WITH THE ROBERT R.MCCORMICK CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library .M13 With the Russian arm^ 3 1924 027 947 674 olin 'ffD h Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027947674 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY ;V>y ;^o THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON - CHICAGO - DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO The Tsar WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY BEING THE EXPERIENCES OF A NATIONAL GUARDSMAN BY ROBERT R. McCORMICK KAJOS FIRST CAVALRY, ILLDTOIS NATIONAL GUARDS WITH MAPS THE MACMILLAN COJ^aIw:. '; 1915 * * • AU rights resened OOPTBIGHT, 1916, By ROBERT R. McCORMICK. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 19x5. • • • » • • t- C u u c C C C C C >.•• •••.••* '.•• • ••, C (. c c c « ccct: •••^_ »•• cccc:<-c *«*.^« • • • .• • • • . • •• e c c c . ..• •: • .•. c^% • •• * • * t « - -^ - - - ~ • ^ " J, S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Uo THE GRAND DUKE NICOLAS NICOLAIEVITCH OF RUSSIA COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF ALL THE ARMIES WHO, AS A SIGN OF FRIENDSHIP FOR AMERICA, INYITED ME TO VISIT THE TROOPS UNDER HIS COMMAND, AND WHO, AS A FURTHER SIGN OF FRIENDSECIP, PERMITTED ME TO SEE THE INSIDE OF THE RUSSIAN MILITARY ORGANIZATION AND FRONTIER FORTRESSES, SO THAT OUR COUNTRY MIGHT HAVE THE BENEFIT OF RUSSIa'S UNEQUALLED EX- PERIENCE IN MILITARY AFFAIRS AND MIGHT BE ABLE TO ADOPT SUCH OF HER METHODS APPLICABLE TO OUR PARTICULAR CONDITIONS INTRODUCTION I HAD been so long at an office desk when the war broke over Europe that the idea of going into it never occurred to me. I had been considered too young for the war of 1898. Parental objection had stopped my attempting to witness the war between Japan and Russia. I had been compelled to devote myself to business affairs for seven years to the exclusion of all wider interests. It was thus not due to any initia- tive of mine, but to the energy of my mother, who planned for me the experiences she had forbidden ten years before, that I received the following invitation: The Plaza, New York, Tuesday. Dear Mrs. McCormick, — I have just received the following telegram from Sazonoff : — vu viii INTRODUCTION "Having preserved the best remembrances of the last Ambassador, Mr. McCormick, and wishing to give to the United States a new proof of his sympathy, the Grand Duke consents, as a unique exception, to admit your Mr. McCormick on the field of active fighting, but Mr. McCormick must arrive, not as a war corre- spondent, but as a distinguished foreigner personally known to the Grand Duke. This will give him an exceptionally prominent position, which is refused to others, and at the same time it will not prevent him from sending to America correspondences, which, of course, will have to pass through the censor." I am delighted it has been settled that way, and I hope you are satisfied, too. We expect to be back in Washington either the day after to-morrow, Thursday, or on Friday, and then I must have a talk with Mr. McCormick. Sincerely yours, (Signed) G. Bakhmeteff. In fact, it came as a distinct shock to me. Ten years had elapsed since I had taken any extended journey. Nearly that much time had passed since I had absented myself so much as a week from business occupation, and I was loath to undertake the discomforts of the one and the idleness of the other. But INTRODUCTION ix most of all I wondered whether I retained the physical courage to go upon the battle- field. I knew that physical courage was as much dependent upon training and practice as any other form of physical activity. For years I had had none of this training, but, on the other hand, had been steeped as fully as any other in the cult of cowardice which has been such a distinct feature of modern American intellectual thought. However, the offer was one that could not be rejected, — the only stranger to be in- vited to the Russian armies. The duty of bringing to America the information which ''was denied to others"; above all, to see from within the military organization of a country geographically so like ours and so eminent in military experience, was a call to patriotism that could not be refused. On the day I sailed from New York, the 10th day of February, I received the follow- ing note from the Russian Ambassador: X INTRODUCTION The Plaza, New York. My dear Mr. McCormick, — Here you are, — I hope they will prove useful. Good luck, good health, good fun, — and use your good clear eye to see the truth and your pen to spread it. Yours sincerely, (Signed) G. Bakhmeteff. I arrived in Liverpool the 18th of February, the first day of the submarine blockade. CONTENTS GHAJTSB PAGE I. With the Uritlsh 1 II. The Emperor of Russia 32 III. The Grand Duke .... 46 IV. Warsaw 63 V. On the IlAVVka Battle Line 76 VI. Through Gatjcia .... 97 VII. Military History of the War till THE End of April . 119 VIII. The Russian Armv 146 IX. The Kazaks 170 X. With the "Corps de la Garde" 188 XI. Trips from the Corps Headquarters 207 XTI. OSSOWETZ • 219 XIll. Upon Modern Forthications • 230 XIV. T/Eaving Russia .... * 248 Appendix A : History of the Acts Leading up to the Great War 255 Appendix B : Lessons for America from Great Brit- ain's Shortcomings in this War . 281 xi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Tsar Frontispiece PACING PAGE The Grand Duke Nicolas, Commander-in-Chief 46 General Yanouskevitch ..... 50 With one Hand he struck the Austrians, with the other he dragged the Germans from the Gates of Paris 54 Prince Toundoutoff 60 Kazak Cavalry 66 Range Finder for Air-gun Battery ... 72 Prepared Reserve Trench ..... 98 The Front Trench in the Carpathians, taken from between the Opposing Lines .... 98 One of the Inner Forts of Pereraysl . . .104 Two Austrian Children Singing Austrian Hynms to Russian Soldiers . . . . .110 Kazak Officer Playing with Austrian Children in GaHcia 110 Rear View of the Front Trench in the Carpathians 112 General Gutor, Commanding 36th Infantry Divi- sion, Watching Artillery Fire in the Carpa- thian Mountains 116 Typical Russian Infantry 148 Russian Field Hospital 152 Field Chapel 152 xiii XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Typical Russian Reservist Austrian Prisoners Kazaks of the Caucasus German Prisoners Red Cross Wagon Siberian Transport Ponies Kazak Sabre Exercises Don Kazak Rough Riders Don Kazak and Boy Scout 1. Grand Duke Boris. 2. General Bezobrazoff Commander of Guards Corps Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch. Prince Peter of Oldenbourg, Brother-in-law of Tsar Grand Duke Peter of Russia The Train used as Headquarters . Commander of Fortress of Ossowetz Unexploded German Shells . Near View of Field Gun Firing a Field Gun FAOING PAOB 156 162 162 162 166 166 172 172 180 192 200 216 222 222 232 232 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY CHAPTER I With the British On the steamer I met two ladies belonging to that class whose names are never omitted from the society columns of newspapers, and who were, of course, very strongly in sym- pathy with the Allies. They were frankly and unaffectedly ignorant of public opinion in America, and very much concerned to find that it was not as universally sympathetic with England as they were. They wanted me to state my opinion to the British au- thorities, and introduced me to Lady Essex, an American woman married to an English peer, and by her I was taken to lunch with the Prime Minister of England. To the Prime Minister I stated my judg- £ WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY ment of American public opinion to be that the small element known as '* society" was very strongly pro-Ally; that the element of German ancestry, and particularly that of German birth, was naturally pro-German; and that the bulk of the nation was strongly pro-American and was inclined to be critical of all the nations involved in the war. That American public opinion could be neutral was a great surprise to Mr. Asquith. He felt very strongly the course of his gov- ernment, with special reference to the achieve- ment of Home Rule for Ireland, the assurance of religious equality in Wales, the various carefully worked out measures for the im- provement of living conditions, the supremacy of the public over the aristocracy, entitled it to the whole-souled support of the American republic against the German military mon- archy. At the time of my visit Mr. Asquith had entirely eflFaced himself in the conduct of the war and was confining his efforts to bringing the full force of his authority to support Lord WITH THE BRITISH 3 Kitchener, just as some fifty-odd years before President Lincoln had effaced himself to sup- port General Grant. Indeed, Mr. Asquith reminds me very much of the Lincoln of war times, not the Lincoln of tradition which has been built up in recent years, but the Lincoln my grandfather described — the patient, comprehending politician, who bore on the force of his personality the strains of jealousies, hatreds, and distrusts which threatened to wreck the machinery of his government. If the war turns out well for his country, Mr. Asquith's name will become immortal. If it turns out ill, there will be no more democratic government in Europe for several centuries. Through Mr. Asquith I met Sir Edward Grey, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In no part of my trip was I so much surprised as by this Minister. I had thought of the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs as about like our own Secretaryship of State, — the posi- tion given to the second most important poli- 4 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY tician belonging to the party in power irre- spective of his qualifications or previous experience in diplomacy, and depending upon the able and educated counsellor or first assistant secretary for information, and upon the President for decisions. Sir Edward Grey was as fluent in talking of foreign affairs as is nobody in the American government excepting Mr. Alvey A. Adee, the second assistant Secretary of State, and he spoke with fully as much authority as a President. My final surprise was to learn that in politics there were at that time at least three members of the Cabinet more powerful than he. Sir Edward Grey elaborated the state- ments contained in the British White Book, and he gave back the life to the negotiations of which they had been stripped in the formal phraseology of diplomacy. I remember dis- tinctly his explaining that the problem as a problem presented by the murder of Sarajevo was much less diflficult than the one pre- WITH THE BRITISH 5 sented at the close of the Balkan war, when Austria refused to allow Servia to retain Durazzo. Solution was obtained in the former case, he said, because all of the diplomats and the Great Powers worked disinterestedly to find a basis on which they could avoid war. Peaceful solution failed in the present case, he insisted, only because Austria and Ger- many refused to consider any form of adjust- ment other than the imposition of Austria's sovereignty upon Servia. I also called upon Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, then at the height of his turbulent conduct of the War Office. He was on top for the last time and was about to embark upon the unfortunate expedition to the Dardanelles. He did not refer to his master stroke in having the fleet ready mobilized at the time of the outbreak of war, but acknowledged it when I mentioned the subject. He spoke of the victory of the Falkland Islands as the logical outcome of the Navy 6 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY Department's activities, and expressed keen regret that the recent victory in the North Sea in which the Bluecher had been sunk, and which was at that time the cause of much British rejoicing, had not been more complete. Next to the Grand Duke Nicholas he is the most aggressive person I have ever met, and I think that if he had had a military in- stead of an academic education he would have made a great general or admiral. From England I passed over to France at midnight, all daylight passage at that time being stopped because of the German sub- marine blockade. In Paris I called upon the Foreign Minis- ter, Mr. Delcasse, my father's old friend, a man of active intellect and rapid speech, and from him heard much the same point of view I had heard from the British Minister; viz., that the French Republic defending Repub- licanism against Imperial conquest deserved at least the whole-hearted sympathy of the other great republic overseas. He made me feel, although he did not say it, that France WITH THE BRITISH 7 remembered that when America was fighting for freedom, France had come to her rescue. He spoke strongly of the German methods of making war, of the shooting of citizens, of the wanton destruction of religious and artis- tic buildings. He was extraordinarily sur- prised when I told him that in America there was a great deal of doubt as to whether any reliance could be placed on any such allega- tions. And that is how I came to get to the front in France, because he procured for me a pass to see the condition of Arras. To Arras, then, I went a day or two later, experiencing the same emotions as affect all Americans arriving in warring countries. I travelled by train to Calais, where I was arrested by a fussy petty official. Only in France of all the warring countries does the average traveller find oppression from petty officials. At the time I attributed this to France's being in greater peril than any other contestant, but I have since been in- formed that it is due to the fact that these petty officials have so much political power 8 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY that they can tyrannize and even graft at will. From Calais I went by train to St. Omer, from which point the French commission at the British Headquarters sent me to Arras. Of my visit to the city itself my diary says : — ''Left for St. Pol 7.45. Arrived about 9. Waited one hour for pass. Left for Arras. Report road being heavily shelled. Arrived division headquarters about eleven. Noise of bombardment loud. Road reported dan- gerous. Only one auto allowed. Beat it into Arras. Not fired at. Saw Hotel de Ville was deliberately ruined and two churches destroyed. Considerable rifle and gun fire all around. Several shells fell in town. One was near enough to feel shock. Didn't see anything. Were within forty yards of Ger- mans. Didn't see them. People miserable. De Mas Latrie says his home on Belgian fron- tier destroyed by Bochs, also factory of his brother-in-law was taken down and shipped to Germany. Fine lunch. General refused to let me see his guns, of which he has over 100." WITH THE BRITISH 9 After I had returned to London the trip appeared humorous and I wrote the following article about it : — It has been the part of most war corre- spondents to have thrilling experiences ; it remained for me to have a trip to the front which was funny from beginning to end. My permit to go to the front of the French army came through the intercession of the great French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Del- casse, about whom I will write more in an- other letter. I believe this astute diplomat broke through the rigid army regulations forbidding civilians, and especially newspaper men, from going to the front by asking leave for me to see the devastation wrought by the Germans upon religious edifices and historical monuments. However, I did not know this when I rose at daybreak. My train to the front was not a military train, filled with soldiers, or even a supply train, but an accommodation, travelling with 10 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY aggravating nonchalance a few miles in the rear of the embattled armies. We detrained at Calais — - military terms are necessary in war correspondence. After dining quietly we returned to the railway station ten minutes before the train was due to start for that unmentionable point that was to see the beginning of our adventure. There we were promptly arrested. The military pass looked so helpless I pro- duced my passport. Fatal mistake ! On the passport my profession was given as a news- paper man, and newspaper men are forbidden at the front ! Fortunately, the stamps on my insignificant-looking military passport proved talismans strong enough to overcome any ill omen of my unfortunate profession. Finally we arrived at the commander's office. The officers rose at our entrance. The telegram from Paris had just arrived and orders had been given to furnish us with every convenience to visit the headquarters of General , that man who so distin- guished himself at the Marne and whose rise is one of the features of the war. WITH THE BRITISH 11 "Would monsieur like to start at once, or if not, by what hour of the morning? Was monsieur alone or with a friend? Monsieur was with a friend. Very well, then, mon- sieur must have two automobiles, one for monsieur and the officer who would conduct him and one for monsieur's friend and the baggage." Monsieur's friend looked quite angry. Monsieur's desire to say that monsieur would have liked to have the other automobile an hour ago was resisted, and polite remarks that one automobile would surely be suffi- cient were cut short with the more polite rejoinder that of course monsieur was " tres large" and the automobiles were not over- strong. Then home, bed, and up the next morning, of course, at the crack of dawn, a la militaire. No one else was awake. Finally appears an old man who will provide bread and coffee. Suddenly arrive two enormous limousine automobiles, each capable of carrying seven people, each with a military driver and a foot- 12 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY man on the box, and in one an exceedingly kind and courteous French oflScer, dressed in that new French gray, which I am sure is vis- ible when nothing else on earth can be seen. Again arises the desire for the thrill of battle, but it is soon dispelled by the quiet man in the brilliant gray, who says that his home is on the other side of the fighting lines. It had been totally destroyed, also the home of his bellemere and the factory of his beau- frere, the machinery of which he believes has been taken down and shipped to Germany. An hour's rapid running brings us to the headquarters of the army commander. We will now see the great man. But no, the great man has business of the republic to mind. In reasonable time is produced a pass to pro- ceed to headquarters of the general command- ing the division at Arras. Right and left are farmers working in the fields. War is evidenced only by numbers of trucks packed in rows, as they might be be- fore a big commercial house at home. Now it is raining hard, a cold drizzle, and WITH THE BRITISH 13 rain and mud are coating the chauffeur. The casual and not suflSciently grateful guest is comfortably inside the big limousine. The machine skids a little and the officer breaks out impatiently. "It is impossible to control these chauffeurs ; because they owned the automobiles before the war they think they own them now." The officer is surprised when his guest bursts into a roar of laughter that he, a stranger, is sitting comfortably inside, while the rightful owner of the car is being covered with mud and cold rain. A tire bursts and we all descend. Hark! What is this we hear ? It is war, the greatest war, but it sounds sufficiently like the battle of Gettysburg at McVicker's theatre. The risibility aroused by the owner-chauf- feur will not down immediately, although the officer, who, by the way, has fought in every bat- tle of the war until two weeks ago, looks serious. "They are shelling Arras hard," he says. "If they are shelling the road also it may be impossible for us to go." 14 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY The guest is beginning to wish that they will be shelling it at least that hard or not at all. Arrived at division headquarters, the roar of cannonading is incessant and loud, but even as we wait it dies away. The oflficer returns and with him a captain who knows the road. There is no danger, he says, until we reach the top of the hill before Arras, and then there are three miles of straight road of which they have exact range, exposed to the enemy's fire. The party will go in one car to minimize the target. Target ! I hear the chauflfeur of one car congratulat- ing the chauffeur of the other, but whether the man who goes or the one who stays be- hind is congratulated, I do not know. The captain directs the chauffeur when he reaches the top of the hill to put on full speed. "II faut filet," he says. He apologizes for taking the right hand seat, he wishes to have the speaking trumpet at hand, but for what pur- pose had never been made apparent. Conversation has slackened. Now even WITH THE BRITISH 15 Riley is not talking about his intense desire to enter the front line of trenches. My own great fear is that in the company of three professional soldiers I may act foolishly. We reach the top of the hill, and as the spires of Arras come in sight each man puts on "the expression I want to be found with" look, and then the chauffeur turns the car loose. Hail Columbia : The road is absolutely smooth, with a strong down grade. I am sure that after the first half mile no shell could have overtaken us from behind, although we might have bumped into one going our way. The captain on my right shouts in my ear, "You will not be able to hear the shells coming," and I don't care, because I know the danger of the shells must be less than the danger from the machine. We are going over eighty miles an hour, and a burst tire or de- fective steering gear will prove as deadly as a 42-centimetre projectile. I realize also that it must be difficult for a gun three miles away to hit the racing target. 16 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY but I do not appreciate then that our greatest danger is from a high explosive "obus" burst- ing in the road in front of us. Going at this speed it would be impossible to stop the car before disaster. At last we reach Arras, and the Germans, as is their custom following the entrance of an automobile, shell the town. Who can tell but the automobile may contain the com- manding general ? It is now we learn that we have come to see the ruin perpetrated by the "Boches," as the French universally call their German neigh- bors. We are led to the hospital, what remains of the once beautiful city hall, and the cathe- dral. Since I was brought here to witness these things I will say that they certainly went at them with true German thoroughness. They are still useful to make concrete, but for no other purpose. As shells were occasionally dropping in the little town, which covered perhaps half as much ground as the loop district, I was more WITH THE BRITISH 17 interested in the atrocities the Germans were then perpetrating than what they had done to artistic triumphs or rehgious buildings. Bang, bang, bang! about one a minute fell the high explosive shells. None fell within vision, but one landed in the next garden while we were standing in the hospital, and the fragments rattling round the wall or whirring overhead were decidedly audible. One of these shells killed six French soldiers. I was fortunately spared that sight and only heard of it as we were leaving the city. Military authorities to the contrary not- withstanding, I believe an old French town is the best possible modern fortress. Its ma- sonry work is superior to anything in modern times. A shell hitting a brick wall, for ex- ample, will cut a round hole and leave the rest of the wall intact. A howitzer shell will fall, as one did within fifty yards of us, and the devastation of its explosion is confined to a small space. People living in the cellars, vaulted masses of masonry, are safe except against "Jack Johnsons," those massive siege 18 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY guns which destroyed the forts of Liege and Naraur. Just now the French artillery begins to reply, the wonderful little 75s. There seem to be hundreds of them, but as each gun can fire over twenty shots a minute, there may be only a few batteries. There is a little rifle firing in the trenches 30 yards away, but if any bullets flew overhead or near us, I did not hear them. When the time arrives for our departure the captain explains it will not be possible to go back uphill as fast as we came down, and when I express my heartfelt thanks I believe he thinks I am boasting of a courage I do not possess. We return to headquarters unmolested. From a haystack on a hill-top we are shown the lines of the French and of the enemy, which in some places are only a few yards apart. We have an excellent lunch at divi- sion headquarters and are politely sent on our way. We had no inkling that even while we were WITH THE BRITISH 19 at table the Germans made a bayonet attack on our immediate left and took several hun- dred yards of French trenches, which were retaken later. We did not see a single Ger- man, and not over a hundred French soldiers. We were told how many guns were used in holding this important salient and we heard the report of many, some very near us, but we never even guessed where a single one was placed. Of the intense feeling of these men who have rendered the maintenance of a republic pos- sible in Europe I will write when I have tried to measure my terms. We must learn from them, if our own republic is to endure. My French permit being limited to a visit to the ruins of Arras, I was not shown any part of the French army. I suggested to the general commanding the division that the Russians would ask me particularly about the '* seventy -fives." "You have heard them?" he replied. "Yes, all around me." "And have you seen any of them?" 20 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY "No, not a one." "Then tell the Russians that. It will show how well we conceal our gun positions." Not only were guns concealed, but men as well. We passed through the greater part of an army of 200,000 men but did not see over 2000 of them. This is explained partly by the fact that most of the men not in the trenches were sleeping and that men are pur- posely kept under cover to prevent aeroplane scouts from estimating the numbers in any one place. The enormous number of houses in this part of France makes it easy to cover up men. The population has largely moved away, leaving houses, factories, and other buildings for the troops. An idea of the closeness of the settlements may be obtained when I say that they are more thickly dotted than in the suburbs of Chicago. I asked an officer why the houses were not all destroyed by artillery fire, and he answered: "They are too many." WITH THE BRITISH 21 At home one shell would start a fire and burn a whole town. Here buildings are ma- sonry throughout, fire, bullet, and shrapnel proof. A shell from a field-piece only knocks a hole in a wall. French officers and men do not associate with each other when off duty, but when oc- casion arises for intercourse, such as news from the firing line, it is upon a basis of equality. On the other hand, orders are given in peremptory tone and rebuke is ad- ministered savagely. Two German prisoners, being escorted by as many cavalrymen, failed to salute a French colonel. He halted them and made them stand at attention and then stormed at them in a manner that made me fear he was about to order a summary execution. After he left I looked at the Germans' faces. They be- trayed anger, not fear. As the motor raced on I had an opportunity to judge the comparative invisibility of the different uniforms. The Germans were in 22 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY the new slate color, the French escort in old, old blue coats and red trousers, the col- onel m the ringing steel gray just adopted. First the Germans were merged with the mud of the street, then the soldiers, and after all had disappeared, long after, the French colonel was plainly seen. We saw thousands of motor trucks, thou- sands of wagons, but of the traditional picture of war nothing — no, not quite nothing. Just at dusk on a hill-top we saw a mass of batteries limbered up, drivers in their seats, the oflBcers mounted and conversing in groups. It might have been the subject of a picture. It was the reserve artillery waiting for dark to advance to position to shell the Germans who had gained some trenches that day. The value not only of discipline but of mili- tary bearing and even military appearance is apparent at the seat of war. Especially is this needed in oflScers. Sol- diers know almost nothing about the progress of the battle and are encouraged or lose heart by the appearance of their superiors. WITH THE BRITISH 23 If any reader thinks this opinion is undem- ocratic or foppish, let him stand an hour under shell fire as I did at Arras and he will come to my way of thinking. As we returned through the army head- quarters we became aware of an air of anxiety and depression. An idea of the successful German attack had circulated around. Suddenly an automobile dashed in from the front. All eyes turned upon its occupants. They saw two men in that ringing gray, erect as lamp-posts, with carefully trimmed square beards and wearing expressions of theatrical resolution. They would have drawn eggs and oranges on South Water Street, but they brought only comfort to the anxious hearts in St. Pol. And I, moved by some strange impulse of mob psychology, felt a thrill strangely akin to a prayer. The French regained their trenches at day- break. Entirely by coincidence, my pass to Arras 24 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY brought me to St. Omer, where Sir John French then had his headquarters. While in London I had asked Lord North- cHffe and Mr. Asquith if permission could not be obtained for me to see the British lines, but had received no answer up to the time of my departure. I therefore decided to call upon the Field Marshal in person and see if my request had been granted. I had taken with me to wear in Russia, at the sug- gestion of the Russian Embassy, my uniform as colonel in the Illinois National Guard, and before going to Arras I asked a former lieutenant in the United States army whether I should wear this uniform to the French front. He was emphatic in his refusal, and as I had no civilian clothes suitable for out- ing purposes, I made up a suit by grafting a city coat and waistcoat upon a pair of army breeches and topping it with an automobile cap, giving a fine likeness of a racehorse trainer. In this attire I presented myself at Field Marshal Sir John French's headquarters and WITH THE BRITISH 25 presenting my visiting card, asked to see the Commander-in-Chief. I did not immediately see that person, but was received by an auto- cratic non-com. with bristling mustache who asked, in penetrating tone, if it were not a fact that I was a newspaper man. Upon my admission of this damning fact, he proposed to hear no more but to assign me to the special limbo prepared for such beasts. From this martinet I was rescued by a com- missioned oflScer who introduced himself as Lord Brook and politely told me that it was impossible for anybody to see the Com- mander-in-Chief, but that on the morrow he would endeavor to ascertain whether word of me had been received at headquarters from the Prime Minister. In the meantime he would see that I had a room at the hotel. It so happened that an acquaintance I had made in London knew Field Marshal French, and with that quality of wishing to help strangers that characterizes the English, had promptly written me a letter of introduction 26 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY to be presented if I received permission to go to the front. I now presented it. This letter proving that I was not a fraud, which even my poHte oflficer beHeved up to that time, I was most hospitably entertained, and dined that night with the Field Marshal and his Staff. Sir John French's photograph has fre- quently been in every newspaper and he has been described by many writers. I need only say, therefore, that February last he was hard as nails, and the fatigues of his cam- paign had made no visible impression upon him. He was preparing to fight the battle of Neuve Chapelle, although, of course, I did not know it at the time. There was no sign of nervousness over what he had to do. Sir John French, aside from his great military ability, is a most interesting per- sonality, a man of very fixed opinions and of fearlessness in giving expression to them. He held the best position in the British army, — Chief of the General Staff, — and this he relinquished rather than make the plan to WITH THE BRITISH 27 coerce Ulster in the Home Rule matter. He has a sister who is a militant suffragist, and to whom — to the horror of law-abiding Englishmen — he lent aid and counsel. In refusing to take part in any military steps against Ulster he faced the alternative of resignation, which was not a simple thing for him, as he was a poor man. Without means of his own, and lacking any government appropriation, he would never have learned the terrain over which he has had to fight were it not that a friend of his, Mr. Brinsley Fitzgerald, took him in his automobile through Belgium and northern France on all of his furloughs. Thus the Commander-in-Chief of the British army was educated partly at the expense of a friend who is now his military secretary. I described the battle front at that time, as it has been described by every newspaper man that followed me, beginning with Fred- erick Palmer of the Associated Press. The newness is worn off of that subject, but I do not believe that interest in the 28 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY British Expeditionary Force can ever die, although most of the Force is dead. Without a whimper, without a protest, it went to its destruction in the defence of the nation which had neglected it, just as our regular army must go some day unless by the grace of God we may learn preparedness in time. One day Major Charles Grant of the Cold- stream Guards took me to the front. He was the only one of seven officers of his com- pany to be on his feet at the end of a day at the Aisne. He had two bullet holes through his arm, and his tunic had been scorched by a shell that had blown him several yards. Only seven of his men out of two hundred and thirty remained. He commented on the fact that he should be the survivor of that battle, because he was not only the tallest man in his company, but one of the taUest men in Europe. From him I received a lesson in conduct under fire. He took me among other places to a certain observation station located in an WITH THE BRITISH 29 abandoned base, and there we found a new oflBcer unacquainted with the surroundings, just arrived to take the place of one who had gone to join his comrades across the Aisne and the Styx. Major Grant, with infinite detail, identified every object in sight through the little peep- hole in the roof, and while he was in the midst of his lecture German high explosive shells began to burst near by. I thought, as a matter of course, we would all run to shelter, but the two officers never moved. The in- struction went on without hurry, and when finished the pupil recited his lesson as though in a schoolroom. The men were not afraid. I was. I was very much afraid, and did not resist by a large margin the desire to ask my conductor to move to some safer place. This confession is not pleasant to make, but it is put down with a hope that other boys will be instructed in courage as I never was. The lesson I learned that day was not without value. I never got to enjoy the crash of high explosive shells nor was I ever over- 30 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY whelmed with the desire to rush into a shower bath of machine gun fire. On the other hand, I never again approached the point of disgracing myself on the firing line. Physical courage varies with the individual, but the natural tendency in that direction can be improved like piano playing and polite conversation. It is a more desirable accom- plishment for a man than either of these. It was Lord Brook who conducted me to Ypres. I imagined Lord Brook had been too comfortably situated in the world to submit to the discomforts of regular army life, but he is a soldier by choice and has hardly missed a ruction in twenty years. He was in Greece in '97, in South Africa in 1900, and as war correspondent with the Russians against Japan. I have always thought the word '' debo- nair" belonged in novels, preferably of the historical sort, but it fits Brook, and I can- not otherwise describe him without many words. He now commands a brigade of Canadians, and I will assure my neighbors WITH THE BRITISH 31 on the north that their boys will have every comfort, yes, every luxury which a war forty miles from Paris can afford, and that when fighting comes they will be directed not only with courage but with abandon. I left the British army, expecting to return after my visit to Russia. I left it very much in its debt, uplifted by the association of men who sacrifice themselves for country. I had been the associate of very gallant gentlemen. CHAPTER II The Emperor of Russia From there I travelled to Petrograd via Athens, Salonica, Nish, Sofia, and Bucharest. This trip was particularly interesting, as it brought me into direct contact with the peo- ples and personages of those turbulent States, whose activities brought on — although, of course, they did not cause — the great War. The information I gathered on the journey forms the basis of the chapter on the cause of the war printed as an appendix. I arrived in Petrograd early in April and presented my letters to the Baron Schilling, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, who made an appointment for me to meet his Chief the following day. I was greatly interested to meet this leading Diplomat of the world, Mr. Sergius Sazonoff, 32 THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 33 as I had, of course, read all of his despatches in the published White Books, and in common with others had been impressed by his im- mediate grasp of the situation presented by- Austria's first demands upon Servia. Shaw did not exaggerate when he stated that if Sazonoff's advice had been followed by the Entente Powers, war might have been averted. Mr. Sazonoff is a product of the Russian Diplomatic system whereby candidates for the Diplomatic Service must satisfactorily pass the course of the diplomatic school. Afterwards they are sent on mission to diflFer- ent countries and the younger men are moved from post to post so as to become acquainted with the different peoples of the civilized world. Thus it is that whomsoever is chosen as Minister for Foreign Affairs is not only thoroughly grounded in international law but has a first-hand knowledge of all the countries with whom he has relations. I was quite ready to find, as I did, that Mr. Sazonoff was much better acquainted with 34 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY the situation in the countries through which I had just passed than I was, but I was not prepared for the extent of his knowledge of American conditions. Later, when we dis- cussed the causes of the Repubhcan landsHde in Chicago in the mayoralty election, I was surprised again. Mr. Sazonoff was especially emphatic in explaining the opportunities now open in Russia for American trade. Germany, he said, had long acted as a middleman between Russia and the rest of the world. Patrioti- cally, German middlemen preferred German manufacturers, and when they found it neces- sary to purchase their materials for the Rus- sian market were clever in allotting to them- selves the greater part of the difference be- tween the actual cost of production and the highest price that the consumer could be forced to pay. Russia, he said, is almost entirely an agri- cultural country and by the instinct of its people, its political system, and the state of its natural resources, must remain almost THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 35 purely agricultural for a long time. The Government wishes the largest possible mar- ket for Russian buyers. It is particularly anxious to prevent any one country from obtaining the same commercial ascendancy over it as Germany had before the war. I am convinced that the Russian Govern- ment will go a long way to meet America, but it cannot carry the whole burden of diplomatic negotiation. For instance, Russia is willing to make a new commercial treaty with the United States, but the American business men must take it upon themselves to see that the American Government meets the Russian advances. Russia will do fully her share towards es- tablishing direct steamer lines between Rus- sian ports and America and will protect American shippers in Harbor Rights and Railroad Rates, but the American exporters must equal the business acumen of their competitors. They must make up their packages according to Russian measures and weights, they must adapt themselves to the Russian terms of payment. 36 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY The largest market in the world is open to us, but we must make the necessary eflfort to get it. Typewritten letters in general terms will not obtain any business, nor can a drummer with a trunk full of samples and a grip full of cigars expect any orders. Permanent Agencies must be established, such as the Singer Manufacturing Company has estab- lished. Probably, before any large part of Russian trade can be obtained we must have a change on the part of the Gov- ernment attitude to permit business men to cooperate in the extension of foreign , markets. It was Mr. Sazonoflf who arranged that I should be presented to the Emperor, to tell him directly my impressions of the war on the western front. Accordingly, the Court Chamberlain sent a notice to the American Ambassador stating that I was to wear full evening dress with white necktie, to take the one o'clock train to Tsarskoie Selo and return train at three-seven. THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 37 The train started on time and shortly after the conductor came for the tickets. He was preceded and followed by a gen- darme. Looking out of the window, I saw a separate track on a separate embankment. On each side of it and on the left of our train many sentries were walking and every hundred yards gendarmes were stationed. The gen- darmes saluted our train, but the sentries, who were trudging in thick snow on each side of the track instead of walking the ties, paid no attention as we passed. Gilded church domes came into view and we drew into the station of Tsarskoie Selo. A footman dressed in imperial red with a cloak of the same color trimmed at the bottom with a broad ribbon upon which many eagles spread double heads and golden wings against a black background picked my silk hat out of the crowd and asked if I were Mr. " Cormick." That fact admitted, he led me to a brougham drawn by two handsome bays and driven by another figure in royal red, gold. 38 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY and black. Red, gold, and black hats were on the men's heads. The footman wore his hat fore and aft, but the coachman's peaks were on either side to denote that royalty was not in the carriage. The gates of the royal grounds were open, and we drove up a medium incline to the steps of the right wing of the palace, a building somewhat longer than the White House but similar in appearance. A confusing number of police saluted as I climbed the twelve steps to the palace door, which was opened by an oflBcial, again in royal red, but wearing a headdress that was neither turban nor hat, narrow where it circled his brow; higher it increased to the size of a sofa cushion. A footman took my things, insisting upon my coat before my hat. A dozen other men stood bareheaded in various garbs. I had no time to note the character of their attire, but was conscious of a predominance of heavy beards as I was THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 39 ushered up a short stair to the waiting-room on the right. It was then twenty minutes to two, so I had time to look around the room. Beside the door was a remarkable portrait of a beautiful woman whom I took to be the Czarina. The background of the portrait was of a pearly gray, and the frame of carved silver reflected the same pearly hue. Next in the corner came a fireplace in which a fire had recently burned out. On the adjoining wall were hung two oil paintings of a little king and his court. In the first he was held aloft in the arms of a soldier in green. In the second he was standing dressed in light blue at the top of a stone staircase and receiving the salute of the same soldier. The presence of a respectful cardinal in both pictures and the clothes of king and courtiers pointed out that the boyhood of Louis XIV was depicted. Between the two pictures was a painting of peasants sickling the golden grain. Beside the door to the 40 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY audience room was a water-color of a steam- boat navigating a crooked river, and a map of the stream, the whole, I suppose, illustrat- ing a distant possession. At the end were two French windows and between them a steel engraving of the Em- peror's father presented to "their Majesties" by the students of Paris. Here I was struck by the care taken to regu- late the temperature of the palace. Outside the double windows were hung thermom- eters. In the room was still another ther- mometer. The thermometer outside regis- tered 8° Centigrade, those between the double windows 12°, and the one in the room 15°. I was just taking in a picture of a death-bed scene in Spain, — probably the death of a king, the presence of many candles, priests, and knee-breeched courtiers seemed to indi- cate, — when my eyes lit upon two horse's hoofs upon a near-by desk. Investigation showed that one was shod with the ordinary horseshoe and the other was a shoe built with a sliding joint, apparently THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 41 a humane contrivance which the Czar was investigating. In the centre of the room was a regular re- ception-room table covered with books. One was a present commemorating a visit to Rheims ! Another concerned hydraulic engineering, a third related to military automobiles, so the pictures showed. All were printed in Russian, so my attention wandered to a large carved egg-shaped decora- tion in the middle of the table, to the Turkish carpet on the floor, to the dark oak panels on the walls. As the clock struck two, the door opened, and first one and then another oflScer entered. Both were in scarlet uniform, both wore many overlapped gold medals, both stood as straight as ramrods. Both were so utterly foreign to anything my life knew and yet so perfectly at home here that I felt for a moment as Marco Polo must have felt in the great and strange court of China. 42 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY The first of these apparitions bowed gravely without speaking, but the second, to my in- tense surprise, said in the most perfect English, ''I cannot remember just what year it was your father left us." I was saved the embarrassment of admit- ting I was equally uncertain, when the man with the enormous headdress who had first received me at the palace, opened the farther door and addressed me in, I am sure, excel- lent Russian. '* The Emperor is waiting" ex- plained the English scholar, and as neither he nor his companion offered to move, I walked through the door alone. The Emperor was standing at the farther window of a room similar in every respect to the one I had left, except that there was a large black-oak writing desk against the farther wall and no table in the centre. With a "I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Mc- Cormick," he walked forward and shook hands. Why describe a so much photographed and portraited man ? THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 43 One feature, however, was so striking as to demand comment. He had the largest eyes I have ever seen in living mortal. He asked pleasantly about my father, expressed pleas- ure that an American newspaper man had come to seek the truth about the war. In reply to a direct question he said that he had no doubt the Grand Duke would allow me to see the extreme front. One significant thing he said, — "The war was very sudden and very unexpected." I knew that my time was short, and I was busy trying to live up to the standard of a justly celebrated local room. I noticed the hair was thinning at the crown, that it was only slightly gray, the complexion clear with health, the beard brushed somewhat wider than the earlier pictures, suggesting a Slavic style. The olive uniform with a colonel's insignia was covered with many little loops to hook medals in, but the only medal worn was strange to me. The trousers were of dark blue with a red stripe and the knee boots were blackened but not shined. A complimentary 44 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY reference to the British army drew my atten- tion to the fact that his accent was less marked than that of former King Edward VII. The interview had only proceeded this far when a pretty girl popped her head in the door behind the Emperor and said in all prob- ability — the language being Russian — that luncheon was ready. The Emperor said, "I am very sorry I must go now," which, as he did not move, was taken to mean that the visitor must take his departure. Two doors connecting with the anteroom had been closed, which I believe was not an accident or coincidence, but a part of the imperial formula designed so that a visitor might back out of the royal presence, turn between the doors and walk forward into the waiting-room. The gorgeous gentlemen-in- waiting had disappeared but the small army of attendants stood in the hall. The hat was handed first to the visitor, then the coat, and last the cane. Erect on the box sat the coach- men of the imperial carriage, but as the news- paper man passed into the station his trained THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA 45 eye did not fail to detect that the footman was counting the tip which custom has de- creed is due the man who rides before the guest of Majesty. I lunched in the station restaurant. As the menu was written in Russian and the waiter could not understand me, I marked four dishes at random. The waiter brought two kinds of caviar, a cheese sandwich, and a bottle of quass. I was somewhat upset at the collection, but reflecting that it was an order suitable to a man wearing a dress suit at three p.m. ate it and took the three-seven train back to Petrograd. CHAPTER III The Grand Duke The night after my presentation I took the train to the town where the Grand Duke was then maintaining his Headquarters and found myself within the Russian Lines. Hotel life in Petrograd is very much like hotel life in New York or Chicago, and Petrograd itself is very little different from Paris or Berlin or Stockholm. It is a cosmo- politan city like New York, and like New York as much representative of the foreign elements in the country as of the country itself. The arrival at Headquarters was my first entry into entirely Russian atmosphere. It was also an augury of the pleasant times to follow, for while I was gathering together my outfit consisting of, among other things, 46 The Grand Duke Nicolas, Commander-in-Chief THE GRAND DUKE 47 a camp bed, rubber boots, and fur overcoat, — only the last of which I ever used in Russia, — a young oflScer arrived and in a moment took possession of me and all my possessions. This officer became my chief friend and companion during my whole stay in Russia. When I first saw him and learned that he was the aide-de-camp of General Yanous- kevitz, noted his Oriental appearance, and heard him addressed as "Mon Prinz, " I as- sumed that he was a Japanese Prince attached to the Russian Army, through some system of military interchange. It was not until some days later that I learned his actual identity, which is very much more interest- ing. Dimitri Toundoutoff is the hereditary prince of the Kalmuk race, which has been incorporated in the Russian Empire for over two hundred years. The native customs and religions have not been interfered with, and Prince Toundoutoff — conveniently for him — is not only the 48 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY Prince but the God of his people. From early times his family entered heartily into the Russian regime. They have been for two hundred years, father and son, officers in the same Cavalry regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard. The father of the present Prince rose to the rank of General Governor in the Russian service, one of the highest points of distinction in the Empire. Toundoutoff was one of the Russian team in the Riding Contest in Vienna that won the first prize a few months before the war. He told me that the announcement of Russians winning the first prize was received by the audience in absolute silence, but the second and third prize winners were cheered to the echo, — an indication of the Viennese public opinion before the assassination of the Arch- duke Francis Ferdinand which was missed by the foreign press. He is also the proud — but modest — owner of a sword of honor received for carrying important despatches under heavy fire during one of the desperate battles in East Prussia. THE GRAND DUKE 49 He was a strong example to me of the beneficial influence of military training upon young men born to powerful positions. It could have been no fun for him to take around the Army a total stranger, — ten years older than himself and to whom he was not united by any tie of race or interest, — to get his railroad tickets, his hotel accommodations, to rise sometimes at dawn, go on trips for twenty- four hours, returning the following dawn see- ing sights that were not new to him, to undergo from time to time more or less danger of shell and rifle fire for no purpose which could interest or benefit him; above all, drag around a heavy trunk filled with moving picture equipment, sometimes in contraven- tion of the railroad regulations ; but never at any time did I perceive in him any indication that he was performing a distasteful duty. In explaining Russian customs to a stranger he was extremely tactful and on all occasions treated me as though I were a military superior of his own nation. Such is the man who conducted me in one E 50 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY of the Headquarters automobiles to the train which served as Headquarters, and it was he who introduced me to General Yanouskevitz, Chief of Staff of all the Armies of Russia. General Yanouskevitz, at the age of forty- four, holds the second military position under the Czar. This high rank he owes to great native ability developed under the eye of the Russian Emperor himself, for as a young oflBcer he was in the same regiment as the heir to the throne. He was not sent to Man- churia during the Japanese War, so that unless he was in some border skirmish he had never taken part in war before he received his present high position. Of the most polished manners, sitting at his desk upon which were photographs of his wife and children, he made a different figure from the prevalent military idea presented by the equestrian statue. When, however, he took down a map to suggest an itinerary for my travels through the armies and ran over their positions and movements, it was plain to see that he had a General Yanouskevitch THE GRAND DUKE 51 natural turn for military dispositions, just as some people have good heads for mathe- matics, some have the art of expression, and some are natural athletes. During his conversation he told me of the German system of strategic farmhouses. For years, he said, the strategic points — not only in East Prussia but in Poland — had been bought by German farmers and paid for through the military appropriation. Dwellings were erected that overlooked long stretches of territory in the direction of Russia, they were built with thick fort-like walls on the eastern front with small loophole windows, but with wide doors and windows and with thin walls towards the west. Many of these houses were connected by underground telephones, so that in the early stages of the war farmers could telephone from within the Russian lines to the German Headquarters. Early in the war Russian batteries carefully concealed would be struck by the first shell from a German gun. The picture printed in this volume is a 52 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY good likeness, and is chosen — as the one shown of the Czar — because it gives a particular expression which, to me at least, indicated the Slav, or possibly the East. I had been with him perhaps an hour and had begun to feel the enormous admiration for the Russian military which was to grow on me throughout my whole stay, when he said it was time to present me to the Grand Duke. After seeing how able was the Chief of Staff I was perfectly ready to find in the Grand Duke, Commander-in-Chief, a figure head, but if I had come even with a fixed notion of that kind, I would have been jarred out of it in the first moment of conversation. The man who rose to meet me was taller than I, exceedingly spare, but with the hand- clasp of a young man twice his weight, Nicolas Nicolaiovitch Romanoff, grandson of the Emperor Alexander I, and cousin of the present Czar, is in his fifty-ninth year. In appearance he is ten years younger, due, I suppose, to his fondness for out-of-door exer- cise which his position allows him to indulge. THE GRAND DUKE 53 There was no question of my telling him what I wanted to do. He had passed on that subject. He asked a few questions about the morale of the English and French Armies and then led the way to the dining car. On the way he introduced me to "mon frere," the Grand Duke Peter of Russia. History will not do justice to this charm- ing man, who may be compared to Aaron bearing up the arms of Moses. He is not commander-in-chief. He is not even a member of the Staflf. He lives in the confinement of the train on its wayside track with no duties to occupy his mind. Victory will erect no statues of him in enduring bronze. But who will say that he has not played a valuable part in the work, supporting his great brother in his trials, and spreading an atmosphere of kindliness, the Russian per- sonality, among the overworked StaflF and unoccupied attaches . I surprised a fraternal scene one day when the army was retreating from Tarnow to 54 WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY Peremysl. At risk of stretching hospitality I must relate it. The Grand Duke Peter was sitting in the shade of the Headquarters building reading when the Commander-in-Chief came out and started towards his armchair some fifty feet in the sun. Immediately the Grand Duke Peter sprang up, brought the Commander his cane, and then carried the chair to a place in the shade. I do not recount this as a remarkable thing for a Grand Duke to do, not being familiar with their habits ; I call attention to the personal devotion of one brother to another. Jealousy is a microbe that knows no station. History and the experience of all of us tells the rarity of such a spirit as I saw revealed. At table the Commander-in-Chief sits at one side of a dining-car table facing the room. Opposite to him are the chief of Staff and the Headquarters chaplain. A particularly dis- tinguished guest has a position on the Grand Duke's right. General SuUivainoff, captor of Peremysl, had it while I was at the Head- quarters the first time. oi O pi] W H H O < '^ «' " ■»* ♦ / • r ( .'fc^ 1 * At :(• 'v. ,'' \ t "i r.; ' f ^ Ji • ! ,' •f I. f \ ■ ■ * i >H « h:;