THE RUSSIAN FRONT.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13275, 2 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE RUSSIAN FRONT.

I! »-s.- ia 11 siateui. lit ; li.it a "cal attiu k ' I » to he made oil : ii- ( iel lean .hie lb r 'he Iha w has . ■ •■•••. .i.«. et a it..-ut ion mi- •• mo," to t I*• pe. ,o: iliir u. Hud' r war mil-: < a \;..e. We n < ail ia, ireme;; doll- diet that tile 111,1! 'siies ill IviM I i ::>-m had in the hi st von i Liuienbui g inipaigu. wln ii the ;:j.patently less I. an I piaeiieai!;. <ii,.ni>-<| v h'.it •.<;*• in the M .vidian l/ii.es. Siiac 'one < i ; i.a'-v, try to pi a,i s;m:'a: : 11. 1, upon the I a mans . '1 here is (..<») ;a r peculation n the rumour that by ! i,e midoh oi ihe •samme, buss:;! v,i:l ha-.e million oi the |.nt that the region about Pili.-k, •..In it lunch |;gi!tii. t g has already la en seen, i* no' unlirie tic .Masurian Lake <1 is'.li i. It may he picsniuod. of course, that the ioniums will not easily fall into a trap in tin.; locality. They an- rot. after ad. II e\\ 11 >n ii is thcie, 'I lie I'ir.huh Iphia "l'uli- : " Ledger prints an .interesting story of tee means the (i' iitiahave taken to "dig themselves in" iii the I'iusk marshe-. better known the Rokitno or Pripct swamps. Ihe i.orrespoudent. endeavouring to "cover the whole system of <!eleia e is, struck by the appearance ol a tall sign [lost bearing the words Dardanci'eii Seining, or "Dardanelles position, lie finds out the meaning of this strange legend, which he explains, with ether peculiarities of the local ity : The Dardatie'dcn Swdlung ,i« a mud island. .Some lifly feet long by thirty at the wale.-t diameter. ihe Bavarians had t'eiMheii it with four squally blockhouses. <e' I; a! oilt lilt is n t'e, t~(JU ale. The bloi kh' - lees V ere sheathed oil the outside W'iill tui tooling paper to keep out rain, snow, ami cold, 'I hey had I'm tiler fortified it by "<l iggiiig a moat" around '.he island, which, meant iiy Idas'.nig and otherwise lemo'. in" the ice lor thisiv feet ail around. And they luni turthcr foriified it by laying ten girdles of barbed-wire entanglements around their tight little island, halt of the barbed wire under water, the other half projecting above the ice. Machine guus added tiie finishing touch to the Danlauellen Stelhmg, which could he defended by a handful of meu against attacks from any joint of the compass. 'J here are hundreds of similar isiaiidstrongholds scattered through the Pripet swamps. All arc connected by telephone and toot-Initlges. but which can be quickly isolated by knocking out a section of toot-bridge or clinking it with "Spanish riders.'' as portable stctional barbed-win: entanglements are called by the t iermaiirf. A lurther walk of half a. mile over rickety planks, supported by slender piles drivin into the ooze, brought us to the last stronghold in the chain. The most ad

\itneed outpost is a replica of the lhirduliellen Stclkmg. except that every defensive feature i.s greatly in (leased in streie_ r t!i. !•'.>r example : I In re were twenty five, layers 01 havhedwire entanglements wrijit around the waist of the island in.-tcad of ten. the garrison v.ius twae as strong, tie' machine guns (v.'i.e as numerous. and the miniature trenches aioimd the bios khoiiso had ' een I.Miilt out alnio-t as formidably as their big brothels on land. This was a leal danger-spot. particularly txposed and liable to nocturnal over-ice attacks by the Russian*, for it was a thorn in the flesh of the UtiHsian lines, ami this largely oil act of the daredevil liavrniaii ,-ergeanf who was commandant of the islandAfter \\r had walked a mile back tov.'aid shore. we took a small foot-bridge miming at right angles, which connected the main aitery with an outlying fcjtutaimii't. a second type of swamp fortifications. This. type, built where no natural mud island happens 10 sprout :n the

swamps, consists of a large stock hlock-lioti'-e. supported on thick piles. Around it a ring of piles is driwu. supporting a wooden platform ten to fifteen feet wide.

We had noticed all through the swamps curious signs about the size of advertising bill-boards, and painted with huge red squaies against yellow backgrounds. These it was explained to us. mark the. limits and boundaries within which lnachnie-gun fire was to be kept. Under no circumstances must n. emmer shoot beyond, bis particular target, a.s otherwise he would endanger the German troops at the next bloi khouse or fortified island. The (it'riuans are fortunate enough to have at least four high places here from which to get a biul's eye view of the battlefield around Pinsk. ami oh another trio we were led up to one of these very observations and artillery-fire eontrol-P'-ls. Tiie journey of exploration is extended to the inner defences. We read:

A padded cell (padded by the Germans tn keep disturbing sound out) served ns combined line-control [station, observationpost, and telephone central for that segment of the swamp. The "telephone girl" had a hushvbeard stwaked with grav. and presided over the strangest switchboard imaginable a boine^madelooking affair of tin cans, tangled wires, and iron hooks projecting from the white-washed wall. How lie *ever made auv connections was a mystery, for there really wasn't, any switchboard as far as you could see—anyhow, it transcended one's experience. It;s two eves peered through the slit between board and upper window-lrame. while seated in a comfortable arnu hair

out of sight a .grizzled liavariau sergeant kept, his eve glued to the objective at the bate. Three other Kavaiians were engaged in correcting .their maps of this front semneit and making trigonometric calculations to get the exact range of new points of intere. t in the Russian positions. Thete was nothing warlik' until the telephone rang 'nsistently. From the operator's end of the conversation 1 gathered that a battery commander had called up and explained that one of the advanced outposts had advised him that a party,of Russians had come out in front of their own positions ami were getting a little too gay '"tresb" was the German word used), and that a few shells were requested to remind them that a state of war still existed. The battery commander thereupon rang up the observation post to request the exact figures for a bee-line oil the "gay" Russians.