Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-10-28

The commander-ln-chl IN Ine
east and General Won Eichhorn made
themselves responsible for this strain
on the rest of their front. The gen
eral had often complained to me that
the 10th army had remained inactive
so long, and he now set about his new
task with Zest. He and his chief OF
staff, Colonel Hell. were men OF
great self-confidence and daring.
General Won Eichhorn was an officer
of brilliant intellectual qualities, and
had trained his troops in an eXemp-
larry manner,
The reinforced 40th army corps,
under General Litzmann, was to carry
out the attack. The general was eX-
tremely impetuous and his Influence
on the men was very great, He had
laid the foundations of his military
fame in the course of the break
through at Breshiny on November %
to IS. 1914. He once wrote against
the Guards officers corps, but he rec
ognized on this occasion what a pow
er this officers corps stood for.
The attack on Kovno was rendered
more difficult by the lack of the
heaviest howitzers. But we allowed
no difficulties to deter us, and we
built the railways. The right wing
of the attacking troops was always
very seriously threatened, and the
menace increased the more ground
we gained. At any moment the Rus
SLAMS might rake its flank very eff
fectively with their artillery The left
wing was covered to the north by a
Landsturm brigade
BY the beginning of August the
railways were ready. There was now
lack of ammunition for the heavy
field howitzers. ] gave uD my re-
serve. SO at last. on August 8, after
much trouble, everything was ready
and the attack could begin.
No fortress has ever been attacked
with such scanty material. but the
troops entrusted with the work We're
inspired by the gallant spirit of their
commander.
on August the infantry in the
assembly positions had got up close,
in order to obtain better artillery OBJ
servation. On the Sth the lombard
ment began. During the next few
days number of strong positions
had to be stormed. The vigor of the
attack appeared to be waning, but
General Litzmann continued to work
his way along the line of forts until
the 18th.
Luckily the Russians proved to be
incapable of withstanding the fire of
the heavy artillery. A fresh attack,
by a company which had Joined the
other troops. succeeded on the 10th
in breaking through the western line
of forts on the 18th General Litz-
mann crossed the Niemen and took
the town and the eastern forts.
The booty was not so great as at
the taking of Novo Georgievsk, for
it was not a case of storming a fort
ress which had been previously in
vested. The garrison had way out
in rear and was in touch with the
Russian forces on the east front. |
have never been able to find out why
that army did not help them, or
whether the speedy fall of the works
took it by surprise.
(Russians and others who now
know the secrets of the cars time
could tell Ludendorff much, if, as
he says, he does not understand why
the fortress was captured so easily.
Treachery among high officers left
vital points thinly guarded, fortress
secrets were given to German artil-
lerists and much of the ammunition
did not fit the fortress guns, because
of German intrigued
All the bridges, including the very
important railway bridge, and also
the tunnel on the east bank. had
been destroyed, the latter. fortunately
not completed. 1t was soon restored.
We were thus to a certain extent
able to open a line of communica-
tons east of the Niemen in the direc,
ton of Wilma, even before the railway
bridge was ready.
Immediately after the taking of
Kovno, General Won Eichhorn sent
General Litzmann and his advance
guard on towards the Wilma railway,
and himself took the troops next in
line across the Niemen. At the same
time he directed the rest of the 10th
army to push on with Olita as their
main objective, and lighter forces to
advance through Augustowo forest
towards Grodno. These forces CO.
operated very CLOSELY with the ad-
vancing Sth army, with which they
were almost level.
The center and right wing of the
10th army advanced, but with heavy
fighting. Under pressure of events
at Kovno, the Russians had COM
pletely destroyed the railways and
bridges over the Niemen, abandoned
the left bank and withdrawn in the
direction of Orany. BY August &c the
2lst army corps had taken Olta. BY
the end of August the 10th army had
crossed the Niemen and was slowly
advancing towards the Grodno- Wilma
railway. Before they reached the
railway they met with very strong
resistance, which was too much for
them at first. The Russians began
to bring up reinforcements from east
to northern Poland.
The tactical results of the advance
of the 10th army across the Niemen
in the direction of Grodno were small,
owing to the vast region of forest to
the northeast of that fortress But
the Russians had become nervous
They abandoned Grodno with amaz-
ing speed when the right wing of the
10th army, and more particularly the
Sth army, began their attack, On
September 1. General Won Scholtz,
with the 18th reserve division, took
the southwest forts of the town and
the town itself was occupied on the
End, after violent street fighting.
General Won Gallwitz reached the
Svislosz (south of Grodno and slight
" to the easu, fighting all the way.
Prince Leopold of Bavaria's army
group had traversed the Bialowiese
forest, which. by the way, was not
an impossible swamp, but wen pro-
vided with roads. .
(This sharp iab is directed at the
princely commander who was con-
Quoting operations independently of
HindenburS and Ludendqrff. He was