WITH THE TSAR’S ARMY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144710, 19 June 1915, Page 6

WITH THE TSAR’S ARMY.

.NEW ZEALANDER’S STORY. LONDON, March 2. After a rather circuitous journey from Russia, Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Barclay, Waimate, New Zealand, of the 2nd Sou til Canterbury Regiment, has reached London. Colonel Barclay was on his way to England by the Siberian railway when Avar was declared, and he offered his services in Russia as the most direct way of helping the cause of the Allies. lie was surgeon iu the sth Jvaufmanski Hospital, of Lemberg, for four months, during which time ho saw a great deal of the .Russian army under Avar conditions, and of the character of the Russian soldier. In an intervioAv, Colonel Barclay said ho had had very great pleasure since ho camo lo London in assuring tho many people who had asked him with regard to tho temper of Russia and tho Russian troops, that there was absolutely no reason to fear their failure. Ho had noticed that there was considerable alarm at the recent retreat on tho Vistula. Personally, that gave him no concern at nil. because he.understood tiic difficulties under which tho Russians Avere fighting on German soil, and also the well-recognised Russian tactics of the strategical retreat which tho Grand Duke Nicholas was still adopting. It wns the same method of Avariare that defeated Napoleon. ARISTOCRATIC RUSSIAN NURSES. “Tho Cossack is a Russian Avith morn initiative than tho others,’' Colonel Barclay went on. ‘'’{’lie average Russian is very ready to make friends, and Ids gratitude for small kindnesses knotvsno hounds. The other side of tho picture is that Avth his blood up ho rushes with no other view' than to avenge the fallen. They pray a little to St. Nicholas, and for tho rest they trust to luck. “Once ‘IO,OOO Austrians broke through the Russian lines—or, .rather, dodged through Avhore the line Avas not. Our hospital was very well fitted up, and it was out of the question to leave it behind, with its accommodation for •100 patients. So aa'o Availed. But tho Austrians never camo. Our nurses Avere all aristocrats. draAvn from tho best families of Russia. Some of them spoke five or six languages; but even so, avo had patients whom nobody could understand. "Whatever may be said against an autocracy, it must bo stated'that in an emergency each takes his or her place. There is no waste. A Russian lady, like tho Russian soldier, takes her place, and obeys orders without question. FORTITUDE OF WOUNDED SOLDIERS. “T never saw a bayonet wound,” said Lieu tenant-Colonei Barclay. “Tho only forces against our men Avcrn Austrians, and they novel* Availed. Mostly it avjus shrapnel bullets. A small proportion of tho wounds healed nrimarilv, but there

Avns not that aseptieity which one would have expected from tho reports of surgeons in oilier modern wars. But an amputation Irani wounds never wont further than the fingers. “Tho Russian soldier goes to the operating table Avithout a word. There is no preparation. And it is curious that in nil the cases T saw there avas no sickness following tlie anaesthetic. After his leg, say, had been amputated, the patient recovers from the anaesthetic. and kisses tho hack of the surgeon’s haiul« saying, “Neechivo, ncochivo—spasebq’—Tt is nothing, ilmnk you.’ And it is no passjng idea, for months after they will write hark to thank tho surgeon av)jo has lopped off a limb. “The Russian soldier minds neither Avct nor fatigue nor. pain. Nothing can make him grumble. His shooting lias improved 50 per cent, since the'Japanese war. Still the bayonet is 1d,.; best weapon. Ho likes it, and the fact that he never a>ks questions., and i> regardless of consequences, makes him Avhat lie is. FREQUENT CASES OF TETANUS. “In the Lemberg Hospital we treated all sorts of cases of tetanus, in nil stages. Before tho use of anri-letanic serum the eases Avero invariably fatal. With the use of tlie serum all recovered. On the whole, tho treatment was entirely satisfactory. The Russian camp kncAv neither typhus nor typhoid. There was no trouble with the case which might have been mistaken for cholera or cholerine They Avere intestinal influenza. The Russian army as 1 saAV it is healthy. Of frostbite there were definite cases, each marked by blackness of the loos, swelling, and a lino of demarcation. In some cases amputation of the toes avas necessary, and ii\ two cases amputation of the foot. “We saav prisoners, all Austrians. There wero heaps of them. They seemed to bo haggard and worn out, and had no interest in tho Avar. In Russia the prisoners of Avar had only one complaint thnt I heard of—their railway carriage had not boon heated.”