With our Russian Allies [1916, an Adventure Novel]

26–30 August 1914

Battle of Tannenberg (1914)

LOEN FOUNDATION?

that elevation troops were to be seen stretching to the far distance, the rear-guards of the various Russian divisions, with yet other lines behind them—Prussian lines—swarms of men gathered in France and hurried to East Prussia by railway, an overwhelming swarm which pressed hard after the retreating Russians. Indeed, this was part of the battle of Tannenberg, where Russia suffered heavily in killed and wounded and prisoners, and caused heavy losses to the exultant enemy. It was the victory of Tannenberg to the Kaiser and his people; and to Russia, to the Allies fighting against Germany, it was even a greater vic- tory than that celebrated by the enemy. Yes, though Russians died there amidst the lakes, though men fell prisoners to the Germans, it was not a disaster; for far away, close to the great city of Paris, there this violent battle, the culmination of this venturesome invasion by the Russians, this battle of Tannenberg and the movements which had preceded it, brought a great and welcome relief. It gave a breathing-space to the Allies in France. It preceded the turning of the tide, when the German hosts ceased to roll the French and British backwards, and when the soldiers of those two nations faced about for the first time since they had commenced a long and hazardous retreat from the Belgian frontier, and driving the Prussians before them, threw them back across the River Marne, and so to the banks of the Aisne. Thus, to follow our argument, defeat in East Prussia led to victory in France—to victory for the Allies.

CHAPTER XIII

Of the fortunes of the latter attempt we have al- ready spoken. The losses of Tannenberg were, as we have said, though very serious, set off by the success of the British and French at the Marne, and by their advance to the River Aisne. Russia’s strength had indeed shown itself to such effect that serious attention had perforce to be paid to her, and the preliminary capture of Kalisz, that frontier town at which Hugh had met with his first adventure, was succeeded by a real German and Austrian advance in Poland. Even as Hugh and his comrades were

CHAPTER XIII

marching south behind the lines of the East Prussian armies, Germans were swarming across Poland, while to the south Austrians were attempting an invasion of that country also. But the golden moment for these enemies, had been lost, as we have but just stated. Russia the unready was sufficiently ready now, had been ready, in fact, within a short while of the declara- tion of war. And now, in addition to that invading force which she had sent into East Prussia to act as a magnet and draw German army corps from France towards her, she was advancing her troops into Poland. More than that, she had pressed the Germans back, had swept the Austrians from that country, and had in her own turn invaded Galicia. Indeed, within a few hours of the news of the action at Tannenberg, and the loss of so many Russians, there came infor- © mation that the Grand Duke’s armies had captured Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, and with it the rail- way running west toward the strong fortresses of Przemysl and Cracow.

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

‘¢A spy! No,” came the emphatic answer; and Hugh told them plainly how he had been captured, how he had escaped and joined in the fighting at Tannenberg, and how he had been cut off from his friends.