The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-06-30
THE WAR IN RUSSIA
CARS, STAFF APPROVES HIS
TORY OF THEIR ARMY
HAD TO Save ITS ALLIES

1HAU III SAYE lis ALLlES
Review Includes All Operations From
Opening Of War Through the Fal
and Winter-Many Battles Wage6
Against Odds Are Won by Strategy
of Grand Duke Nicholas.
This review of the army opera
tons on the part of the Russians was
written by Robert J. Mccormick, 3
correspondent of The Chicago Tri'
bune, and was 'sread and approved
by the Russian staff" 1t bears 8
date Of May Is, at the "Great Rus
sian Headquarters" The article pre-
sents the Russian viewpoint.
On July II, 1914, while the EN-.
peror was reviewing the Guards
| Corps at Tsarskoe Selo, the Austrian
| ultimatum to Serbia was received.
Since the acceptance Of this ulti-
matum by Serbia was tantamount to
the creation of an Austrian autonomy
over the little Slavic kingdom and a
continuation of the aggressions be-
gun by the treaty of Berlin OF 1878
! and continued by the annexation OF
Bosnia and Herzegovina thirty years
later, the emperor came to an In
slant decision to protect the little
country if the Russian army was
found to be strong enough to face
the inevitable consequence, as it was
! not in 1905.
He called in consultation the Grand
Duke Nicholas Nicholaievltch, the
Chief of Staff, Nicholas Nicholaie-
witch Yanouszkevitch, and the Min
lister of War Soukouu'linoff, to whom
the reorganization Of the Russian
army had been conided after the war
with Japan.
These high authorities said that
the army was able to meet all tests.
The emperor then ordered the mobiG.
zation Of his forces and at the same
time made every endeavor to reach a
peaceful solution Of the international
disagreement, even asking personal
interview with the kaiser.
The following evening, while the
imperial party was at the opera in st.
Petersburg, the German ultlmatum,
commanding Russia to cease moblll-
cation, was received. Public opinion,
already at fever heat, burst forth
into monstrous parade of crowds cry
ing out for war in defense of Serbia.
Still the Emperor refused to act,
and the next day called meeting at
the palace, consisting of his minis
ters, the entire Duma, the Generals
of the Guard Corps, the Counsellors
of State, and all the leading men or
St. Petersburg irrespective Of official
position. Before their deliberations
solemn mass was held in the i'm
periaI chapel. An enormous and en-
thusiastic crowd gathered in the i'm
mense plaza before the palace, as
large as the average ball park, to
await the result Of the deliberations.
At the end of the great conference
the Gar appeared upon a balcony.
He said he was strongly opposed to
war with Germany, but that the Ger
man uItimatum was entirely unsup-
portable. War was forced upon him,
and peace would never be declared
while single hostile soldier stood
upon Russian soil.
Upon the same day he appointed
the Grand Duke Nicholas Nlcholale-
witch commander in chief and Gen
eral Yanouszkevitch chief of the staff
of all the Russian armies. At mid
night the Imperial Guards, 10000
strong, entrined for the fortress OF
Grodno, the key to the line of COM
munication between st. Petersburg
and Warsaw. On the following day
the Germans crossed the frontier at
Thorn, as did the Aussrlans near
Lubin.
It was known in every staff head
quarters the world over, it is part of
the German Orange Book, that Ger
many could mobilize faster than
France and many times faster than
Russia. Hence, to avoid being caught
in the process of mobilization-as the
French were caught on the Alsace
frontier-the Grand Duke modified
his armies we'll to the rear on the
Brest-L railroad.
The invasion Of Belgium by the
Germans and Of South Poland by the
austrians eyincing the enemF's plan,
8 Russian army advanced from Lub-
lin to Krasnik, and to relieve the
French allies caught in the process OF
mobilization by the German rush
through Belgium, General Samsonoff
WAS hurried into East Prussia from
the same iiIo Of the River NaraW,
and at the same time General Renen-
kampff crossed the frontier at Eyd-
kubnen and won the first battle OF
the war at Gumbinnen.
The German general staff, having
severely defeated the French IN AL
sace-Lorraine and the Engllsh army
on the Marne, and, as they thought,
outflanked the Allies at Paris on the
full road to another Sedan, quickly
withdrew six army coTps-approXl-
mately 100000 men-and, with the
soldiers already in East Prussia, fell
upon Samsonoff at Tannenberg.
At the same instant the Austrians
attempted to use Napoleonlc strategy
on the Galician frontier. Leaving a
covering force on the Gnila-Lipa riv-
er to hold back the Russian army ad-
vancing from Tarnopol, the bulk OF
the Austrians struck the Russians at
Krasnik and threw them back in con-
fusion upon Lublin.
Samsonoff with four corps was far
ahead Of Rennenkampff with three
and one-half corps more and was
completely overwhelmed on the 2Sth
day Of August.
Samsonoff destroyed, and the army
of Krasnik seriously repulsed, the
Grand Duke took the heroic resolve
/! which turned an impending catastro-