In the Russian Ranks, a Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland

:	John Morse
:	In the Russian Ranks, a Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland
:	Charles River Editors
:	9781508018131
:	1
:	CHF 1.10
:

:	20. Jahrhundert (bis 1945)
:	English

:	359
:	DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	ePUB

In the Russian Ranks, a Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland are the experiences of an Englishman fighting with Russia during World War I. The original illustrations and a table of contents are included.

CHAPTER II THE SCENE AT KALISZ ON THE 2ND AUGUST, 1914

HAD I NOT BEEN under military escort I could not possibly have got along any of the roads in the neighbourhood of Ostrovo—all were crowded by Prussian infantry. I did not see any other branches of the service, but I understood that the engineers were mining the railway-line, and about half an hour after we started my friends declared that it would be hopeless to try to reach Kalisz from the German side. They said they must leave me, as it was imperative that they should rejoin their regiments before the hour of parade. A road was pointed out to me as one that led straight to the frontier, and that frontier I was recommended to endeavour to cross. The horse was taken away, and, after shaking hands with the officers and receiving their wishes of good-luck, I proceeded across the fields on foot.

Pickets of cavalry and infantry were moving about the country, but I avoided them, and after a two-hours’ walk reached the low bank which I knew marked the frontier-line. It was then after three o’clock, and daylight was beginning to break. As far as I could see, nobody was about. Some cows were in the field, and they followed me a short distance—a worry at the time, as I feared they would attract attention to my movements.

I jumped over the boundary, and walked in the direction of Kalisz, the dome and spire and taller buildings of which were now visible some miles to the northward. The country is very flat here—typical Polish ground, without trees or bushes or hedges, the fields being generally separated by ditches. It is a wild and lonely district, and very thinly peopled. And I do not think there were any Russian troops in the town. If there were, it must have been a very slender detachment, which fell back at once; for if any firing had occurred, I must have seen and heard it. Not a sound of this description reached my ears, but when I reached Kalisz at 5.30 a.m. it was full of German soldiers, infantry and Uhlans—the first definite information I had that war was actually