Show OLAND IS LAND LANDOF OF DESOLATION 1 Russian Austrian and German l Armies Leaving Wake of i Wreck and Ruin I POLES FIGHTING G POLEt POLES POLE t I Harrowing Scenes Occur as Result Says Alma Tadema Tadema i. i Starvation Everywhere London July Jul- 25 The a.-The The desperate I I fighting now oln- oln on around Warsaw end and th throughout the en eastern zone of or I operations centers attention on the colossal tragedy of or Poland Polan the second at that hat unhappy country countr has hns endured the thc 1 first t having stirred America to Its Hs depths when o went there to tell Polands Poland's own story and left Its memories In the statue of or the Polish liberator In one of the public squares of Washington ton But that first t tra tragedy cd- cd was as nothing nothIng nothing noth noth- ing compared with what Poland Is undergoing oln the entire theatre of ot eastern tJ fighting being within the thc territory tel ter of ot the tho old kingdom of ot Poland with Russian armies trumping tramping over o the thc country from tho the east Austrian armies front from the south and German armies from the north and west wesl all compressing com com- pressing Poland as In a double vise Ise from four sides marching and fight fight- I Sn lug Ins on a scale of or unprecedented ma magnitude magnitude mag mag- and leaving a train of oC wreck and desolation even oven greater than that of or Belgium or Serbia Serbin This Is the testimony of disinterested eyewitnesses nesses Polish and American who have bave recently traversed the stricken strick strick- en regions Including C. C C. C Gibson of It the thc Rockefeller foundation who declared de do- e- e dared on his return that this was wu one of ot the greatest tragedies edles the world had known the devastation of ot Belgium shrinking In comparison Such telegraphic news as trickles through from Poland Poland except the or- or reports of C military operations from th the three sides is censored and garbled and gives on only 1 the picture of ot fighting lighting But But from rom eyewitnesses re returning returning ye- ye turning from lom Polish student student refugees from the the scourged district and nd from letters to those who hn have sought asylum here there Is a mass of ot Information Information in information In- In formation on the tho real conditions at nt atthe atthe the scene of ot these gigantic eastern op op- op I Much of or this information flows 2 Into the hands of ot Miss Laurence I. I Alma Tadema daughter of the great English artist who for tor three months has been working da day and una night as hs the secretary and directing genius of ot the Polish relief committee whose whoso officers j tand and patrons embrace about every name Of ot note in England peers England peers cabinet members members ambassadors artists and authors au au- au thors Pole Iole Fighting Pol Pole Think of the magnitude of this appalling appalling ap ap- ap palling Polish tragedy said Miss lISH Alma- Alma Tadema to a representative of th the Associated Press It is difficult for for tor us In England or 01 America with conditions conditions conditions condi condi- serene to cast tho minds mind's eye ec across Europe and grasp tho fact tact that all the titanic eastern battles are being being be be- ing fought on Polish soil And It Is not only a 3 sh gigantic struggle glo of or Invading invading Imad ing armies from without one ono follow follow- another r with all their train of ot ruin and desolation but it partakes almost of or civil conflict with Pole fighting aJ against Pole r I There are she went on about 12 Russian Poles and about the tame fame number of or Austrian and Prussian Poles All of ot them have that Intense longing to see Poland rise again as ns a unified kingdom An And yet c of ot these 2 Poles Poles' Polish soldiers are fighting In the the Russian ranks and another are tI fighting in the tho Austrian and German ranks literally ranks literally brother against brother One of or the reports reaching me mc tells of ot a bod body of Polls Polish Infantry on the Russian side charging at a a. body of ot the enemy with ba bayonets raised and the battle cries ringing from both sides only to distinguish distinguish distinguish dis dis- dis- dis as the they came to grips that both were shouting the cr cry of Poland and and on that instant as ns if It Inspired b by bya a common Impulse every bayonet was I lowered and eYer every man in the facing I ranks fell on his Im knees eH and nd In their common language breathed tho the Lords Lord's prayer er That was Polands Poland's prayer on tho the battlefield of or this terrible ens eastern tern conflict I 7 It t i t Here is another thoroughly hl authenticated case said Miss Alma Tadema Alma Tadema LA A Polish Infantryman Infantryman- raised his rifle rUle and fired point-blank point at an advancing roe foe only to see gee him pitch forward and ami hear bear him cry out In lh Polish My I God I leave lea a wife wits and three children And this agonizing dying CI cry in Polish rang II in the thoa ears of the brother Poll Pole who had fired tired th the shot torturing him night and aUlI way aY until he lie literally went mad and was taken from the ranks a raving maniac w Loyalty IH in Ht fI It lt It was natural Ot the thEl Russian Pole should cast his lot with Russia and this loyalty has been rewarded b by Ute tire Inspired proclamation or Grand Duke Nicholas pr promising Cre freedom dom for Poland a pledge which every ver Russian Pole accepts In good faith as foreshadowing foreshadowing foreshadowing fore fore- shadowing the tho reunification tion of at the Polish Polish Po Po- Po- Po lish nation On the other hand the Galician Ga- Ga lician Poles showed a n perfectly natural natural nat nat- ural first movement of ot allegiance to A Austria which had given en them then the tho right of ot their own faith and language and anel semblance I andr some of or free freedom om When hen r Mr Ir Gibson of or the tho Rockefeller I foun foundation atlon returned from Crom Poland he told Miss Alma Tadema of ot the terrible I scenes no ne had witnessed in the me stricken re regions lons Together the they planned for tor extensive ex extensive extensive ex- ex measures of ot relief One of or the scenes Mr Ir Gibson pictured pictured pictured pic pic- was a Polish village where he ho passed a cemetery toward dusk and saw sawa a 1 crowd collected On Inquiry ho lie learned It Il was the Joint funeral of twelve children who had died that day and he learned further that this was the tho normal average In this and other stricken villages twelve villages twelve children a da day dying of oC starvation At one point he noted an old woman who had crawled sixteen kilometers to get a l handful of black bread These Theoe were mere merely a a. few fewIn In Instances out of ot a great number which led him to the tho con conclusion that tho desolation desolation desolation des des- In the wake wako of or tho armies In Poland was WAa greater than that In Bel- Bel glum Ium where he ho had made a n similar Inspection 00 Partially D red The Polish student group here herc Is also receiving frequent mall advices ad from their friends in lh various parts of at Poland One of ot tile the e last last JaRt posted of or these theRe student letters Jetters summed up recent ad advices advices ad- ad vices Ic s which got through as follows Out of or 1 square kilometers In old oM Poland 8 1000 square kilometers have hwe now been occupied by the tho Austro- Austro German n armies The dep departments which have suffered most are Plo- Plo an and also four tour dl districts of the government go of ot ten districts districts districts dis dis- of or Warsaw arsaw which IH is a department department depart depart- ment half halt the size of Wales ales in addition addition addi addi- tion Uon to the city of Warsaw four tour districts districts districts dis dis- of or and five In Ch Chelm- Chelm lm- lm ski Out of or inhabitants of or orthis this tills region have suffered Buttered Of Ot villages 5 or about 20 per percent percent percent cent ar am are partially destroyed and another another another an an- other 1000 villages are arc completely leveled lev lev- leveled to the ground not a n trace of or them remaining beyond the tho heaps of ot dering rubbish and ruin The peasantry are arc pictured as moving mo Ing about JJ like e great reat tribes of g gypsies over o the blackened fields carrying and pushing S' S their scant belongings s In small carts |