The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-12

of the 10th Army corps, did not go we'll for us. The Russians made . powerful cOuntcr-attack. The enemy poistions were strong and cicveriy constructed, and we should never have got the ups per hand of them with the arms and ammunition at our disposal, had 1t not been that the projected enveIoping movemept near Lotzen and the fortified chain of lakes was beginning to have l fts effect.
 FLANK ATTACK GOES BADLY l Even east of Lotzen, which had held out bravely against enemy attacks all this time things did not look pronis- | ing. The 17th A. c. and the First and 1 Eefghth cavalry divisions which had ad- yanced from the fortress, only made | slow progress northeast of the lakes, on feAe Sth and sth of September. They had some very hard fighting around Krug- ! lauken and Possessern (about 10 miles northeast of Lotzen). l The First A. C., which had pressed forward from Nigoiaiken and Johan nisburg c2o and 90 miles south of Lot | zen), had to be deflected sharply north | from the east side of the lake line. By l this movement it secured more room for the 17th A. c. by the evening of the l 9th.
 l The Third Res Div, with Won der Goltzs Landwehr Div. behind it, was still advancing in the Biaila- Lyck direc- l tion dong the southeastern corner Of East Prussia) On September it had already encountered the enemy in very superior force near Biaiia.
 l The army command would have liked l the right wing to be stronger, and 1 division of the Twentieth A. C., west of the lakes. had beeh kept ready to be placed at our disposal. But this I division had to be returned to the tcorps The front of 50 kilometers, on which the four corps attacked the enemy, was certainly too long. Fur l ther, the staff of the guard reserve
 corps feared Russian attack, and had therefore concentrated it's unit.
 The north wing had to stand firm on the Pregel. otherwise the Eighth army with be outflanked there The attack of the enveloping wing must be stronger than had originally been calculated. We had to wait and see whether our main attack would sue ceed or fall Hard fighting would be the decisive factor here We could only do everything in our power to in
 sure the result for which we were striving.
 MAIN RUSSIAN LINE RETIRES On the morning of September 10 we
 received the decisive news that during Line night of the hintn the enemy had
 Etven way before the First R. c. to
 
 sequence of the continuous attacks of the First and Twenty-seventh A. c. l {making the senvelopinG movement to the south). It was said that the corps had occupied their position and n-
 tended to march on.
 The rejoicing at headquarters can
 be imagined. A 1sreat success had once more, been achieved. but still
 nothing decisive. The Russian army
 was not vet beaten by any means.
 Northeast of Lotzen we had only had local successes. It was important to
 carry out frontal attack with all ou.
 strength and throw ourselves on the
 receding enemy whilst the envelopfrg wing advanced east of Rominten J.woods towards the WirballAn -Kovno
 road Tn this way we intended to
 drive the Russians as far as possible
 towards the Niemen.
 It had also to be taken into account
 that Kennekampf, wAo was now in
 touch with the endorsements aTriv- ing further south would be abl6 to
 make a vigorous attaek in any divsc-
 tion. Our lines were very thin every where. though the two northern groups. which had hixnerto been sepa-
 rated by Lake Mauer. had joined up Sagain. The situation was extremely Icrftical, and the tension was great The troops had a fresh tack before them Keeping n close touch with
 eaoh other. they had to pursue the
 enemy unceasingly bv forced marchex and attack him whenever he made a
 stand At the same time they had to wait for the cooperation of neighbor. ing columns before making local en-
 veloping movements. so as to minimize the losses.
 l GERMANS FIRED ON GERMANS
 The 17th A. c. and more particu- larly the 1st A. c. on the extreme right. and the 1st and 9th cavalry di- visions, had to strike again and again. These movements did not turn out eutte as I had hoped. Frfend and foe were dfffieult to distin Guivh. Our 0wn | eotamns occasionally fired on enc an-
 ether. The troops made too vigorous frontal attacks. and did not await the co operation of neighborins columrs. .But the most serious difficulty was