El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-05-01
RUSSIANS LEAVE
EAST PRUSSIA IN
iSHES5IIRJIH5
Whole Villages Devastated
and Women and Chill
dren Carried Off.
MEMEL TRIES TO
ESCAPE CAPTURE

EEMEL, East Prussia, May For
M seven months and a half the
- war had been little more than
a rumor for the inhabitants Of the lit
tie city OF Mcneil tucked away in
northernmost East Prussia on the Bal
! tic. Beyond the mobilization of 500 Of
I the "landsturm' to take the place Of
I the regular troops things had gone on
much the same as usual.
Then, suddenly there came the re-
port that the Cossacks were coming
! from the north and the east, and
/ Memel began to get its first direct i'm
preston Of the gigantic conflict. In
, the days that followed it was to get
other and more terrible Impressions.
While officials frantically appealed
for help from the military authorities,
the little band of Landstrum slowly
fell back from one defensive position
TO another before the oncOming Rus
slams, made one final but ineffective
stand at the outlying village of Al
thof and were forced to let the Russians
enter
Russians Burn and PiIIage.
Burning and pillaging as they went,
! the Russian troops swept into Nemel.
As terrified villagers gazed from their
windows, the soldiers marched through
Memels main street, smashing in the
store windows. stopping only long
enough to help themselves to tobacco,
liquor and food
Memel, however, had had q hours
notice, and had utilized the time for
partial flight. Terrified villagers from
the outlying districts had come pant
ing into town with stories Of dwellings
looted and burned, relatives and friends
seized and borne off to Russia by RUS
sian civilians following the wake OF the
soldiers, and Of atrocities too terrible
TO mention.
People Flee to sand Dune.
Eight thousand Of the towns pOpula-
ton, thanks TO one final stand Of the
Landsturm at the Karlsbrueche with
machine gun. succeeded in getting
out Of MemeL with a few belongings,
and onto the long strip of sand dune
known as the -Kurische Nehrung" that
runs in a eurving direction southwark
toward Koenigsberg.
Few Of the fugitives had had time
to bring any food, and on the narrow
strip Of sand there was nothing on
which they could subslst The bitter
winter weather that had made the
flight so terrible, however proved to
be their salvation, for il frOze the
sheltered water between the sand and
the mainland so that supplies could he
sledged across in sufficient quantity to
keep soul and body together.
Eagerly Await Relief.
Ignorant OF the fate that might have
befallen those they had left behind,
suffering terribly in the bitter weather.
" that the achievements for which
they had appealed so earnestly had ar
rived to drive the Russians out. There
they remained a week. or for four days
after the invaders had been expelled
with great losses
For three days the Russian troops
camped about the town. Their swoOp
on Memel seemed to have been inspired
by no tactical reasons, for they did not
sink the ships in the land locked har-
f0rrffv- Themselves T-aru7amT~Fg
threat that Russian towns would be de-
stroyed If they continued to burn down
German villages is believed TO have re-
strained them from destroying Mcneil
German Soldiers Come.
On Sunday the German reinforce
ments began 10 arrive, and the Rus
slams began to leave. A few hours later
a trail Of dead bodies from the center
Of the little city TO Althof-or It's /
remnants-told the story Of the de-
parture. When the last Russian had
gone and the inhabitants ventured out
of their homes, III corpses were picked
up and piled together preparatory to !
burial in a common grave.
This gruesOme work was still in
progress when an Associated Press ;
correspondent reached Memel.
One Of the first to reach the scene !
was Ober- President Won BatOcki Of the I
province Of East Prussia, and he began Z
at once to sift out the truth from the ]
mass OF rumOr and hearsay regarding
the invasion Shortly he determined I
that between 500 and 500 persons in Z
the Memel part Of the province had !
been carried off to Russia. and that Il !
had been killed, that one I
woman took poison when she was at 1
tackled by a Russian soldier and that 1
another died from such an attack, that I
the second mayor Of the city had been !
wounded by a bayOnet stab in the alb 4
domen, and that 16 German soldiers I
had been killed in dispellins the Rus
slams
East PRUSSIA Devastated.
The Associated Press correspondent {
was able to retrace the route taken by /
the Russians as they advanced on 4
Memel from the nearby border, to the /
north and to the east. and to see a /
panorama of desOlatiOn such as now IS I
in East Prussia, and no where 4
else in Europe. Belgium is she'll 4
riddled. East Prussia is burned down 4
and devastated.
The route led Up along the Baltic /
coast to the remains of the little viii /
lage Of Nimmersau-a typical town. the /
building in which had been I
the inn. It had been the objective OF /
the Russians as they swept over the i
border from POlangan; they had stayed 1
long enough to all but wipe il off the
map
The few inhabitants Of the village (
who had mustered up courage to stay,
or who had returned, told pitiful tales.
One old man. with one ragged suit Of
clothing, a battered hat and broken /
umbrella as his sole remaining posses
sfons, had left Nimmersau with his two I
young sons when the Russians ap-
preached, leaving his wife and five J
young daughters behind.
He came back to find. parts of the
walls Of his home still standing, the
interior a smoking ruin, and his wife
and children gone The tears rolled
slowly down his cheeks and froze in
the bitter cold as he told the story.
II d y II