The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-06

which our troops could not possibly
 march is fortified with equal strength. On the east side of impassa ble roadless
 bogs and marshes are imposing, ostenta-
 tiously high barbed wire entanglements.
 IIindenburgs ruse department here ac-
 complshed a masterpiece. It reasoned
 that the trendemndous obstacles would
 tempt our commanders. Our commanders
 would conclude that the country which
 was defended with such obstacles must
 be practicable country. They would att
 tack The Germans would fire from be-
 hind the bog and from the Hanks. When
 our attacking force had lost heavily the
 Germans would retire and our troops
 would find that they had been wasting
 lives in the aim of forcing a path
 through impossible country
 Up in the Carpathans, where was
 waged the greatest mountain campaign
 in history, climatic conditions forced both
 sides to show ingenuity. Even in April,
 snow In places Is from four to eight feet
 deep, and there are drifts 20 and 30 feet
 deep. Major General Brusiloffs eighth
 army had to face unexampled obstacles
 in regard to supply. Wheeled traffic was
 impossible, and in places the snow was too soft and too deep for sledge runners. Horses could not move. At first it seemed as If the Carpathian pass fighting must be interrupted until spring. Then Staff Engineer Uspensky devised a system of snow transport. He built fat-bottom snow
 boats, each mounted on four very broad runners, resembling ski. These snow boats
 are coupled in long trains and hauled up the mountain sides by man-worked wind
 lasses. On March IT, during fight on
 the Dukla pass, this device saved a Rus sian force from being cut up. A Rus
 sian blockhouse was attacked and nearly overwhelmed. Owing to deep snow rein f0roeTpapts Could he in time Three infantrymen were put in each of Uspensky's snow boats, and In half an [ hour four companies were rushed to the blockhouse. The Austrians were beaten off. Uspensky has also invented a snow carriage platform for light artillery. These platforms are as big as the floor of an average sized room. They can be taken to pieces and carried as single blanks and they can be put together In 10 minutes. They are used for floating field guns over the snow plains. The Austrians are copying Uspensky's snow boats and the German army at Koniushkil has gun plat forms which resemble ours.
 Snow fighting in the Carpathians in- volved a new system of military engineer ing and tactics. Battles took place brea st deep in snow. There was more danger of suffocating than of death from wounds. Avalanches came down mountain sides and swept away victors and vanquished. On the Lupkow pass In the last days of
 March the Austrians created a snow and ice fortress. Two battalions of Alpine Jaegers on ski, with machine guns on
 sedges advanced down a slope where
 the snow lay five feet deep. The Jaegers
 dug trenches in the snow In order to
 make their snow trenches bullet proof
 the Austrians poured water on the para
 pets and let them freeze during the night.
 They further beat the snow hard turning | | t~,&~ !.
 the enemy were in an impregnable posi-
 ton, and they poured in heavy rifle and mitrailleuse fire on our trenches. Brusiloff's men resolved to storm the snow stronghold As our men had no
 ski, 1t was impossible to cross the snow field. When it grew dark our men were set to digging oblique approaches towards the Austrian trenches. The work was
 done in silence, but the Austrians found
 out what was up, and they kept up a tremndous fire. After a nights hard
 work our troops got within throwing | range of the Austrians. They were sa-
 luted with hand grenades and with rife fire. The soft snow let the bullets | through. Many of our men fell. This was followed by lull, after which our
 men got a supply of hand grenades and bombarded the Austrian snow trenches. After violent explosion, an avalanche 1 came down the mountain side and GOV 1 cred with several feet of snow part of the Austrian trenches and ours. Some
 men were suffocated. Most extricated l themselves, but the attack for the time i being was off.
 Germans on the Bsura and Rawka are | eking out their ingenious mechanical de- vices with ruses. The aim of these ruses 1 is to save men, gain easy advantages and tire out The psychological ele-
 ment in the ruses is surprising. Things are done in unexpected ways. After a
 ruse attack has been tried several times 1 and our men have got used to it. the at- | tack is suddenly renewed without the ruse. All night attacks are made on that I principle. On the Bsura the Germans
 made five abortive night attacks with electric search lights. signal rockets and 1 illumination rockets. The whole sky I bazed. First went up the signal rockets then the illumination rockets and then l when our men were about to fire, on turned the binding search lights. After | two such attacks, our men got used to the ceremonial and when they saw the 1 signal and illumination rockets they got l ready for the search lights; put shades l under their lambkin 'papakha" hats and prepared to fire low under the zone oi l glare at the creeping enemy On the sixth night the rockets and search lights were turned on, and our men blazed away. but no attack came A mile fur l ther along the front the Germans. with out any signals or any illumination, made an overwhelming surprise night attack 1 Some of our trenches were lost and had to be retaken. This ruse was planned 1 by Hindenburg's central staff We got proof of that next morning, when we heard that the ruse was put in force al exactly the same hour at three or four different spots on the Bsura- Rawka-
 Nida front. All these spots are defended I by different German armies with diff
 ferent commanders and staffs. The na- 1 ture of the ruse and the exact hour oi | execution must have been prescribed by | Hindenburg himself