The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-27

of the many letters that have been
received from German soldiers at the
front comparatively few have ap-
peared in any Of our papers except |
those published in German. Here |
are translations of some Of the let
GERS written by German soldiers at the |
front in East Prussia and Poland |
and published in the New Yorker
S;taats-Zeitung. The first gives an
Interesting account of some of the
Gghting which resulted in the great
victory of General Won Hindenburg
oyer the Russians at Allenstein, East
prussia.
The terrain of East Prussia possess
.eS excellent natural features Of de-
tense against invasion. The entire
area facing the Russian frontier is in
.ersected by swamps, lakes and for
asts Many of the lakes are long and
winding and bordered by dense for
ests. which extend for miles. For an
invading Army to meet defeat in this
region would be to render it's position
orecarious To let the Russian army
advance into this tangle Of lakes,
.yamps, and forests and then to trap
anG annihilate it, was the plan Of the
Gefnans as will be seen in the follow
ing letter:
Habersdorf, Sept. ., 1914.
since Aug. we have been fighting
the Russians. We were sent forward
hv rail TO Strasburg, East Prussia,
aud from there we rode directly to
I.autenburg where the Russians were
reported TO have strongly entrenched
themselves. Our squadron, constant
IS at the head of our army corps, had
the task of getting in touch with the
enemy, of keeping in communication
Nth the different regiments, OF pro-
tecting the machine-gun division, Of
- rNf hn
enemy, and above all, Of scouting. /
have taken an active part in all the
expeditions. Upon the whole, our
| squadron has been kept so busy that
one cannot help being surprised that
al the fellows Ca few are still miss
in are here and have found their way
| hack 10 us.
ON Aug. 81 our squadron was or
dered 10 protect the machine-gun
company. We found out, first, how
far the enemy had withdrawn. This
We discovered by the fire of the
enemy's infantry. The way our in.
fantry, artillery and machine-guns
worked together, was remarkable. We
could get an excellent view Of the
whole affair, for we kept slipping be
tween our trenches and artillery
When these three weapons had done
their duty, we had to advance agaiI
with the cavalry and determine how
far the enemy had withdrawn. Thus
~ Lautenburg they kept retreatint
frther and further. On the whole
the Russians, in retreat, possessed
euickness that surprised us.
The first baptism Of fire that j Wa
to receive, was shell fire. Gu
squadron was standing dismounted be
mind d haystack when, all of sud
den, ss-s- boom. a shell plunged int
the earth three meters in front Of me
Soys, you can probably imagine hoy
that first shell made me feel.
thought OF everything in q flash. es
peciaily as the things were just hum
ming about our heads. 1t was mere
~ our good luck that most of tn
Russian shells did not explode; other
wise not man of our squadron woul
oe alive. Anything may come nov
hand TO hand fighting. rifle-fre, ete
nut for the shells, l had, at first,
mortal fear. However. we were 500
10 get accustomed to these fire wori
100. and you may be sure that r
German ducks his head any MOI
when these things sing. Heads ere
aud steady in the saddle. we ride
the face Of whatever the rabble throw
AT our heads. The Russians WEI
driven far from their position. A vel
large Russian force wheeled to II
right and was completely cut OIL fro
NV 'hd<h dII1ly ny OuI lIIldHIAy, VIZ
had pushed it's way into the Russia
hne. With this force wee about thr
thousand horsemen, macnine-gur
and cannon.
rs Lautenburg was now stripped
troops (our troops were still follo'
ing the enemy in the direction of Sc
dan), and as this portion of the enen
that had been cut off had its ey
upon the baggage belonging to I
in
Lautenberg) we had to go back a.
mold Lautenberg. Besides our squa
ron, there was still in Lautenburg o
company Of the Landwehr. we n
orders to hold Lautenburg Until rel
iorcements arrived. / call it shal
on the Russians that our little Oil
sion was allowed to hold out aSall
their overwhelming force. We n
scarcely reached Lautenburg aga
when there came such crash oN