Evening star., 1915-01-10
CALLS RUSSIANS
TOUGH FIGHTER,
German Field MarshaI's Esti
mate of the Quality of
His Opponents.
SAYS FALL OF WARSAW :
WOULD NOT END Confess
Immense Territory Upon Whicl
Foes May Fall Back-Their
Heavy Losses in Battle.

GERMAN ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Posen. December 10 delayed in trans
missionl, via London, January s.
p.m.-"Even the occupation of War
saw and of the Vistula line would b
no means signify the end of the cam
paign. The Russians, with their i'm
mense territories. can fall back III
definitely Defeated at Warsaw, the!,
can fall back on kiev, from kiev o.
Moscow, and eventually even on Nlada
vostok. OF course, We cannot follow
that far
Thus spoke Germany's popular hero
Field Marshal won Hindenburg, to th'
Associated Press. in the course of
four-hour conversation today. He cA
planned how the midwinter Polan'
campaign, in which tne Russian ad
vance was checked and rolled back
had involved frightful blood-iettins
Never in the days of the battle o
Tannenberg and the retreat of TN
Russian general Rennenkampfs arm!
from the Mazurian lakes did the Rus
slams lose so avily as in tn
sanguinary fighting around Wloclawek
Kutno, Lodz and Lowicz, said the tieN
marshal
He added that at least 100000 Rus
slams had been killed or wounded sinc'
November IL, and that 10000 othei
Russians had been MADE prisoners. Thi
contest. according to Won Hindenburg
had been proceeding everywhere IA
vorably to the Germans and Austrian,
since the fall of Lodz and the com.
mencement of the Russian retreat. Yei
Field Marshal Won Hindenburg de
clared that all the fight had not bee;
taken out Of the Russians.
Field Marshal's Physique.
So large of frame is the field marsha
that he seemed under, instead of ovei
the average height. He has a larB.
head and rugged shoulders and wea'i
a heavy sweeping mustache. less ag-
gressive in curve than the emperor's
but equally characteristic
The Associated Press correspondent
dined with Won Hindenburg and DURING
the meal the conversation was In.
formal, the cares of the army leader
seemingly having been forgotten. IN
the workroom of Won Hindenburg wai
a staff map of Poland. overlooking from
the table on all sides to the floor. Won
Hindenburg was inclined to switch the
conversation from the war to the
United States, which, he said, he had
long been anxious to visit. He was
not SO much interested in the sky
scrapers of New York, he said, as ir
the country west of the Mississippi
valley-California, the Yosemite val
ley, the Grand Canyon and other places
of scenic grandeur, of which evidently
he had read much.
The interviewer with effort, however,
turned the conversation to the war.
Won Hindenburg said that while the
situation was very favorable there was
not much to justify the eNtraVagahI
hopes based on the announcement Oh
the collapse of the Russian offensive.
Russians "Tough Opponents"
"The Russians are tough opponents
and are not easily brought into mo-
tion," he said. "They have prepared
long series of positions. All the way
from Lodz to the Vistula they are fall
ing back slowly, with all the advantage
of position on their side. Yet i think
they are hardly able to bring on many
more troops of quality to oppose US.
ITO raise army corps on this front
the far east and the Caucasus have
been stripped of regular troops, and
undrilled militia. good only for guard
ing communications and other services.
are in the rear.
Asked as TO the fighting qualities of
the Russians Field Marshal Won Hin
deuburg said it was hard to make "A
general statement in this respect,
the quality of the men varied with the
different races and nationalities. some
of these, he said. furnished inferior
lighting men but the real Russians
were of excellent material Answering
another question, Won 1lindenburg said:
The fall of Lodz was the turning
point in the present campaign me
Russians fought desperately Tor pos
session of this city, on which the CEN
ter of their line rested. The Russian
line was bent not broken, in this bat
tle The Russian leader, like a wise
man, did not wait for that. but whei:
he saw how affairs were going, with
drew.
THE battle was the most bitter and
sanguinary of this war. the Russian
killed and wounded far exceeding tho
figures at Tannenberg. The dead n.-
in heaps on the battlefield. There were
SIS bodies on one small hill
Little Known of Great Battle.
The mention of Tannenberg evoked
the comment that little was known OF
this great battle. Won Hindenburg
then took a pencil and paper and drew
a rough sketch map of the battle.
Our army he said, was drawn up
to the north of the MaZurian lakea
region, here Then he sketched the
East prussian frontier and the posi-
ton of the troops to the north and
south of the line.
"When / took command" the field
marshal continued, the order already
had been given to retire. The Russian
army under Samsonoff had moved in
here Indicating line at right angle
to the German line). / withdrew our
troops before Rennenkampfs army,
and swung them around to the right
and rear in this fashion: The corps
from the extreme left j sent around
by the railroad: the others had to move
by forced marches
Had Rennenkampf followed we should
have had to turn and face him But
!, IL from int