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First World War.com - Memoirs & Diaries - The Fall of Kovno
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War.com - Memoirs & Diaries - The Fall of Kovno
The loss of Kovno, strange as it may appear, produced in Petrograd a far deeper impression than the fall of Warsaw.
Important as the latter undoubtedly was from the political point of view, it lay far more within the limits of probability to see the Polish capital taken by the enemy, who, ever since the beginning of the war, had lain almost at its doors, than to admit the possibility of one of the greatest and strongest Russian fortresses being stormed by the German troops.
Besides, Kovno was in Russia, and its possession by the Kaiser meant a good deal more to every Russian patriot than any Polish territory. Apart from sentimental reasons, Kovno represented an immense quantity of war material, guns, ammunition, and provisions of every kind, which had accumulated within its walls from the beginning of the campaign.
It was bitter to see all this captured, and even more so to find that we had not been given a chance to defend it. The evacuation of the fortress began late in June, when, by order of the Grand Duke, a certain quantity of guns had been withdrawn..... for the rest go to;http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/fallofwarsaw.htm
The loss of Kovno, strange as it may appear, produced in Petrograd a far deeper impression than the fall of Warsaw.
Important as the latter undoubtedly was from the political point of view, it lay far more within the limits of probability to see the Polish capital taken by the enemy, who, ever since the beginning of the war, had lain almost at its doors, than to admit the possibility of one of the greatest and strongest Russian fortresses being stormed by the German troops.
Besides, Kovno was in Russia, and its possession by the Kaiser meant a good deal more to every Russian patriot than any Polish territory. Apart from sentimental reasons, Kovno represented an immense quantity of war material, guns, ammunition, and provisions of every kind, which had accumulated within its walls from the beginning of the campaign.
It was bitter to see all this captured, and even more so to find that we had not been given a chance to defend it. The evacuation of the fortress began late in June, when, by order of the Grand Duke, a certain quantity of guns had been withdrawn..... for the rest go to;http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/fallofwarsaw.htm