New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-04
FIGHTING NINE WEEKS
nv TRIANGLE OF DEATH
Great Polish Battlefield on Left of the Vistula of
Importance Because 1t Commands the In
vaders Approach to Warsaw.
,,Nrs o'poNNELL BENNETT.

w .,,n which Germans and Russians
been SCATTERING one another IN
Interrupted field sieges since Just
w.. w., the first Of this rcd year;
~, the town of Lowiez a line run
.hoes, 10 the smaller town of Skier
'.g;ee twelve and a half miles away
y, Cor great part be paralleled by
p;ver Skierniewka, which passes IN
-. of Lowicz near Arcadia. one OF
=, splendid seats Of Prince Radziwii'
DIV line fourteen miles northeast
,.or will strike the town Of Soeha-
~ which lies about five miles below
,J.,ows- VIOLA, where Chopin was born
injury ago. Along the inside of this
..heostcrlv line the River Bzura goes
struggling
In Skicrniewice on the south and
e..heczew on the north by a twenty
rgs line and you will have the base of
-, triangle Of death, and that base
..,gblv indicates the battle front.
s,.baczew lies almost due west OF
u,rsaw and is less than thirty miles
,,om tho heart OF that city
River Scanned Valley.
The northern half of the triangle is
much cut up by the rivers Rswks'
s,,ba and Pisia, where they wind and
,.rocc'o across it 10 empty into the
p-nrs ON thc northeast. In few hours
.be B7ura has carried their waters TO
re mighty Nistula. into which II emp
,;cs oppositc Wyszogrod. some dozen
,n;les north Of the northern point OF the
WEcY Won read in the dispatches Of
orcratiors to the lett OF the Nlstula
they are likely 10 be taking place IN inc
roichhorhood Of the triangle OF desth'
~ whole value Of the triangle lies IN
The fact that its fanlike spread compre-
bonds .hc approach TO Warsaw.
"YoJ will cover the twenty miles that
lie between YOU and the Warsaw fortl-
tcations." said a Russian prisoner TO
German officer. Eyes, think you Will
40 H. But at what cost The ROAD
will be paved not with bodies, but WIN
skulls. But | suppose you VIII 40 H.
All this region which ls cut up by
me Rswka, the Sucha and the Pisa IS
had offensive but good defensive coun-
trv-making haRi work, IN other WORDS
FOR the invading army and relatively
easy work for the troops hghung on
their own soil. To the west OF the
three rivers are few forests only greaI
stretches Of fiat farming country TIL
,,u etrile into the Skierniewice coun-
Inv. where rises the Cars hunting
forest
Like a Prairie Blizzard.
Imagine the Illinois prairie in biz.
card and YOU obtain a very fair idea or
the landscape which stretches out III
front of Lowicz to the battle hne.
Imagine the prairie dotted with the
shallow graves of soldiers and with un-
buried horses and you put the NhaIA
O. war on the landscape.
Mark the prairie with mile posts
painted i'm broad stripes of black an
white and flinging gaunt arms to the
right and left and you add Just the
touch that recalls the desolatlon OF Ma
poleon's Moscow campaign.
When the snow drifts high around
them the caunt arms seem TO thrust
upward. like something human and
ominous-like the arms of dead men
who are trying TO give wild warning OF
more dreadful desolatiOn TO be faced
further on.
Beyond the Rawka, beyond the Sucha,
hevond the Pisis, the Russians have
emf mn the country with their wonder
ful trenches. To the east they lie for
miles upon miles, hidden in thick for
ests. sheltered in ravines, and con-
stantlv making mastery use OF every
advantage the lay of the land offers
them. They. i'm a word, are in the good
defensive country.
They are like moles, these Rus
slams says a German ofhcer. Let
them assume position and in half all
hour they have burrowed. They are
cleyerer and quicker than we are at
this kind Of thing and we have lost
many men by not initiating them
earlier
Trained to 60 On and Fight.
This matter Of speedily intrenching
and doing your fighting from trenches
is partly constitutional. The German
soldier is trained in advancing and
fighting
This burrowing and waiting is dis
tasteful 20 his mind. He wants to get
OF and finish the business. But he has
learned his lesson now, and that IS the
principal reason why the war goes more
slowly.
lie fattcrs himself, though, that il
the Russians taught him something, he
has bettered the instructions.
Our trenches are more sanitary,
said a German officer. 1--WE look, first
Of all 10 that. Most Of the Russian
trenches we have taken are scandalous
no attention at all 10 the funda-
mentals Of hygiene"
And give German soldier the chance
and he Immediately sets about making
his trenches homelike even luxurious.
Down az Czenstochau (also spelled
Czestochova. with a little jigger under
the "e') and Tschenstochau, south of
LODI, the Germans edged and wheedled
into their trenches easy chairs uphol-
stored IN leather, sofas and hanging
lamps.
In the pilgrimage church in the town
behind them hangs the miracle working
picture called "The Black Madonna"
or Regina Regni Polonl@," which
shows the Virgin and child on panel
Of cypress wood.
There it has hung these 800 years,
and Is hanging still, unless, as probably
Is the case. the clergy buried II at the
outbreak Of the war. Millions of dol
Iars' worth Of paintings and ecclesiasti-
cal treasures in Belgium, France, Rus
sIa and Germany have been so hidden
Vurng the last six months.
Lungs Fail to Work.
everybody IN the triangle OF death is
0iesr-eyed, unshaven and throaty with
cold. Some are even speechless The
lungs get TO feel like couple of soft
VOiIed eggs like a hot pulp-and they
cont work at all we'll.
Inc principal point of interest inside
Ge triangle is little white cottage
"hleh stands by the roadside about