eans of
transportation. According to a correspondent of the Hungarian
newspaper "Az Est" the problem was solved by the Austro-German armies
in a remarkable way. In the first place the number of horses before
each wagon was increased. Where formerly two horses had been used,
four were employed now, and where four used to be considered
sufficient the number was increased to six. This resulted in an
unending line of giant transports drawn by teams of four and six
horses like they had never been seen before.

The work of these horses was greatly lightened by field railways. So
quickly were these built that they seemed to grow right out of the
ground. In some places industrial railways of this nature, already in
existence, were utilized. Both steam and horsepower were used on these
railways. Valleys were bridged over; gradients were reduced by every
available means. At regular distances pleasant little block houses
were to be found, which served as stations and guardhouses. The
condition of the roads did not permit the use of motor trucks to any
great extent, but wherever there was even a thread of possibility for
motor trucks to get through they were promptly called upon to assume a
leading part as a means of transportation. The immensity of the
problem may well be understood by the fact that approximately two
thousand automobiles of all kinds were employed by the German army of
the Bug River.

All of this could be moved quickly. Everything that was necessary to
make repairs was carried along. Supplies were heaped on motor trucks,
and the officers in charge of supplies and equipment lived in
automobiles which had been fitted up like rooms. The supply and
equipment departments had their own electric-lighting system and their
separate wireless. This vast establishment could be mobilized in
twenty-four hours, and its completeness, swiftness, efficiency, and
punctuality were not only a triumph of modern industry, but were among
the chief contributing causes for the Austro-German success in
overpowering obstacles and difficulties, and for the fact that
throughout the entire campaign in Russian Poland the troops never
suffered lack of provisions and munitions.

The Russian retreat brought untold misery to the civil population of
those parts of Russia which were affected by it. Especially true was
this of those sections in which the Russian authorities decreed that
the civil population had to become participants in the retreat