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Page 32
On August 5th Warsaw was abandoned. Up to July 29th hope was entertained
in military quarters in London and Paris that the Germans would stand a
siege in their fortresses along the Warsaw salient, but on that date
advices came from Petrograd that in order to save the Russian armies a
retreat must be made, and the Warsaw fortresses abandoned. For some time
before this the Russian resistance had perceptibly stiffened, and many
vigorous counter-attacks had been made against the German advance, but
it was the same old story, the lack of ammunition. The armies were
compelled to retire and await the munitions necessary for a new
offensive.
The last days of Russian rule in Warsaw were days of extraordinary
interest. The inhabitants, to the number of nearly half a million,
sought refuge in Russia. All goods that could be useful to the Germans
were either removed or burned. Crops were destroyed in the surrounding
fields. When the Germans entered they found an empty and deserted city,
with only a few Poles and the lowest classes of Jews still left. Warsaw
is a famous city, full of ancient palaces, tastefully, adorned shops,
finely built streets, and fourscore church towers where the bells are
accustomed to ring melodiously for matins and vespers. In the Ujazdowske
Avenue one comes to the most charming building in all Warsaw, the
Lazienki Palace, with its delicious gardens mirrored in a lovely lake.
It is a beautiful city.
The fall of Warsaw meant the fall of Russian Poland, but Russia was not
yet defeated. Von Hindenburg was to be treated as Napoleon was in 1812,
The strategy of the Grand Duke was sound; so long as he could save the
army the victories of Germany would be futile, It is true that the
German armies were not compelled, like those of Napoleon, to live on the
land. They could bring their supplies from Berlin day by day, but every
mile they advanced into hostile territory made their task harder. The
German line of communication, as it grew longer, became weaker and the
troops needed for garrison duty in the captured towns, seriously
diminished the strength of the fighting army, The Russian retreat was
good strategy and it was carried on with extraordinary cleverness.
It is unnecessary to describe the events which succeeded the fall of
Warsaw in great detail. There was a constant succession of German
victories and Russian defeats, but never one of the Russian armies
enveloped or destroyed. Back they went, day after day, always fighting;
each great Russian fortress resisted until it saw itself in danger, and
then safely withdrew its troops. Kovno fell and Novogeorgievsk, and
Ivangorad, then Ossowietz was abandoned, and Brest-Litovsk and Grodno.
On September 5th the Emperor of Russia the following order:
Today I have taken supreme command of all the forces of the sea and
land armies operating in the theater of war. With firm faith in the
clemency of God, with unshakable assurance in final victory, we
shall fulfil our sacred duty to defend our country to the last. We
will not dishonor the Russian land.
The Grand Duke Nicholas was made Viceroy of the Caucasus, a post which
took him out of the main theater of fighting but gave him a great field
for fresh military activity. He had been bearing a heavy burden, and had
shown himself to be a great commander. He had outmaneuvered von
Hindenberg again and again, and though finally the Russian armies under
his command had been driven back, the retreat itself was a proof of his
military ability, not only in its conception, but in the way in which it
was done.
The Emperor chose General Alexieff as his Chief of General Staff. He was
the ablest of the great generals who had been leading the Russian army.
With this change in command a new spirit seemed to come over Russia. The
German advance, however, was not yet completely checked. It was
approaching Vilna.
The fighting around Vilna was the bitterest in the whole long retreat.
On the 18th of September it fell, but the Russian troops were safely
removed and the Russian resistance had become strong. Munitions were
pouring into the new Russian army. The news from the battle-front began
to show improvement. On September 8th General Brussilov, further in the
south, had attacked the Germans in front of Tarnopol, and defeated them
with heavy loss. More than seventeen thousand men were captured with
much artillery. Soon the news came of other advances. Dubno was retaken
and Lutsk.
The end of September saw the German advance definitely checked. The
Russian forces were now extended in a line from Riga on the north, along
the river Dvina, down to Dvinsk. Then turning to the east along the
river, it again turned south and so on down east of the Pripet Marshes,
it followed an almost straight line to the southern frontier. Its two
strongest points were Riga, on the Gulf of Riga, which lay under the
protection of the guns of the fleet, and Dvinsk, through which ran the
great Petrograd Railway line. Against these two points von Hindenburg
directed his attack. And now, for the first time in many months, he met
with complete failure. The German fleet attempted to assist him on the
Gulf of Riga, but was defeated by the Russian Baltic fleet with heavy
losses. A bombardment turned out a failure and the German armies were
compelled to retire.
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