Evening star., 1915-03-28

cording to Lieut.. stanger, the Russians
at first had six reserve divisions around
the fort Later this force was reduced
to four divisions. b. subsequently It
received some reinforcements.
Undertake First Sortie.
Troops from a division Of Hungarian
reserve militia, known as the Hon
we'd. undertook the first sortie from the
fortress December IA. They reached
Birea, half way to Sanok. Another
Austrian division worked it's way to-
ward this place from the Carpathfans.
and the two divisions were near each
other when they were compeiied 10 .e
turn by a strong gathering OF Rus
sian troop.
AS early as December the rations OF
the defenders grew scarce ana tno a.
lotments were cut down. Ihey VIZ
tually gave out March 1S. Bread nau
long since been unknown. Horse meat
and rice lasted the longest
Condition Precarfous.
The condition of the defenders was IN
every way precarious. Two hunoreo
died a day during the last few days OF
the siege and there were no fewer than
$4,000 men in hospitals. 1t was con-
seouently decided. March Is, to make
a final attempt to break through the
Russian line, but the attempt was
doomed to failure before it was under
taken. Each soldier received Two cans
tions remaining on hand At the same
time he was forbidden under severe
penalty to use both these cans on the
first day. The men who violated TINS
for the reason that their weakened
stomachs were unable to digest this
unwonted amount Of food
The Honyeds and some older troops
sailed out on this last expsd1tion sing
ing, but the flesh was weaker than the
spirit. 1t took them seven hours to
march seven kilometers (four mi!es)
and many exhausted men were left
along the way.
Had Time to Prepare.
The Russians had plenty of time to
prepare for the meeting with these
hungry and weary soldiers. the e4-
pedition fought bravely. but 1t was
forced to retreat at 10 O'CLOCK IN the
morning 1t had to return distance
Of sixteen kilometers (ten miles) BEFORE
1t reached the protection OF tne ior.s.
Nevertheless. the Honveds came pack
singing as they had gone out
The Russians, who saw from the con-
dition of the capt1ves made py thefn
how desperate was the plight OF the
garrison, made an effort to take at
least one of the Austrian forts. In the
beginning they had had only old can
non, but latterly they had been sup
piled with modern pieces Of artillery
They began their bombardment me
after the exhausted members of the
expeditionary force had returned to
the forts.
Attack Is Repulsed.
The attack against the east front fol-
lowed, but it was repulsed with
sanguinary results. The commandant
decided that the fortress must be held
until 5 o'clock in the morning of March
e.
Preparations were made to destroy
the fortifcations and the artillery The
infantry regiments were WithaLaa,wn la,"
population Of Przemysl was assembled
outside the zone of danger Then the
work of destruction began
Fuses were so scarce that lengths
burning only three minutes had to oe
used to set of all the charges. Some
of these contained as much as 1900
Kilograms lover 1900 pounds) of ex-
plosives. The method was this: A
motor howitzer was loaded as usual.
and then the gun was filled with sand.
1t was then fired. with the result that
the explosive force. thrown back into
the gun, wrecked 1t and its immediate
The Russians commenced
reducing their artillery fire as soon. as
they heard these interior explosions.
Finally the Russian fire ceased
Air Craft Leave Fortress.
Four balloons with ten men, and four
aeroplanes with eight men left the
Przemysl fortress during the last days
of the siege. Only Capt Lehman and
Lieut. Stanger have teen heard from.
Five Russian officers and 1000 SOL
diers. prisoners OF war. were in the
fortress when it fell
An Austrian officer was posted on the
ruins of each fort and provided with
a white flag. He was instructed to
make this announcement to the Rus
slams:
His excellency cannot hold the fort
any longer on account of the lack Of
provisions. and he leaves everything to
the chiva1ry q the enemy"
Przemysl finally fell, the corre-
spondent OF the Lokal Anzeiger de-
clares. but not a single stone had been
captured by armed force.