The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-25
Garrison Held Fortress to the Very Last Moment of
 Human Endurance
HIGH TRIBUTE PAID
 WORK OF RUSSIANS
Operations Were Conducted With Un- paralleled Skill and Rapidity and With All Available Means of
 Modern Technique

Budapest, April 5.-(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-A full descrip- ton of the history of the fortress of Przemysl and it's garrison has been is- sued by the Austrian general staff, giving an account of the capture, the sufferngs of the men, and details relating to the provisioning of the garrison. The state ment in part is as follows:
 The garrison of the fortress held Przemysl to the very last hour that hu- man force could do so fin the military sense of the word. General Kusmanek only surrendered when such a course was dictated by humane and military consid- erations. On the day of the surrender there was not a single morsel of food in the fortress. and no breakfast could be supplied to the men.
 Nothing positive is known vet as to the terms of surrender but presumably they had to surrender internationally, and Generals Kusmanek and Tamassy (chief of the Honved forces), were taken prisoners with all the garrison Under them were the Honved division of Yer sacz, the East Galician landwehr, the ANoa th0ih iidiiSdiidi diu N1dlltldH id nU- sturm, the Hungarian artillery division, and the fort artillery detachment of the First Austrian landsturm artillery Russian Forts Surrounded Events have developed around Prze- mysl more quickly than was expected During the last sortie it was ascertained that the Russians had built counter for tifcations all around the fortress even in the direction of their own territory, preparing for all eventualities. In fact the Russians built a new fortress all around the besieged territory. The forti- hcatlons were so constructed as to con- stitute an impenetrable obstacle to in ward attacks. just the counter-form of the Qualifications and defensive works of the fortress itself. The Russian ring was constructed exclusively aga 4s Przemysl with unparalleled skill aAd rapidity, and with all available means of modern technique
 'On the west a well-fortified defend ing line and on the south a large Russian army stood in the way of any attempt to relieve Przemysl. In addition the roads leading towards Russia were well fortified, as the last sortie proved. This was the military situation of the fortress during the last weeks
 The last sortie was directed towards the east, and was undertaken, not with the view of effecting the relief of the fortress but to find out If the surround ing Russian force was as strong to- wards Grooek and Lemberg as in the |sother directions and whether the. Rus sians had fortified their positions in the Grooes direction as well as to the south ana west of the fortress.
 With regard to provisions the fortress was we'll supplied at the outset, but the stores were consumed at the time of the jnu pcfr ,ot,f xxrhfa fal, 1, fa1 ...,ts1 tober Il. On that date the fortress was relieved and General Borvevich entered the fortress with his army. The rail- way lines had been blown up by the retreating Russians. On the Galician roads it was impossible to transport any thing at that time, and this fact obliged us to provision the army fighting to the east of Przemysl from the stores of the fortress, the army being cut off from all other points of supply.
 City Again Invested
 Tt was thus necessary to draw provi- sions from the ample stores of Przemysl in the hope that as soon as the railway lire was reconstructed the stores could be replaced The railway line was re- constructed. and on October 23 the first trains began to move towards the fort ress.
 At the end of 10 days, however, and before the defciences could be made good, Przemysl was invested anew.
 At this period the situation in north Poland made it necessary for us to with draw our flank in Galicia. During the 10 days at our disposal the transport of ammunition took first place. The ques- ton of provisioning the fortress appear ing at that time to be a secondary mat ter: when eventually food supplies were despa tened to Przemysl it was too late.
 During the first days of the invest ment in November, General Kusmanek took stock of the available quantity of foodstuffs. and Grew up scale of ra- tions He took great care that neither officers nor men should get more than the minimum of everything. For break fast they had only tea, for their midday meal small piece of meat and half a pound of bread, and in the evening tea again with some bread. To add to the meat supply thousands of horses were slaughtered, which was all the more necessary on account of the shortage of fodder. Later on this minimum was further reduced so that the men of the garrison were on almost starvation diet for the last two months of the siege.
 Flying Machines Impracticable
 Tt has been said in some quarters that flying machines and dirigbles might have been used in bringing in supplies, but this idea was excluded from the beginning. Such flour or meat as could have been thus brought would only have sufficed a few hundred men for few days, and to have made any appreciable difference all the aeroplanes and dirigibles of the world would have had \o have been employed daily.
 '"rhe commander of the fortress vetoed the idea that certain members of the gar rison should receive food by this means whilst the rest put up with the rations available in the fortress Even the game rl,. Hx- <,f t1,o oft xroo ,nt l. lowed to be brought in, but was cooked and eaten in the hunting field. The aero