New Britain herald., 1915-07-26
Struggle for Warsaw Recalls
 Days of K0sCiuszC0

Polish liberator in one of the public squares of Washington.
 But that first tragedy was as noth- ing compared with what Poland is now undergoing, the entire theater of
 Eastern fighting being within the ter
 ritory of the old Kingdom of Poland, With Russian armies tramping over the country from the east, Austrian armies from the south, and German armies from the north and west, all compressing Poland as in a double vice from four sides, marching and lighting on a scale of unprecedented magnitude, and leaving train of wreck and oesolation even greater than that of Belgium or Serbia. This is the testimony of disinterested eye witnesses, Polish. English and Amer ican, who have recently traversed the striken regions, including c. c. Gibson of the Rockefeller Foundation, who declared on his return that this was one of the greatest tragedies the world had known, the devastation of Bell giun shrinking in comparison.
 News Rigidly Censored.
 Such telegraphic news as trickles through from Poland, except official reports Of military operations from the three sides is censored and garbled and gives only the picture of fighting, without that of the prostrate country under the heels of the fighters pressing from four sides. But from eye-witnesses returning, from Polish student e fug ees from the scouragec, district, and from letters to those who have sought asylum here, there is a mass, of information on the real conditions at the scene of these gigantic Eastern operations. Much of this information flows into the hands of Miss Laurence Alma Tadema, daughter Of the great. Eng fish artist, who for three months has been working day and night as the secretary and directing genius of the Polish relief committee, whose officers and patrons embrace about every name of note in England-peers cabi- net members, ambassadors, artists and authors.
 Think of the magnitude of this ap-s pa1ing Polish tragedy said Miss AL toa representative of The Associated Press Ut is difficult for Us in England or America, with con- litions serene, to cast the minds eye5| across .Europ pesand grasp the fact that III the titanic Eastern battles are be- Ing fought on Polish soil And it is not only gigantic struggle of invad- Ing armies from without, one follow ing another with all their, train of ruin and desolation, but it partakes almost of civil conflict with Pole lighting against Pole.
 Brother Against Brother.
 ..Theres are,'' she went on, about .welve million Russian Poles and and Prussian Poles. All of them have nave that intense longing to see Pc and rise again as unified kingdom. And vet of these twenty-four mil sa lion Poles. a million Polish soldiers are fighting in the Russian ranks, and another million are lighting in the Austrian and German ranks literally brother against brother. One of the reports reaching me tells of a pody of Polish infantry on the Russian side, charging at a body of the enemy with bayonets raised and the battle \ crys ringing from both sides-only toS distinguish as they came to grips that both were shouting the cry of Poland and on that instant, as if inspired by a common impulse, every bayonet was lowered and every man in the facing ! anks fell on his knees and iA their common language breathed the Lords prayer. That was Poland's prayer on the battlefield of this terrible Eastern conflict
 Here is another thoroughly au- thenticated case, said Miss Alma -Ta- dema: "A Polish infrantryman raised 1,ic yif l,4 nf' ar, advancing foe, only to see him pitch forward and hear him cry out in Polish, My God I leave a wife and three children And this agonizing dying cry in Polish rang in the ears of the brother Pole who had fired the shot, torturing him night and day, un- til he literally went mad and was taken from the ranks raving maniac.
 Loyalty Rewarded.
 eIt was natural that the Russian Pole should cast his lot with Russia, and this loyalty has been rewarded by the inspired proclamation of Grand Duke Nicholas promising freedom for Poland, pledge which every Russian Pole accepts in good faith as fors- shadowing the identification of the Polish nation. On the other hand the Galician Poles showed a perfectly natural first movement of allegiance to Austria which had given them the right of their own faith and language and some semblance of freedom. This and the laws of compulsory military service brought almost a million Poles into the Austro-German ranks to fight against their brothers in the Russian ranks. And yet in both Aus tria and Prussia the . overwhelming majority of the Poles are at heart so1id1y with the kingdom of Poland.
 When MT. Gibson of the Rockefel- Ter. Foundation returned from Poland