Siberian War Scenes.

Manawatu Herald, 28 April 1904, Page 2

Siberian War Scenes.

A Russian correspondent propping to the front wrote last month as follows to the St. Reforsb'Urg Telegraph Bureau from Irkutsk, Siberia : “ Our express train travels slower than the slowest train in European Russia. The Seat of war is still remote, but its presence is felt. The long rows of cars filled with soldiers, the caravans and the primitive sleighs drawn by shaggy horses which we pass along the way at the crowded stations, break the monotony of the snow-bound wastes and endless forests, and the stillness is broken by the songs of the Jolly reservists and the bells of the village churches sounding clear through the frosty air. This bustle and activity amidst the Siberian desolation strikingly illustrate the Russian giant stretching his limbs preparatory to punishing the foe. General Rennenkampf, who is to lead the Cossack division, is travelling on the same train. He tells me that all these reservists will become hardened soldiers a fortnight after reaching the front. “ At Irkutsk we met the victims of the war—children and women drying to get back to European Russia. On our entrance into the semi-darkness of the station we were greeted by the wailing of children issuing from the dirt-heaps and baggage encumbering the floor. Their

\vax3n faces, and bloodshot, sleepless eyes would melt a heart of stone. The wild, panic-stricken flight of their mothers from Manchuria after the startling outbreak of the war led to great sufferings. They reached this place after untold hardships, only to find that they will have to wait weeks more until there is sufficient tram accommodation to enable them to proceed farther. So the children have been pining, sleepless and motionless, in this fetid atmosphere, because outside reigns deathly frost.”