BATTLE OF LODZ.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 11 February 1915, Page 3

BATTLE OF LODZ.

| ENORMOUS GERMAN LOSSES. RUSSIANS' DEADLY WORK. A graphic description of Lodz battle ( is given by a correspondent of the Novoe |7remya, "who says:— "TlUe fields, woods and villages round I Lodz bear eloquent testimony to the late presence of Germans, and show how their corps swung from side to side trying to find an outlet, first to the northeast, then to the south-west, and finally to the north. For a whole week bodies, ammunition waggons, disinterred 1 projectiles, which have been dug up by peasants, fresh graves, wheels of carts, knapsacks, remnants of German newspapers, and deep ruts made by heavy guns, have covered the fields and highways for a distance of many versts. "Driving round Lodz, one would think that the country had been the field of a tremendous battle, and not merely an area of the removal of troops. ''Breaking through from Kutno, the Germans first marched through Strikof, to Bresin from Tusyn, General Muck ensen's tried guards moved eastward as far as Rawa. Met here by the .Russians, who were advancing from the side of Glovno and Lovicz, the Germans retreated and found the other detachments of Russian troops forming a salient at Strikof had blocked their line of march. WALL OF I

i "Then then turned to tlie south, hopto break through Tusyn to I'etrokof. ( But here unexpectedly a wall of Russian bayonets was moved forward. General Mackeiisen now had no alternative but to (ling himself upon Bresin. By this time three corps had already been badly mauled. In whatever direcj tion they turned, everywhere the Russians seemed to spring out of the soil, ' and everywhere the Germans were ex- ' posed to murderous attacks and compelled, with bands dripping with blood, lo I clear the roads of their own tlain. | "Flinging himself for the second time ■ upon Bresin from Tusyn, General Mankensen tried to lighten the task of '.lis troops by burying his ammunition ami ■ abandoning transport vehicles, and In | order to avoid the Russian lire he left : the high roads and led his troops , through the fields. I "At Bresin desperate skirmishes took . place, and the town several times passed from hand to hand. As you approach it, you find corpses strewn in all directions, and not only the grouiifi, but nU.n the walls of the houses were sprinkled with blood. I "To save themselves the Germans took 1 refuge in houses, where they were caught as in a trap, overwhelmed, and extirpated with the bayonet. From all one can hear the battle was of the stern-

est and most terrible character, and the attacking side had closed their hearts to pity. ' PINNED DOWN BY A BAYONET. "In one hut was found a German who was nailed down to the floor with a bavoliet through his chest, like a beetle on a pin. There win no time to pick up the killed and wounded Prussian:; and they arc lying about in the Bresin woods till this day. "It was here that the enemy suffered its heaviest losses. Three corps were smashed to pieces, and the remaining regiments dispersed, each man seeking safety for himself. This was about the 23rd.

"General Mackensen, with his remnants, tried to get through to Sgersch. and Strikof. Part of his troops he employed on a salient attempt on Lodz. The German columns, contrary to their wont, advanced without artillery cover, and only at the last moment were some of their heavy guns brought into action.

"The Russians explained this by the hypothesis that, finding themselves in a cul-de-sac and trying to fee] thenway out, the Germans buried not only their projectiles, but also their guns. "The battle of Lodz had already lasted a week. Though they had been set the task of penetrating to Warsaw and surrounding one of our armies, the defeated. dejected and exhausted Herman troops now only thought of escaping to the Sgcrsch highway, in order to safeguard their rear. They squeezed their way through, but these were not the same corps which, on the route laid down by Hindenberg, his successor fruitlessly led towards Warsaw. Of these not more than an eighth part remained i Of the Guard reserves and main forces of two other corps, those who did not get out of the cul-de-sac alive remained in it dead. They perished in the space between Strikof,* Bresin, Tusvn, Fobianize, and Alexandrow."