Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-10-24

fun force in the GaFpathians, strong
! Russian forces were, according to the
so-called gigantic plan" to be sent
4 forward between the Niemen and the
| Gum binnen- Insterburg road (north-
east corner of East Prussia) against
{ the weak north wing Of the sth army,
1 crush it in. envelop the army, and
I throw it back to the Vistula.
! other troops, especially masses of
| cavalry, were to break through our
weak forces between Mlawa and the
/ Vistula north of Warsaw and oppo-
site the southwest corner of East
/ Prussia), and invade West Prussia.
( The stretch of Prussian territory east
| of the Vistula was to be overrun, and
! the German troops which occupied ii
We're to be annihilated
| The execution Of the gigantic PLAN
was still only in its first stages; but
! the Russians had already fixed their
eyes firmly on the country east Of the
| Nistula AS early as the beginning of
January they had taken away troops
! from their front west of the Vistula in
order to use them in the north. If we
| forestalled their plans by our own, we
! should certainly have to reckon with
stronger counter-attacks across both
the Niemen and the Narew.
These counter-attacks were actually
made, and indeed with such force and
! continuity that we had a very hard
! time of it, The grand duke was a
really great soldier and strategist.
| Troops Moved Secretly.
| The development of the German
| trops would be complete by about
February 20. They had been moved
very late Intentionally. We feared
that the withdrawal of troops on such
a large scale from occupied Poland,
could not be kept secret and might
disclose our plan for an offensive in
| East Prussia, / attached the utmost
! Importance to secrecy for the success
| of our operations.
! Now that all this is past. a natural
question suggests itself. Was It wise
TO send German troops to the Car
| pathians? Undoubted they were
| badly missed in our winter campaign
east of the Vistula, where their right
full place was. But they were needed
| still more in the Carpathlans, owing
| to the immediate condition of the
! Austrian army, which required stiff
fleming.
Ammunition Ran Short.
In the east we were never short of
| ammunition. we always had as much
as was possible for the supply service
| to bring w on the bad roads during
! open warfare and in trench warfare
no great dumps were made in those
| days. In the west, however, conditions
We're different-ammunit was yery
short there indeed. None of the war
ring nations had estimated correctly
either the effects OF concentrated ar
tillery fire, or the consumption Of am
munition.
| When I was director of the opera
tons department before the war. [
continually pointed out the necessity
! of increasing our ammunition sup,
plies in peace to such an output that
| 1t would last until deliveries were
forthcoming under war contracts.
was unsuccessful in getting even any
where near the required amount: but
even If my proposals had been adopt
ed, there would have been a shortage,
because the rate of consumption was
too enormous. But we should, at any
rate have been able to overcome the
crisis sooner and perhaps got well
ahead with our output instead of al
ways remaining behind the demand
Deceived the Grand Duke.
The 9Th armys attack near Boil
NOW took place January 81 The
weather was too cold for a gas attack,
| though that as yet we did not realize
Other things, too, did not turn out as
we could have wished. We took o
few thousand prisoners, but other
wise, from tactical point of view,
our success was small. All the same,
| our attack made a great impression
on the Russians, and strategically our
| hopes were realized.
/ Ir,rN1 ,,tx 4
detailed to make the attack lin East
Prussia) started at the beginning of
February and went off smoothly. On
February it was completed. We
moved our headquarters to Inster-
burg. We did not find it easy to say
goodbye to Posen, where we had
passed through great and eventful
times. But Insterburg called UP
pleasant memories of the events OF
September, 1914.
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! France, Belgium, Holland, Russia and
the Scandinavian countriesA
| Ludendorff tomorrow tells of the
great winter battle of the Mazurian
lakes, in which the German soldiers,
by hard marches in deep snow, drove
the Russians out of East Prussia. de-
priving them of the position from
which they would have been able to
turn the line of the Mazurian lakes
in the campaign of the coming spring.
This battle was one of the most re-
markable incidents of the war.