WARSAW AT ALL COSTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 245, 25 March 1915, Page 7

WARSAW AT ALL COSTS.

THU KAISEIt'R ORDER.

ANOTHER VAIN ATTACK

HKAVY (IHUMAN LOSSES.

One of the fiercest and most sanguinary battles of the war was fought along Urn Itawka, not for from Warsaw, early 111 I'Yhriuiry. The battle-front was nol more than ten miles long, but every mile of it wiih packed with dense masses of men engaged with desperate tenacity

in a death struggle. The (ierimiiiM began Hie attack in force near Holiinoll', where for weeks past they had been hammering in vain at the Russian positions, and developed this attack suddenly into a furious onset, which carried them a mile or two forward on the hither side of that tiny stream which lias so long barred their progress. Never since the beginning of the war on the Russian front have they concentrated Biicli a murtlereun fire on a narrow area. Between Bor/.imow and Wo I a Szidlowieeka, a distance of about fix miles, the Germans had 85 batteries m constant action. They simply showered shell on every patch of ground within range. They made full use of all the.ir death-dealing mechanical devices. Gren-ade-throwers, big and small, and handgrenades were among the most insigni-. flcant of their weapons. ' Why should they have chosen tor their supreme effort tliis particular point of the long Burza-Rawka-rilitza front is fairly obvious. From Bolimoff a good high road, affording facilities for trans-' port, leads eastward towards Warsaw. The country is perfectly flat and open,with little cover except patches of forest and clumps of trees surrounding the manors on Count Sobnansky's estates. There, if anywhere, is the point to try and force the Russian line. Even if the Germans had succeeded in breaking through at Bolimoff and forcing the Russians to retire they would have gained no strategical advantage, for the Russians* had immediately behind them other strong positions where they could hold out indefinitely. But the advantage the Germans gained was very slight. At tremendous sacrifice they succeeded in occupying by Monday the manor and village of Bommow, the village of Humin, the village and manor of Wola Szidlowiecka and Mogela. But this advantage, was only momentary. The tide began to turn in favor of the Russians. Heroic peasants from Siberia, Tamboff, Voronezh, Yarosla"l, and Vladimir advanced to a task that was like forcing the gates of hell, so terrible was the fire they rained on them. Inch by inch they forced the Germans back.

"I have never seen such horrible wounds as those which disfigured the. poor fellows who lay crowded in Count Sohansky's chateau a: Guzow," writes a correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle. "The sight nearly unnerved one of the most experienced Russian s.irgcons. Numbers had chest or stomach torn open by explosive bullets. "But the fortitude of these men is marvellous. Most lie silently watching the movements ofi the attendants with patient, gentle eyes. No shrieks or groans are heard, but some lie moaning. "One evening I watched fighting from a point two miles from Wola Szidlowiscka, which had just been recovered by the Russians. It was pitch dark. Two houses were burning in Wola Szidlowiecka, and another building was ablaze in the German line. Battenes roared, and all along the horizon shells burst in splashes of angry red light. The Russians were attacking, and the Germans anxiously sent up rocket after rocket, which described long, gleaming arcs in the bitter wind of the darkness. Searchlights leapt up into the sky. "A passing scout said: ''Our right has moved forward, and here we have them fast" A wounded soldier, limping out to the dressing-station, paused to listen to rifle fire. 'That's my company attacking,' he said, proudly. The Russian .batteries were working magnificently. The German shells fell farther and farther away. That night the Rut* sians got back the manor of Wola S/.idlowiecka. They have retaken Borzimow and Humin." The Kaiser's renewed order to hir, legions to capture Warsaw at all costs has resulted in the almost total destruction of the first division. Thtw telegraphs the Rome Massaggero war correspondent, Signer Luciano Magrini. Prisoners relate that the Emperor's mandate was communicated to all the troops before the battle of the Rawka. Upwards of 15,000 Germans were slain.