New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1915-04-28
NENEL PLUNDERED AND
FIRED BY RUSSIANS
PitifuI Tales Told BY Few lnhab'-
tantS Of East PrusSjan Village

Correspondence of the Associated Fress')
Mcneil, East Prussia, March 81
l@or seven months and a half the wax
had been little more than a rumor
for the Inhabitants of the little city
of MemeI. tucked away in northcr-
most East Prussia on the Baltic. Be
Nond the mobilization of 500 OF Inc
"landsturm" to take the place OF me
regular troops things had gone OH
.lnuch the same as usual.
Then, suddenly, on the l'th o.
March. there came the report that the
Cossaclls were coming from the nor'l
and the east, and Memel began TO get
it's first direct impression OF the 81
santic conflict. In the days that loi-
lowed it was to get other anu hioio
terrible impressions.
Russians Force Entrance.
While officials frantically appealed
for help from the military authorl-
ties. the little band Of Landsturfh
slowly fell back from one defensive
,position to another before the oncom-
ing Russians, made one final but IN
effective stand at the outlying VII
Iare of Althof, and on Thursday
night. March IS, were forced to let
the Russians enter.
Burning and pillaging as they went,
tsc Russian troops swept into Memel.
AZ terrified villagers sazed from
their windows, the soldiers marcheu
through Memel's main street, smash
ing in the store windows stopping
only long enough to help themselves
to tobacco, liquor and food.
Had Twenty four Hours Notice.
Meme1, however. had had twenty
fonr hours notice, and had utilized the
time for partial flight. Terrified vii
layers from the outlying districts had
come painting into town with stories
of dwellings looted and burned, rela-
tives and friends seized and borne Off
to Russia by Russian civilians. fol-
lowing the wake of the soldiers, and
of atrocities too terrible to mention.
Eight thousand of the towns pop
Nation. thanks to one final stand or
the Landsturm at the Karlsbrueche
with a machine gun, succeeded in get
ting out of Memel, with n few belong
ings, and onto the long strip of sand
dune known as the ''Kurische Neh-
rung' that runs in curving direction
southwark toward Koenigsberg.
Had Little Food.
Few of the fugitives had had time
tobring any food. and on the narrow
strip of sand there was nothing on
which they could subsist. The bitter
winter weather that had made the
flight so terrible, however, proved TO
be their salvation, for it froZe the
sheltered water between the sand and
the mainland so that supplies could
be sledged across in sufficient guam
Njty to keep soul and body together
Ignorant of the fate that might have
befallen those they had left behind
suffering terribly in the bitter wealth
err, the fugitives waited, hoping des-
perately that the reinforcements FOL
which they had appealed so earnest
" had arrived to drive the Russians
out. There they remained week. Of
for four days after the invaders hac
been expelled with great losses.
~ No Tactical Reasons.
For three days the Russian troops
camped about the town. Their swooI
on Memel seemed to have been IN
spired by no tactical reasons, for they
did not sink the ships in the land
locked harbor, nor fortify themselves
Germany's threat that Russian town.
would be destroyed if they continued
: to burn down German villages is be
ueved to have restrained them from
destroying Memel.
" Instead they cleaned out virtual!
every delicatessen store, every prov1
sion market and every wine and nquo
establishment in Memel. Individual
\ soldiers prowling about, entered tn
3 homes of inha bitants and added t
THAR fear by their depredations an
NJ their threats.
German Reinforcements Arrive.
h On Sunday the German reinforce
4 ments began to arrive, and the Rus
slams began to leave. A few hour
u later a trail of dead bodies from tn
center Of the little city to Althof-o
It's remains-told the story Of the de
y parture. When the last Russian ha
zone and the inhabitants ventured OF
j of their homes, III corpses wer
picked up and piled together prepa,
atory to burial in a common grave.
This gruesome work was still
rress when an Associated Press col
respondent reached Memel.
Twelve Civilians Killed.
ono of the first to reach the seen
was ber-President Won Batock
the province of East Prussia, an
Ahe began at once to sift out the trut
from the mass of rumor and hearsa
M regarding the invasion, Shortly r
Undermined that between 500 and 60