LAND AND WATEE 
October 17, 1914 
That official commnnique tells us that the 
Eussiuu victories before Suwalki aud Augustowo are 
" mvcntions " ; that no attempt was made to besiege 
tlio fortress of Osowiecs ; that the Germans never 
intended anyhow to occupy the province of Su^^■alk^ ; 
mid tliat the Russians do not tell the tnith because 
they did not in their earlier official communiques 
describe the defeat of Tannenberg. 
It is well to pay particulai- attention to this 
German message, because it is the first of all the 
(iei-man official messages to adopt this tone of false- 
hood, exaggeration, and compbint. The plain facts 
about the campaign between the East Prussian 
frontier and the River Nieraen I told last week. 
They are known to all students of this war throughout 
Euro])e by this time, and they are simple and decisive. 
Rrieily, four or five German army corps advanced 
across the German frontier upon a front of anything 
between eighty and one hundred miles. An attempt 
was made to cross the Niemen at Drusskiniki, while at 
the same time a siege train was brought up to bombard 
the forts of Osowiecs. The German attempt to cross 
tiie Xiemen was beaten back, the mass of the German 
O r-'^rt Mmtt. often Surrouiiicd b}- ^U^«h■ 
. - Principal Re Ai* 
Th( Suwilki CiaMmy threugfi th« fAMh., 
to'ghoono 
force retired upon Mariampol-Suwalki- Augustowo. In 
doing this the pressure upon Osowiecs was relieved, 
and incidentally some of the big German howitzers 
were abandoned. The Russians coming through the 
Forests of Augustowo occupied that town, and, along 
the railway to the south, they advanced from Osowiecs 
right over the Pmssian frontier. The Prussians in 
their retreat left in Russian hands about 10,000 
prisoners and about 40 guns. Nearly all their forces 
arc now back over the Prussian frontier, while Russian 
forces are occupying Lyck and Margrabowa, where the 
German Emperor has an establishment. Further, it 
is a matter of history that the German forces while 
they occupied the Government of Suwalki exercised 
administrative authority and treated it as their own. 
The whole thing is nothing very enormous. It 
is not upon the scale of the fighting in France or the 
lighting upon the Vistula in southern Poland. But 
to say that it does not represent a Russian victory is 
nonsense. To say that no attempt was made to take 
Osowiecs is even worse nonsense. A commander who- 
should have tried to cross the Niemen without dealing 
with Osowiecs would have been even more incom- 
petent than Napoleon's own brother in the same field 
of war a hundred years ago — and that is saying a 
ofood deal. While as for the Russians not mentioning 
in their official communiques in any detail the defeat 
of Tannenberg, the simple reply is that in none of 
the official communiques of this war does the defeated 
party give details or the earliest information. Both 
the Austrian and the German official communiques 
left us in complete ignorance of the overwhelming 
Russian victory at Lemberg. 
I repeat, the point is important because we shall 
jjerhaps have need in the near futm-e to understand 
the psychology of official German news under circum- 
stances adverse to Germany. 
Here we must leave the eastern field, and with 
it this week's examination of the war. The event in 
that eastern field is stiil undecided. Until it is 
decided the very critical moment through which the 
war is again passing — its third crisis — cannot be 
further analysed. 
WAR PUBLICATIONS. 
Thb current issue of the Academy is one of exceptional interest, 
containing as it does a translation of matter by that great theoriser, 
Bemhardi, which has not been previously publish^ in English. 
Bemhardi has more or less deservedly come in for very adverse criticism 
of late, but as an exponent of the Prussian theory as to the method of 
waging war ho stands alone. Nietzsche and the re'st pointed the way of 
blood and iron, outlined the ideals of the (Jermanic races, but it remained 
for Bernhardi to detait the means by which these ideals w«i-e to be 
translated into practical terms. It may be remembered that the 
Acadtmy secured the British rights of Admiral Mahan's article on sea- 
power a few weeks ago ; the present securing of fresh Bernhardi matter 
u yet another instance of the enterprise characterising the present 
management of our contemporarj-. 
11^1.'?'^",?' ^^"T^ clever drawings is comprised in the recently 
publuhed booklet, KuHut and the German Blumierbxiss, with verses 
by H. Robertson Murray, and Charles Grave as the artist. The 
dream of the superman, as interpreted in Germany, is pictured with 
ruthless irony, and there is in the last two pages of "Ihe booklet a very 
good forecast of German awakening. 
Tire list of works on the period and personalitv of Napoleon is 
probably one of the longest list, in literature. A recent addition is 
i\apolfo„ at n orl; translated from the French of Colonel Vatliee and 
S?'^° * mmute study of Napoleon's methods in his various 'c.-.m- 
foifmo,rFr,nT",*"f ^^^ ^'""P^g'^ ?f 1806. The author, one of the 
IZ r^l *l t strategists and tacticians of the present day, sets 
methods otw^Jr "''* by careful examination of the Napoleonic 
I^.Y^u,f "',"/"' ^l"' ^^"^ "f the German staff in 1870, it is 
rt o™"""'""*-'"''2 °' ^'^ '°^ "^'' "t tl^« P^'^'^t dav. Even s 
not malSi^W Z'f.T.,'"'? ^°'''^ ^'""^ ^ie advance of science has 
V^ch"4 iW^rv i, ml^ m'^'^^f principles of warfare, and Colonel 
ti>s^r^s m^crn'in"taSnSTe'"anTn .1°^«--'^3: -}t"l>"tS.ns 
are reproduced, amongst them being some fine examples of the work 
of Sir Jolm Tenniel, John Leech, and Linley Sambourne, as well as 
the well-known present-day Punch cartoonists. In the opening cartoon, 
which is to-day of special interest in view c^ recent events, " King 
Punch presenteth Prussia v/ith the Order of 'St. Gibbet'" for 
tearing up the " scrap of paper " in which Prussia pledged herself to 
respect the integrity of Denmark. 
In this time that is sirrely the forging of a new a^e in tha 
history of humanity, such a book as J. Comyns Cair's" Coasting 
Bohemia is matter for congratulation to the author and to Messrs 
Macmillan and Co., the publishers. For the writer tells intimately 
and well of the great ones of the Victorian age; he writes of tha 
true Bohemia, of Burne-Jones, Eossetti, Forde Madox Browie, and 
all the pre-Raphaelites, while other of his pages concern such names as 
those of Du Maurier. Dickens, and Meredith. Yet again he talks of 
"&JX in Tragedy," "the English School of Painting," Henrv Irving, 
and other themes pertaining to the time before mediocrity and a peace 
that was apparently permanent had cramped the arts. It is a book of 
great names and great subjects, and, as for its construction, it may 
be said that there is dignity as well as interest for the reader— th» 
book 13 literature, in the best sense of the word. 
' f-'i"'^^*'" par* of the paper we draw attention to the necessity for 
thoroughly reliable waterproof garments and accessories in the 'ideal 
service kit. It is worthy of note, in this connection, that Messrs. 
Anderson, Anderson, and Anderson are makers of the sealed regulation 
pattern waterproof, and that the name of the firm is a guarantee of th« 
highest quality. 
In the event of readers experiencing difficulty or dfliv in 
obtaining copies of Land and Wateh from their newsacrents" the 
proprietors wi 1 be glad to be advised of same. Copies can be 
immediately obtained on application to the oificoa of the County 
Gentleman PuUishing Company, Ltd., Central House, Kings- 
way, w.C. (see subscription form on page 16*). 
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