FALL OF PRZEMYSL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 279, 4 May 1915, Page 8

FALL OF PRZEMYSL.

riTIAIii.-; CONDITION 01' DEFENDERS. EATING MOSS AND GXAWIXU LEATHER. The following message from London was published i,i the Sail Francisco Weekly Chronicle on March 2i: — " Eour thousand prisoners, mostly from l'rzoniys!, have arrived here," says Tenter's Kiev (Russia) correspondent. " They give a pitiable description of the starving condition of the garrison before the fall of the fortress. Xumbers of the men. they say, were dropping from exhaustion, while others had not suilieieut strength to leave the trenches. They ate moss and gnawed at the straps of their equipment to ■ keep themselves alive. The size of the garrison and tlie number of men who surrendered to th» Russians greatly exceed all estimates. According to despatches received from Potrograd to-night, the garrison originally consisted of 170,()(W men, of whom' '10,000 were killed. Just undei 120,000 surrendered when the fortress capitulated. A Russian correspondent, who set out from Lemherg for Przcmysl upon receipt of the news that the fortress had surrendered, sends a graphic account of the •conditions prevailing there, which has been transmitted from Pctrograd to Renter's Telegram <Jom'pany. On the way the correspondent passed Kcheljliinic. where the Austrians made their last desperate sortie thre days before. The ground was still littered with dead bodies, wliih were being re ; moved by ambulances. Further oil was seen a pillar of the outlying forts.

On the other side of the road were trenches and barbed wire entanglements with a dozen field-guns protruding. Austrian officers, who retained their swords and their men were passing as prisoners to the rear.

BRIDGES DESTROYED. From Perekopague, a sulmrb of Przemysl, a close view was obtained of the centre of the town. All the bridges had been destroyed by the Austrians, but the Russians had already constructed a pontoon bridge, by which the Austrian troops and the inhabitants were leaving the town. The Cossacks were waiting to go in. All around the fortress burning forts smoked like a circle of volcanoes. Austrian soldiers relate that the commander of Przemysl in his official orders thanked the people of the town the evening before the, surrender for their loyal attitude, and warned them of the coming capitulation. BLOW UP AMMUNITION. At five o'clock the next morning loud explosions were heard from every part of the fortress, when the Austrians were blowing up the works, preparatory to surrender. Then part of the Russian forces threw themselves within the fortifications, and by sorcn in tha morning the inner sections were in their hands. At the same time, says the correspondent, the Austrians shot their horses to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Russians. In the meantime, the Austrian representatives came out to announce th» capitulation of the garrison find fortress. The town of Przemysl itself is intact, the outskirts alone suffering. The large civilian population, chiefly Jews, remained in the town. SNOWSTORM CRIPPLES WIRES. The lack of official details from Przemysl is said to bo due to the heavy snowstorm that prevailed yesterday ana which broke down the telegraph lines, according to a Petrograd despatch. It is reported, however, that nearly a quarter of the. garrison had suffered with typhoid and scurvy. Although the rations were growing more and more limited, none by a few higher officials up to tho end of January knew that actual starvation was impending.. The real condition of affairs was learned by the troops when an aviator who was starting with messages for Vienna was shot down by the Russians and fell within the defenders' lines. After that there was much grumbling in the garrison and almost a mutiny. Some of the Austrians slipped through the lines at night and surrendered to the Russians.

DEFENDERS BECOME INSANE. '' The investing Russian force increased the intensity of the bombardment, and the strain on the defenders began to tell more rapidly during February. Many were rendered insane by privations and disease. The death list was very high. Civilian inhabitants who had been unable to escape when the siege began, swarmed about the forts begging food and refuge, but the commandant was unable to care for them. The death of two prominent generals in February from typhoid tended to weaken the determination of General von lvusmanek, commander of the fortress. FAMINE SETS IN. Isy the end of February actual famine prevailed; scarcely a living animal wa» left. For weeks virtually the only sustenance was obtained from small supplis of concentrated foodstuffs brought by aeroplanes. A council of officers considered the situation daily, but not'until they were convinced that there was no hope of help from an Austrian relief column did they reach the decision to surrender.' Events which preceded the final desperate sortie of the beleaguered garrison in the Austrian fortress of Przemysl, d«signed to break through the encircling ring of Russian troops, arc described m an official communication issued in Petrograd last night. The statement says:— "During the last days before the final sortie, the garrison received increased rations. Kadi soldier was given biscuits to last five days, warm new clothing and new boots. Officers wore instructed to explain to the troops that if they returned to the fortress an inglorious fate awaited them, and consequently they must pierce the Russian front at any cost. TROOPS REFUSE TO FIGHT. "Aii easterly direction was chosen for the sortie, as the line, of least re-

sisiam-e as well as because it led to the stores t.r arms and ammunition. More than ::ii.i,i:.) :::ni' v/ere c' rli-v;-.i to parihspafc h ;i :; . mi,-;,., !;;:!. :oyeral units i'i'lii.-:..«.1 to move, despite the urging of cancan leys. -Only the ->:),\\ llonvod Division aad some purts of tlie iioth l.amhvehr and 4th Hussars loo!; an active jail. Thev v,v:v -prorepUv and decisis cly^defeatcd. '■A:, !■':':■;,;! An -Irhv.i r. :n.::imii-aiic!l states that the garrison ivl'irued fo Pr;v::;ysl b.canse it eraomiteie.l overwhelming Un-shm force-. In this conlioctioi: it .-hiiiiid be unfed that the Russian forces near IV/emysl never were large and the guatt sortie was repulsed principally liy territorial troops and reserves. The iotal r.mnlior of the captured garrison exceeded ltussian exneeliitioiis." ' '