Morris tribune., 1913-01-31
WINTER AND WAR
Bitter Cold as a Factor In the
Campaigns In Europe.
ARMIES WRECKED BY FROST.

In Most of the Great Conflicts For a
Century Past Icy Weather Has Play
ed a Prominent Part-NapoIeon's
Disastrous invasion of Russia.
War is bad enough under the best Of
climatic conditions, but when war and
bitterly cold and Icy weather mix the
suffering is woefully intensified. And
get there has hardly ever been Euro
pean war on big scale in which Gen
eral Jack Frost has not taken hand.
Go back a century. Eighteen hun
| dred and twelve was the year when
/ Napoleon made up his mind to invade
Russia. Before starting he was care
! full to inquire of the experts at what
! late winter usually set in in southern
Russia. They told him the middle of
| December
| 1t was on June "a that he invaded
Russia with 100000 men, and he reach
| ed Moscow on Sept IA. That night
fire broke out, and within five days the
| city was burned to the ground. Even
then he remained until Oct Is before
commencing his retreat
| In the last week of October began
! the worst frost which Europe had
| known for three generations. The
Thames frOze from its source to the
sea. The Seine, the Rhine, the Dan
ube, were all icebound. On the Adri-
attic, or Venice, was seen the amazing
sight Of floating ice foes The Dar1a-
nelles and nearby waters were frozen.
Jack FrOst's icy finger lay heavy even
upon North Africa. Drift Ice appear
ed I'm the Nile, and there were snow
storms in TriDOli and Morocco.
AS for NSp0leon's huge army, it was
almost wiped out -Four hundred thou
sand men persisted. They frOze to
death in battalions as they bivouack-
ed, and when at last, on Dec. 6. Ma
pOleOn reached German soil, out Of his
whole vast host but 10000 men were
! left alive
During the winter OF 1884 the
Turks were battling for dear life along
the Danube against herdes Of Rus
slams IN the following September 3d.
900 British troops, a similar number
Of French and 5000 Turks were land
ed in the Crimea.
Again came terrible winter, and
from the west Of Ireland right across
into Asia frost fell heavy on land and
sea. In London it froze for six weeks
without break From Jan. IA to Feb
"A the thermometer was below freezing
every night In the Crimea the cold
was fearful. and the English army, dis
gracefully catered for, suffered h0rri-
bly,, In all the British forces lost 90
056 men, and OF these only II per cent
fell in battle The rest were destroyed
by cold and disease, aggravated by a
rotten commissariat,
IN 1870 came the biggest war OF rhe
latter half of the nineteenth century,
the titanic conflict between France and
Germany. BY Oct. % there were $50
900 German troops in France, Paris
was besieged, and there began the four
months Investment, with furious fight
ing on both sides
Again Jack Frost came to the aid OF
the Germans, A long spell of Intense
cold made life almost impossible for
the half starved French, while the
Germans, who had the whole country
to draw on, besides their own excellent
commissariat, suffered very little BY
January the city was in such terrible
condition that it surrendered
The date Of the last great war before
that Of 1912 in which Turkey was en-
gagged was 1877 The Turks were at
tackled by an enormously superior force
of Russians, with the czar himself in
command Osman Pasha, with 10000
men. hurried inland to Plevna, a vii
lage which stood upon a hill, and there
hastily entranched himself The Rus
SLAMS had 100000 men, but Osman and
his dauntlesS band defeated them in
four successive battles
In November winter set in three
weeks earlier than usual. The Turks
had no winter clothing and little to
eat but maize porridge and horsefesh
They suffered fearfully. At last, on
Dec. 8, they determined to break out
There were only 10000 left, but their
rush was so tremendous that they car
tried three lines of Russian trenches be
fore they We're surrounded and forced
by enormously superior numbers to
surrender Internationally London An
swerS
Napoleon's Piano.
4