PARAPETS OF THE DEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 262, 15 April 1915, Page 3

PARAPETS OF THE DEAD.

CARNAGE IN POLAND. BODIES FROZEN TOGETHER. So terrible was the slaughter in front of the Russian positions in Central Poland that the bodies of the fallen Germans were, piled up in places for a height of over 3ft., writes the Lo".doii Daily Chronicle's correspondent. Soldiers fell by thousands in numerous bayonet attacks. Describing the circumstances in which he and his comrades attacked in January and February a captured Bavarian soldier said: "When I charged, I saw what appeared to be parapets in front of the Russian trenches, and could not understand what they were made of. Then 1 wis \ wounded, I crawled nearer, and saw the parapets consisted of the frozen bodies, of my comrades. At some points of the opposing lines the trenches arc only a hundred yards apart, and it is impossible to remove the corpses. They lie there for weeks together and freeze, and when dragged closer to the tranches form heaps resembling breastworks. 10very mile of the 10-milo battle-front near Bolimow during the height of the conflict was packed with dense masses of men engaged with desperate tenacity in a death struggle." Never since the beginning of the war' on the Russian front had the Germans concentrated such a murderous fire on- a narrow area. Between Borjimoff and Yoliaschidlovska, a distance of about six miles, they had 85 batteries of Cin, Sin, and llin. guns in constant action, the thud of heavy guns marking the seconds like some huge clock of fate, telling with each beat a toll of hundreds of lives. On February 4, from a-quarter past nine in the morning iill five in Ihe afternoon the Germans kept up a hurricane lire, their batteries simply showering shell on every patch of (rrouad within range. They made full use of all their deathdealing mechanical devices. grenadethrowers, big and small, and hand-gren-ades being among the most insignificant of their weapons. The actual assault began when the enemy advanced in five lilies. Their densely-packed columns were met by artillery and rifle. lire, and the first rows fell. I A monientaary confusion ensued, but • the column closed its ranks, and the j foe again came on. The foremost units, [j la caking into the trenches, begged quarI tor. while those behind continued to ',: ~y-.i-.0. The llussian* havmottod all ji within reach. Behind their demolished ,' , rlir.i- -.ires new ones were formed ot I i:.-.: men!, euuiiiiucd ue.CI t lie lionuaii ri-irf'in-■menls pound in. and more bay- ! ,mct NYolk 1011,. Wed. whiU ihe Rll.-XCMI i shrapnel wrought great havoc. The hosi'. ;•!(. column... pani"-alric!;eu. surged i ! .< m:i"hir:e-gun in the rear drove thei-i i ; forward, and' (hey desperately sought ■ (■> pem-Lrate the. Russian lines in front ! and' en the flanks. Then the Russians jreciivcd reinforcements, and the men, ! without firing a shot, charged with the I 1,-,-.met. and the hand-to-hand lighting . : ;■■■<■■], cold steel lasted from 2 p.m. to _'■ i; pin. All in (he foremost ranks o> me , h-d'nl of wounded, not a .p,,;..., ]; ; :n '. ' ~l' t!i.,,- who broke into (he Ru----i:-i'. ; ; !!■- Cii- lagan to iv.ru in have; of'the