deepening of wire entanglements, etc. In certain respects these reduced three regiment divisions are better suited to trench warfare; the first regiment mans tho trenches, the second furnishes the nearest reserves, while the third is resting. Much the same system has been adopted of late for the German corps most of which now consist of three divisions. Two of these divisions occupy neighbouring sectors of the front while the third is resting and available for transport elsewhere in case of necessity. This new system increases the number of available tactical units by 25 per cent, and gives the Germans greater elasticity and mobility in trench warfare. But there is tho other side to the shield. All the fronts aro thinned of men, and by the ordinary process of attrition the thinning will go on until eventually tho danger-point is approached. Hence the necessity for the Germans to make use of this new system in fruitful offensives. Tho only purposo of the system in for offence; and the only salvation for Germany is a rapid decision by such offensives, "DO SOMETHING." WILL CROOKS'S FINE APPEAL. Mr. Will Crooks, M.P., made a stirring appeal in London recently for totally disabled soldiers and sailors. He said :—• "There never was on God's earth such a barbarian as the Kaiser, and a mora wicked war was never waged. Witness the scene at a Belgian railway junction ! A train is loaded up with 800 young women, married and single, with hands outstretched and tears on their faces. They are beseeching a neutral friend. 'Where are we going? For God's sako tell us where aro wo going?' they cry. • . . That fate might havo been ours, our women and our homes, but for the men wo aro pleading for to-night" (Cheers.) Mr. Crooks related a conversation he had in Franco with a blood-be3pattored hero. " Kneeling by the stretcher, I said ' How do you feel, son?' ' All right' he replied. ' I think I'll b3 all right, don't you ?' ' How long is it since you were hurt?' 'Four days,'he replied. But I'll be better when I get my clothes off, won't 1?' I turned round. I couldn't look tho man in tho face. I said to myself, ' What have I done that he should give all that life is worth to fight for me?' "My God, you can never repay these men for what they have done for us. (Cheers.) We are not pleading for some'body else's people. We aro pleading for our own. Snail it be said in our day that we cannot raise £50,000 to build that hospital at Richmond Hill? In Sheffield tramcars there are placards,' Enlist, work, pay—do something.' lam asking you now to do something." GERMANY'S DILEMMA. RUDYARD KIPLING'S VIEW. Mr. Rudyard Kipling, in a letter to M. Andre Chevrillon, published in the Revue Jo Paris," says:—"The Bodies cannot withdraw from their present line of battle, for if they did they would havo to explain why to their" own people. They cannot afford to retreat. Their force has to be used up bit by bit and individually, cither by their _ advancing and winning victories, or staying where they are. And when it is used up there will not be very much German problem left to consider," MORE "FRIGHTFULNESS." An, Italian senator has received from Berlin, via Switzerland, a significant letter from a member of the German Reichstag.. The letter, which is written in 'a, very pessimistic strain, makes gloomy predictions regarding the future of Germany and of Europe as a whole. Tho German deputy says that Germany is reserving some terrible projects for tho' last moment. Ho declares that these projects are of a desperate nature, but he does' nob indicate what they are. •""••* ■■