Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-11-29
SPIRIT OF AUSTRIAN
FORCES EXCELLENT
Officers and Men Speak of
Situation as Highly
Satisfactory.
BETTER WEATHER SETS IN
Trip From Vienna to Galician
Front Reveals Signs of Con-
fidence Everywhere.

Correspondence of Associated Press.]
STRo-HUNGARIAN GENERAL
FIELD HEADQUARTERS. PRESS DE-
PARTMENT. GALICIAN FRONT. No
vember 6.-rhe spirit of the Austro-
Hungarian forces is excellent. Officers
and men who come to this point speak
OF the situation as highly satisfactory.
By now even the vcriest private seems
to have learned that losing ground is
not always a calamity. and that. as
has been already demonstrated, the
strateBical retreat Is OF necessity an
attending phase Of the position"
fighting. of which there has been SO
much In both the eastern and western
battlefelds.
Meanwhile. better weather has sc:
in in Galicia. For the last two weeks
the leaden sky has shown large riffs.
through which peeps with increasing
frequency a sun that seems oddly inn
potent, but which at least !s the prom
Use that there will be no more rain
that day. Now the rivers arc low, the
fields comparatively dry, and the
roads are once more passable. made
20 largely by the army engineers. who
have not been found lacking in ef-
ficicncy. During the first stages of
the war the army wheel transporta-
ton cut deep into the surface of the
roads. and the many hoofs converted
them into quagmircs. Now, and with
no rain to keep the foundation soft.
il is possible again TO move about
with case. and, what is mort impor-
tnnt good speed.
nI;I1EIt WEATHER
Is noon FOR TROOPS
The better weather has also been
a boon for the troops and their ami
mails. il Is said here to be easier TO
guard against the discomforts of cold
than against those brought on by wet
weather. Moreover, the fall rains In
Galicia and Poland are attended by n
very low temperature. so low, in fact.
that the higher elevations of the Car
pathian mountains are covered with
snow, though none of them exceeds
1000 feet In altitude, and most OF them
arc much lower.
y trip from Vienna TO the Galician
front Is not as exciting or even inter
estinS as one might think. The war
has lasted long enough here 10 have
lost the quality of novelty. Every
where one sees signs of confidence In
the larger and smaller cities building
operations are going on: husky peas
ants. men and women alike. pillow the
fields or harvest the sugar beet, potato
or other late crops. and the active rail-
road traffic Is only in part of Il military
character.
Almost the only reminder OF war is
an occasional Red Cross train, going
to- or returning from tho front There
is, however. q rather lively military
passenger traffic on the regular trains,
and one notices that all bridges. tun-
ncls and stations are guarded by sold
ters. This is the case throughout the
parts OF Austria and Hungary. which
are trarerscd on the way to the Cali
clan front. In upper Hungary ono
sees large drOves oc cattle, however,
large, fat beef stock. intended to feed
the men In the trenches Quite leis-
urely these round ups" go through
the Waag and Arva valleys. towards
the Galician border following high
ways that wind In and out the hills
and mountains.
Now and then. too. one meets small
groups OF stoliJ and massiveIy built
Hungarian peasants in charge of a man
in uniform-recruits of an army which
may be said to he still In the process
of mobilization.