The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-10-25

winch Il Was Impossible 10 nOId were
to be abandoned, but both commanders
and troops resigned themselves to this
course with great reluctance.
The construction of trenches and bill
lets, and indeed conditions at the front
as whole, suffered from the had rail-
way connections. The Russians had
everywhere completely destroyed the
railways. The bridges over the Niemen
and other large rivers had all been
blown up, the railway stations burnt,
the water supplies destroyed and the
telegraph wires broken down. The rail-
ways had been torn up in places, and
the sleepers and rails removed.
The military railway authorities,
with their labor and engineer compan-
les, and the telegraphists for the ex-
tfemeiy important work of re-estab-
fishing the telegraph, had a colossal
work before them. The director of
railways in the east knew his Job.
ONE LINE FOR THREE ARMIES
The completion of the railway bridge
near koYno was of the greatest i'm
portance. 1t was possible to use it by
the end of September, and for long
time it was the only channel for sup
ples TO the 10th and 18th armies and
the right wing of Scholtz's army group.
AT that time l was satisfied if | could
count on two trains a day for Ida for
the 18th army, but, as it turned out,
1t was not so simple to obtain the
trains themselves, which were required
by the army.
Communications with our own rail-
ways was very bad. On one occasion
the 18th army had urgently requested
frainload of fodder and received a
trainload of seItzer-water! That is u
trIfle during n great war; but the we'll
being of man and horse is dependent
on series of trifies, and SO the latter
assume great and disproportionate
Importance.
The Russian railways in Iithuania
and Courland had a surprisingly small
capacity, even in peace time. This
would not have been the case if Rus
STA had really needed the ports of VIM
dau and Libau for her domestic and
commercial existence
On the long stretches from Wilma to
Smorgon and wilma to Dvina conditions
We're not so difficult, but even here the
provisional watertanks froze in winter
and there were all sorts of Obstacles
surmountable and insurmountable
ICE PUTS ARMY IN DANGER
1t was long after Christmas before
traffic was made safe and COMPARE
lively regular on all the lines, so that
at last the longed-for leave trains could
be put on.
And then a peculiarly critical situa-
the ice on the Niemen and Windau
began to break up.
The masses of ice swept away the
bridge across the Windau at Moschefks.
The sole means of communication with
Germany by rail was thus cut off. The
floating ice dashed against the railway
bridge at kovno and displaced the rails
but the bridge stood firm. Once more
we passed through period of great
anxiety, although for different reason.
If this bridge had also been destroyed
the armies would have been in a
critical condition.
BY degrees the other bridges across
the Niemen were completed The ex-
tension of the railways progressed;
traffic became regular and conditions
on the ehstern front were regulated
more satisfactorily.
The railways have opened up the
country and facilitated the work of
civilization. To this extent these dis
tricts are in our debt. Behind the
front there arose a system of light
railways for the direct supply of the
troops.
ROADS BECOME SLOUGHS
The roads in the districts occupied
by the troops continued to be of great
Importance. The great main roads
from Grodno to Ida, Kovno to Dvinsk
and Tauroggen to Mitau were put into
excellent repair. The other roads were
repaired as far as possible. At the
they were transformed in places into
slough in which horses were drowned
if they happened to fall.
AS this work on the railways and
roads progressed the consolidation of
the front also went forward. The
troops cut wood for themselves, and
some of the barbed wire was manu-
fantnrad n1 ha he ~, x,f
war underground made the construc-
ton of trenches peculiarly difficult.
The biologists rendered good service
to the troops in this connection.
Behind the front arose workshops for
the repair of all kinds of war material.
The numerous captured Russian ma
chine guns were altered to suit German
ammunition in specially erected fac
tory.
Of course, I did not deal with these
matters in detail, and confined myself
to stimulating and organizing activi-
ties.
I was particularly concerned about
the welfare of the men and the horses.
The quarters were, in themselves, not
so bad. The war had passed compare
lively rapidly over the region which
we finally occupied, and therefore had
not been very destructive. Nor had
the Russians burned down everything,
as they did further south in Poland.
All the same there remained a great
deal of work to be done in the con-
struction of billets for the troops, es-
pecially close behind the line.
POOR DUGOUTS FOR THE MEN
The dugOuts, which took long time
to build, were made as habitab1e as
possible by the troops. Hut only those
who have been through it can know
with how little officers and men had to
be satisfied, and were satisfied.
Hutments for men and horses had to
be built further behind the line. The
troops became great experts at this
work. Their artistic sense was dis
played in decorative embellishments of
birch wood.
There was not enough fodder for the
horses. There were not oats, and green
fodder was too scarce to be supplied in
sufficient quantities. Many horses died
of debility. In the end we had to add
sawdust to their food.
1t needed special care to prevent the
supplies which had been brought up at
such pains from going bad at the rail-
way stations. OF course there were no
sheds or tents there. / had to see to
this also. Goodwill was universal, but
the difficulties accumulated until they
took the heart out of even the lowest
ranks. In dealing with the Christmas
parcels there were similar difficulties
to be overcome.
TRIED TO KEEP UP HEALTH
The health of men and horses had
my special attention I went into both
these subjects in detail with the Off
GERS responsible for them.
1t had been difficult to look after the
wounded during the advance. but con-