Norwich bulletin., 1915-02-24

cept those in the German columns and dogs and cats in villages. The bodies sians have been left to decay by the roadside.
 Like a Gigantic Rabbit Drive.
 The. first phase of the campaign the phase resulting in the destruction of the Russian northern army-may be compared to a gigantic rabbit drive, or surround, in which men were the prey.
 While the attention of the Russians was concentrated on the Warsaw line Field Marshal Won Hindenburg quiet ly assembling an overwhelming force lakes suddenly launched it in two columns against the unsuspecting General Sievers.
 One column drove in from the south and threw back the Russians who for months had been besieging the lake gateways to East Prussia and the other column from the north swung around in a wide circle to the east ward and to the southward, aiming to join hands with the southern Ger man column and cut off the retreat of the retiring Russians. The two wings of the drive closed to the east of Suwa1ki and Augustowo only a few hours too late to catch the entire army. Most of the units of the i Russian force, however, were bagged. Nature Helped the Museovites. i The delay which enabled the rem l nant to escape was due to nature. The | line of advance of the southern column i lay through the belt of swamps which l form a natural defense of the Russian i frontier. It is almost without roads l and troops attempting to use. the cross l country trails became almost hopeless 1y begged. The correspondent saw ! columns of infantry, many of which 1 had passed through the mires more l than ankle deep Detachments of sol diers assisted in dragging the guns forward through the mud but their progress was extremely slow. ! Nature" said the commander Of one of the German corps engaged, said to the correspondent, always helped the Russians
 Two days of hard frost and we should have had every man." Battle In Driving Snow Storm. The correspondent examined the right wing of the German armies en- gagged and it was to these troops that the heaviest part of the fighting fell The left wing, sweeping down from the north, was called upon mostly for leg Work. to accomplish marches of forty | miles daily in pursuit Of the Russians i who fled after the four days engage 1 ment on the Mazurian Lakes and thereafter the soldiers of the German army were chiefly interested in get
 
 ! was of unique character. Again nature aided the Russians. It was fought in a driving snowstorm, a fierce cutting wind driving the flakes into. the face and eyes of the advanc- ing Germans until they could scarcely see.
 Rifles choked With lee.
 When the Germans came to grips i with the Russians they found their rifles so covered with ice and the mug wi weapons could not be fired. The troops and these were young troops, of one Of the newly formed corps, were left only with their bayonets, but they stuck to their work despite heavy loss e5.
 | The Russians were assuming the of- fersive when artillery, which hither- to had been unable to get up through the forests to the south of the Mag urian Lakes, arrived just in time and 1 column pressed forward along the F'airway, only a dozen miles wide, be- tween the Mazurian Lakes and the Russian frontier, driving the Russians before them but they were forced tc turn three times to beat off the fanI attacks from the south.
 Russian Relief Columns Defeated.
 The Russian commander-in-chie- made desperate efforts to come to the help of his army whose plight by now was recognized. He sent in a column of troops from the fortress of Lomaz and from Kolmo and from the fort al 1 Ossowetz. Each time the German commander faced a part of the troops to the south, defeated the Russian re- lief columns and then continued his march.
 The retreat of the Russians on this part of the field of operations could be made in only one direction: name ly, the northeast, as the swamp belt prevented their escape to the east oI south.
 The troops from the center and the northern flank of the Russian posi- ton were by this time in full retreat eastward and southeastWard under pressure from the pursuing German forces converging on the Russian col unn, all aiming for the only remaining egress from the circle to the east ward of SUwa!ki.
 Swamps Saved Russian Officers.
 The Russians, apparently became l | desperately jammed and on Feb. II when the correspondent arrived al , Grajevo on the heels of the entering German troops, the German com 1 mander was almost confident that the bag would be complete. Then came the delay in getting the fanking col unn across the swamps to close the hole in the ring and General SieyerS with all his higher officers and tht l That the Russian commander wal able under such road conditions tC brine of as much artillery and troop! as he did, is in the opinion of Ger man exports a most laudable achieve ment The roads are very narrow ant obstructed with deep drifts of snow Ea ch drift usually. is indicated by z cannon standing on it's end. or by 2 freight automobile which has beer overturned in a ditch, showing tha the Russians had suffered from tht same obstacles. Several of the maiT roads were tried but they were utterly impassab ble on account of the snow. But One Avenue of Escape.
 A picturesque scene, reminding one of a canvas by the Russian painter 1 Nerestchagin, was witnessed on th' trip between. Augustowo and Suwalki The road is cut like a. canon for twen. ] ty miles through a dense Russian pini l forest and it formed the only available 1 avenue for the advance of the German troops which by this time had left thu escap aping Russian army to other hands and were pressing forward to partici ] pate in a further operation.
 Horses Continually Falling Down.
 Along this twenty miles of road wa