The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-01-29
TERRIBLE PICTURE OF
THE BLOODY BATTLEE IED
BEFORE CITY OF PRZEMYSL
Horrors of Long Siege Of Gai'cian
City are Described by Austrian OF.
ficer-One Russian Regiment was
Completely Annihilated During an
Assault ON Fortress.

Vienna, December BODY mai
to New York)-"The field Of the
dead! Great blood soaked tracts
sown with corpses and bearing az
fruit sickening and indescribable hor-
rors."
This is the terrible picture by Lieu
tenant Leo Schneider, who has re-
Gently returned to this city after see
ing the horrors of the long siege OF
Przemysl.
1T is terrible to bring it before my
eyes again-that immense expanse of
dead left before Przemysl by the Rus
SLAMS" he said. II have seen
trenches of incredible size dug of
energetic hands to bury these corpes
but their number was not to be count
ed. Thousands and thousands still
remain unburied after the work of
throwing them in trenches seemed
thro 'gh and enough to bury half the
world. AS far as eye could see there
was nothing but the dead. Despite
all the work of the Austrian soldiers
the task was too great. 1t would
take thousands and thousands of
workers to complete that grim task.
And the Russians believe they
left their dead before the walls of
Przemsl for two reasons. One was
the utter disregard for human life-a
callousness to human sympathy, for
they did not stop even to rescue the
wounded from the dead. Another
was the desire to breed pestilence as
a deadly weapon against the garri-
son of Przemysl.
THE attacks of the Russians, DASH
ing frantically against the network of
our outer defenses were futile at
first. Eight times they renewed the
attacks, eight times they yer repuls-
ed beneath the deadly action of our
guns. In an extensive area we found
everywhere traces of the 127th regi-
ment of Russian infantry which had
been completely annihilated.
whenever the defenders of Pre-
mysl came forth and tried to bury
the Russian dead they were over
powered by a terrific discharge of
%shrapnel. This is what causes me to
say that the Russians, sowing dead
bodies before Przemysl, wished to
pollute the air and make the city's
garrison victims of a plague.
Gazing over that field of the dead
one shudders to think o fthe means
used to reap so bloody a harvest.
Those wretched Russian infantrymen
were goaded forward in the face of
that terrific fire from our guns, by
officers who slashed them with thongs
and with knives and bayonets. The
bodies of the dead bear these evil
dences of cruelty and prisoners cap
tured confess to this mode of war
fare, driving on reluctant soldiers OF
the "a into the jaws of death"
The field of death was sown with
lavish hands. For three days." con-
tinued Lieutenant Schneider, "and
for three nights like innumerable
waves the Russian battalions surged
against the resisting garrison. That
continued rush of that sea of human
ity was, however, futile, against the
calm, unwavering bulwarks of our
garrison.
"The garrison fired upon the enemy
with tranquility and with the same
care as at a target. The fire of the
infantry was successful not mention
ing that of the artillery or of the ma
chine guns. The situation became
most perilous for us at the southern
line of defense, where the Russians
we're advancing despite vigorous ~.
sistance. They advanced with desper-
ate courage without thought f their
enormous losses. Their system Of not
caring for the dead, leaving great
masses of corpses, gave them means
of obtaining a partial and feeting
success. Against one Of the forts, IL
battalions, concentrated to death,
were sent. Of them, however, $50
men succeeded in reaching the top
of the ramparts, crawling on all fours
over piles of the dead. When they
reached the top a combat of violence
man against man-followed. Our
weakened garrison at this point had
to retreat into the barracks. The
Russ ans commenced to follow and
there swept over the place a terrific
battle.
"Bayonets and stocks of guns were
welded furiously, the soldiers not be-
ing able to fire at such close range.
And in that little fort there were only
100 men who defended it in such a
heroic manner that they took prison.
ers all the Russians who entered.
1.-THE outer defenses of the forts