Evening star., 1915-09-12

I announcement by the German general STAFF
in a bulletin issued September 3, that
Grodno has been captured after house-to-
| house fighting, left the public without de-
tails Of the capture Of the fortress up
to the present time. The Lokal Anzeiger
| now prints a delayed report by one of its
correspondents, DR.. Stephen Steiner, who
entered the city with the Germans and
saw much of the fighting at close range.
Inc correspondent approached the city
from the southwest the evening of Septem-
Der 2 He entered the section of the city
south of the Niemen river, but was unable
10 cross. as pontoons had not yet been
built there, and the Russians had de-
! stroyed the high iron bridges The air
was thick with humming bullets and the
explosion CT shrapnel shells, the metal
rattling sharply on the walls of the
houses.
Scene of Grandeur.
"The night scene at the waters edge
was one Of unparalleled grandeur says
DR.. Steiner. THE river skfrted by rows
of houses on bluffs 100 feet high, was IL
Illuminated by exploding shells, the broad
stream sending up everywhere jets Of
water from the shell fragments. Numerous
church towers across the river, with their
gilt crosses encircled by clouds of smoke
/ from the shrapnel, appeared on the lighted
horizon.
Suddenly a mighty pillar of fame
snot up on the other shore. producing a
gigantic rain of sparks and burning
fragments. The terrific detonation
drowned the roar of the cannon. 1t
was the explosion of some Russian ord
nance depot. 1t caused numerous con-
f1agrations in it's vicinity, which illu-
minated brightly the ruins of the
gigantic Niemen bridges lying half in
the water. The correspondent left the
river and spent the rest of the night in
a shed in suburb, but sleep was i'm
possible, Is the bomba rdment continued
throughout the night, growing un-
usually intense about 3 o'clock in the
morning. when the Russians on the
north side of the river ATTEMPTED
counter attack. which. after several
hours' duration, was repulSed with san
culinary losses to the attacking forces
He returned to the city before dawn
and found heavy German guns h-orght
into position during the night, shelling
the Russian forts, six or seven of which
still were defending themselves vigor-
ously.
Rain of Bullets Incessant.
The Russian artillery. stationed at
barracks on the northern heights, also
kept the southern suburbs under a
heavy fire, and the rain of rifle bullets
still was incessant Nevertheless. Ger
succeeded unOeF cover Oh
darkness in putting a pontoon across
the river. Several German battalions
and batteries of artillery gained the
northern shore to support the other
troops. which had crossed further down
the stream.
AS the correspondent approached the
bridge he found the bodies of fallen
soldiers everywhere along the streets.
These and the dead horses were push
ed aside to make room for the advance
of the troops. Thirty yards away
shrapnel shell exploded, killing a
soldier and horse. The air was still
humming with hullets and shells were
exploding overhead. Forts No. and
No. continued belching sheets of
flame.
Meanwhile, the writer reached the
pontoon bridge. where long columns Of
troops were crossing swiftly. man
occasionally dropped from the ranks.
but his body was pushed aside and the
column moved on without breaking the
pace. The river on both sides of the
bridge was spouting flame from falling
projectiles. Under these circumstances
the correspondent succeeded in reach.
ing the northern shore.
. The. streets and squares everywhere