A BRITISH PROFESSOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 158, 10 December 1914, Page 7

A BRITISH PROFESSOR.

WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY. STORIES OF THE CAMPAIGN. Recently the Press Bureau slated that Professor Pares, Professor of Russian History, Language and Literature at tli". University of Liverpool, lias been specially deputed, on the invitation of the Russian Government, to accompany tlit-.r armies in the field, and to afford such information to the British public as unitary exigencies admit of. The following reports have just been received from him:—

We reached ihe Russian headquarters at the bugle bounded for evei-.ijig prayer. Ihe atmosphere here is one of compete simplicity and homeliness. Our small party ' includes several distinguished journalists from most of the chief Russian papers, also eminent French, American and Japanese representatives of tli" Press. We found the Grand Ducal train on a side line. It was spacious and comfortable, but simply appointed. We were invited to join in the lunch and dinner of the General Staff in their rcbiaurant car. 'Hue were no formalities; it was simply a number of fellowworkers having their meals together, 'without distinction, just as. in the big houses in Moscow, where the making of clothes for the army is proceeding. A notice forbids handshaking in the restaurant, under fine of 3d for the wounded. I noticed a street picture of the Cossack Kruchkov, in his singlehanded combat with eleven German dragoons, also a map of tlie front of the Allies in the west, but hardly any other decorations.

Among the party there was no alcohol, in accordance with the temperance edict of the Grand Duke and the Chief of the General Staff. The facilities given us are all that can be granted at tlie present stage of operations.

A TERRIBLE BATTLE. To-day (12th) I visited several wounded from the Austrian front, mostly serious cases. The first, an Upper Austrian with broken leg, spoke cheerily of his wound and his surroundings. He described the Russian artillery fire as particularly formidable. His own corps had run short of ammunition, not of food. Another prisoner, a young German from Bohemia, singularly pleasing and simple, described the fighting at Krasnik, where he was hit in the leg. The battle, he said, was terrible. The Austrian artillery here was uncovered, and was crushed. Tlie Russian rifle line took cover so well that he could not descry them from 20 yards in front of his own skirmishing line, but the firing took great effect.

I saw also an Austrian doctor taken prisoner, and now continuing his work, salaried by the Russians. All three prisoners evidently felt nothing antagonistic in their surroundings. They struck me as simple men who had fulfilled a civic duty without either grudge, or any distinctive national feeling. I spoke with several Russians who had been badly hit in their first days of fighting, especially at Krasnik. Here a young jew fell in the firing line on a slope, and saw thence more than half of his company knocked over as they pressed forward. He was picked up next morning.

A Russian described how his company charged a small body of Austrians, who retired precipitately to a wood, but reappeared, supported by three quickfirera, which mowed down most of his company. All accounts agreed that the Austrians could never put up resistance to Russian bayonet charges. This was particularly noticeable in the later fighting. As one sturdy fellow put it: "No, they don't charge us; we charge them, and they clear out."

I was most of all impressed by a frail lad >of 20, who looked a mere boy. He was not wounded, ahd was sent back simply because worn out by campaigning. He said, "They are firing on my brother, and not on me; that, is not right. I ought to be where they all are." One feels it is a great wave rolling forward with one spirit driving it on. Most.of these wounded had been.picked up. One heroic lady, a Sister of Mercy, I saw herself carry a wounded officer from the firing-line. Some were attuned for several weeks in hospitals behind the advancing armies.

EXCELLENT HOSPITALS. Both the hospitals that I visited were strongly staffed. In the second, designed only for serious cases, and admirably equipped with drugs, Rontgen apparatus, and operating-rooms, the sister of the Emperor, the Grand Duchess Olgo Alexandrovna (who for two years went through the full preparation) is working ns a Sister of Mercy under all the ordinary discipline and conditions of travel and work. Starting at the outbreak of the war, she was in time for the tremendous pressure of the great Austrian battles, when the hospital had to provide for 300 patients instead of the expected 200.

All the arrangements in these hospitals, based on fourteen years' experience of Russian country hospital work, were carried out under most difficult conditions, and bore the impression of missionary devotion. Here, for instance, all tlie medicine chests were made for frequent transport. The table is also the travelling chest, and so on. The country aspect was also noticeable in an army bread factory which I visited. The rye bread is dried to a portable discuit. It allows the soldier to carry a much larger supply than if it were ordinary bread, as the difference between in weight and space is great, so that it facilitates the food supply on lihe firing line, when any other supply becomes too difiicult. VISIT OF THE CZAR.

The Kmperor's visit to Vilna was a groat success. He rode through the town unguarded. The streets were crowded, the reception most cordial. Upper classes in Vilna are mostly Poles, a kind of Polish "enclave." There are several splendid Catholic churches. On the road to the station are gates, with some revered Catholic images, before which all passers-by remove their hats. There is a large Jewish trading population, often living in extreme poverty; for instance, sometimes in three tiers of cellars, one below another. The peasants are mostly Lithuanians. Tims there are not many Russians, except officials. At the beginning of war the nearness of the enemy was felt with much anxiety. Now there is an atmosphere of work and assurance. The Grand Hotel and several public buildings arc converted I into hospitals, where the Polish language is largely used. The Emperor visited all the chief hospitals, and spoke witli many wounded, distributing medals in such numbers that the supply ran short. He received a Jewish deputation, and —ith thanks of the sympathetic attitude of the Jews in this hour so solemn for Russia.