The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-09-13
1ETTERNIcH

the last invader from Russian soil. and
the Russia's Gar was the real command
er OF his contingent in the allied army in
Germany. While Alexander had no spe-
cial military training, he was served by
fairly sound common sense.
Two Battles Won.
The Russians and Prussians undertook
first of all to wrest Saxony from Ma
poleon's control, and that kingdom bore
the brunt of the enure war OF 1913. For
six months the Saxon plains were tramp
led by the armies OF all the nations OF
Europe, humble homes were laid waste,
and the sickle of Death reaped in the
fields where the toiling peasants had
sown. while in the desperation OF loser,
For a half year the hurricane of war
swept back and forth over battle-ground
ninety miles long and forty miles wide.
The storm first broke in full fury on
an afternoon in early May az Lutzen,
near where Gustavus Adolphus found his
grave and where the land rolls away to
the mountains of Bohemia. 1t beat first
OF all upon Ney, while his raw recruits
were cooking their dinner. But they
turned from their kettles to face the foe
and bore their baptism of IRE so unfiinch-
ingly that the marshal in his enthu-
siastic surprise declared that they were
better food for cannon than veterans
who knew enough to break and run.
At the end of a bloody halliday strug-
gle between 10000 men, there came that
inevitable hour Of WEAKNESS and irreso-
luton for which Napoleon always waited
and watched in the ebb and flow OF the
battle tide, and he called out, Eighty
guns, Drouot!" The guns. being quickly
parked, opened their mouths and poured
forth a torrent of iron and FIRE which tore
through the enemy's line ana put the
allies to flight. War was terribly simple
with Napoleon.
Lutzen, however, was a costly victory.
Napoleon had nearly twice as many men
on the field as his opponents and he lost
horses he could not pursue and cut on
the vanquished and turn his success to
practical account. Still, he had taken the
first trick, and in Vienna, wnere heavy
the alliance against him, the betting
quickly shifted.
After the battle was won and finished,
a Prussian cavalry brigade made a squirt
that surprised and broke up the En-
peror's own escort. In the confusion and
the darkness, he was separated even
from his staff. and after the furry was
over had to gallop about to find his aids.
He had already begun to display that
heedlessness OF peril which characterized
his last campaigns, when, seeming. to
challenge the tickle goddess to do her
worst, his gray coat was carelessly offer
ed in nearly every engagement as a tar
get for the sings and arrows that out
rageous fortune was raining upon his en-
pire. His suite often could not avoid the
risks he ran. and Bessieres commander
Of the guard, was killed on the eve of
the fight at Lutzen. the second marshal
Of the empire to fall. Lannes having been
the first.
AS the battle OF Lutzen was fought
near the last battle ground OF GustaVus
Adolphus. so the Battle Of Bautzen was
waged three weeks afterward close by, a
field already made memorable by Fred
erick the Great. In its gentle descent
from the mountainous frontier Of Bo-
hernia, through the famous Spreewald