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Managing
Human Resources 18th Edition
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Summary 234
Key Terms 235
Discussion Questions 235
HRM Experience: Designing Selection Criteria and Methods 236
Case Study 1: Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go Virtual 236
Case Study 2: Pros and Cons of Cleaning Up the “Resu-mess” 237
Notes and References 238
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Case Study 2: Loews Hotels: Training for Four-Diamond Service and More 274
Notes and References 275
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The 18th edition of Managing Human Resources will place your students at the fore-
front of understanding how organizations can gain a sustainable competitive advantage
through people. Today’s HR managers play an active role in the strategic planning and
decision making within their organizations. Those managers who are good at it have a
major impact on the success of their firms and elevate human resources in terms of its
importance in the C-suites of their organizations. But human resources management
is not limited to the HR staff. The best organizations recognize that managing people
is the job of every manager, working in partnership with HR.
Each edition of the book highlights the changes human resources management
is undergoing but reveals that the goal of utilizing an organization’s talent in the best
way possible never changes. Consequently, the purpose of this book is always twofold:
(1) to equip students with the tools and practices of HR management and give them
an appreciation for the changes they can make by understanding how best to manage
people, and (2) to present the most current challenges and opportunities graduating
students will face when it comes to today’s human resources management environment.
These challenges exist both for those who will become HR managers and those who
will go on to become other types of managers.
Toward that end, the first chapter of the book lays out in broad terms the key
challenges in HRM today. It includes a discussion of the HR strategies pursued by
firms and the importance of retaining and motivating employees in the process. Other
aspects broached include the strategies companies are using to continue to try to control
health care costs; how social media is affecting hiring, human resources management,
and employees’ privacy rights; and how good human resources practices can help a
firm achieve its corporate social responsibility and sustainability goals and make it an
employer of choice. The chapter also discusses the important partnership with line
managers and the competencies required of HR management. The textbook contin-
ues with the introduction, explanation, and discussion of the individual practices and
policies that make up HRM. We recognize the manager’s changing role and emphasize
current issues and real-world problems and the policies and practices of HRM used to
meet them.
Strategy and talent have become such central concerns of HR today that we con-
tinue to emphasize the topic in this edition of the book in Chapter 2. Chapter 5 focuses
on expanding and managing the talent pool in organizations. Employee diversity and
inclusion, and how firms can leverage all types of differences among their workers to
their strategic advantage, are examined.
Organizations in today’s competitive world are discovering that it is how the
individual HR topics are combined that makes all the difference. Managers typically
xix
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Streamlined Coverage
Today’s students are extremely busy. They want to know what they need to learn and
be able to learn it as quickly as possible. Instructors also want to be able to cover all
of the material they want to teach during a semester. To help both groups, we made
a special effort to streamline our coverage in this edition. We did so without sacrific-
ing key material but by shortening the copy to make it readable and deleting extra-
neous information reviewers have indicated may be “TMI” (too much information)
for their students. Students and instructors will find that the copy is briefer, clearer,
and more engaging.
Chapter 1
•• Updated discussion on international trade, Brexit, and the H-1B visa debate.
•• The loss of middle-class jobs in the United States and new technology affecting
HR, such as robotics and automation.
•• New coverage on the employee experience.
•• New coverage on Generation Z.
•• Updated information on workforce demographic trends and the progress of
women and minorities in the workplace.
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Chapter 2
•• Updated information on U.S. labor supply statistics.
•• New section on a firm’s primary and secondary stakeholders.
•• New section and figure on the 4As model (Alignment, Agility, Architecture, and
Ability).
•• New case study on how a strategy change led to the formation of Nike.
Chapter 3
•• New legal interpretations on what reasonable accommodation means for employ-
ees with disabilities.
•• Updated information on how Title VII is being interpreted to prohibit discrimi-
nation based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
•• A list of specific examples of unlawful discrimination against LGBTQ
communities.
•• New research showing how states that enact the federal Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) achieve higher levels of innovation than
states that do not enact the act.
•• We expand upon the term “disparate treatment.”
•• New material on how students in universities react to affirmative action.
Chapter 4
•• New coverage of workflow analysis prior to job analysis.
•• New discussion on how a firm’s strategy affects its workflows and job design.
•• New discussion of how companies are using fitness trackers, standing desks, and
other devices to improve the ergonomics in their workplaces.
•• New discussion on workplace democracy, and the work-life balance Millennials
and the members of Generation Z are demanding.
•• New case study on how Zappos eliminated all managerial positions and moved to
a self-management model.
Chapter 5
•• New section on retaining talent.
•• New coverage on the use of games to attract applicants.
•• New information on writing job postings to attract more candidates and the use
of technology to detect biased job postings.
•• New information on the virtual-assistant type technology some companies are
beginning to use to automate the process of posting jobs, searching for candidates
online, scheduling interviews with them, and notifying them of where they stand
in the job hiring process.
•• New case study on Scripps Health’s lifecycle approach to training and retaining
talent.
Chapter 6
•• Updated information on the practice of using the Internet to prescreen candi-
dates and the legal hazards of doing so.
•• Updated information on the “ban the box” movement.
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•• New coverage on the use of technology and other best practices to eliminate bias
when screening résumés and ranking candidates based on their interviews.
•• New information on the use of Big Data and gamification in preemployment
testing.
Chapter 7
•• Updated coverage on how MOOCs are affecting corporate training.
•• New coverage on experiential learning and the gamification of employee training.
•• Updated information on social media’s role in training.
Chapter 8
•• New coverage reflecting the growing role of coaching rather than formal perfor-
mance appraisals in organizations.
•• New coverage of SMART goals.
•• New coverage on how some firms are using technology to detect biased perfor-
mance appraisals and get a better picture of how well employees are performing.
•• New case study on why Adobe ended formal appraisals and what the company
replaced them with.
Chapter 9
•• How some companies like Zappos are moving from a traditional management
structure to a system where work is organized around roles rather than titles and
teams report to teams rather than supervisors.
•• The movement by tech companies to using objectives and key results (OKR)
systems to tie compensation to objectives.
•• The push for health care professionals to be evaluated based on quality of care
instead of a production model where it is more about quantity of care.
•• New research that shows how competition and recessions can reduce employee
wages.
•• New coverage of locations, such as Glassdoor, to collect salary and other related
data.
•• A list of the highest paying jobs for 2017 in the United States.
•• An updated discussion of minimum age required for employment.
•• Salary rates for the fastest growing jobs in the United States.
Chapter 10
•• Discussion of the new presidential administration’s support for policies that
reward government employees for merit, not just tenure.
•• New discussion of how companies are gamifying incentives and rewards to
improve performance.
•• Updated research on how to design rewards to provide (1) autonomy, (2) oppor-
tunity, and (3) purpose.
•• New research on public sentiment toward CEO pay.
Chapter 11
•• Updated information on the current status of the Patient Protection and Afford-
able Care Act (PPACA).
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Chapter 12
•• Updated research on the financial benefits of health and safety programs.
•• Updated information on U.S. employee injury and safety statistics today.
•• Updated information on how to enforce safety rules.
•• Updated information on workplace violence and antibullying legislation.
Chapter 13
•• Updated information on employee privacy rights at their place of employment.
•• New figures on employer versus employee rights.
•• New information on how employees are protected for blowing the whistle.
•• New discussions and statistics of social media and how it is used and abused by
employees.
Chapter 14
•• A clearer introduction to the chapter that includes current sentiments in the
United States toward unions.
•• Discussion of how the last presidential election impacted unions and their tradi-
tional allegiance to the Democratic Party and U.S. sentiment toward international
trade.
•• New research showing how Millennials relate to collective action—where they
agree and disagree with unions.
•• Some evidence that more professionals are seeing unionization as a viable way to
stabilize employment. A look at recent union movements that aren’t just limited
to companies but more related to social movements (e.g., Fight for 15 and
Occupy Wall Street).
•• Reorganized material to help with chapter flow.
Chapter 15
•• Updated discussions on sentiments about globalization and free trade.
•• Discussion surrounding the new gig economy where many workers are finding
work globally online as independent contractors.
•• Updated discussions of how companies like Microsoft are creating globally
dispersed teams that must work virtually.
•• Updated immigration and foreign worker discussions as they relate to H-1B visas.
Chapter 16
•• New discussion on why higher compensation is generally required when imple-
menting an HPWS.
•• Updated case study on Whole Foods’ HPWS and the challenges the company
faces sustaining it and regaining a competitive advantage.
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MindTap
Managing Human Resources, 18th edition, includes a brand new MindTap learning
experience, powered by a rich array of online resources designed to deliver an all-in-one
solution for learning and retaining the course topics. The following items are included
in the MindTap learning path:
•• An engagement activity designed to stimulate student interest and launch your
classroom discussion.
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Instructor Materials
The following instructor support materials are available to adopters online at www.
cengagebrain.com.
•• Instructor’s Resource Guide. The Instructor’s Resource Guide contains a chapter
synopsis and learning objectives; a very detailed lecture outline; answers to the
end-of-chapter discussion questions, notes for decision activities, and end-of-
chapter case studies; solutions to the extended cases in the textbook; and “Flip
Tips” activities to provide ideas for the flipped classroom.
•• Test Bank. Cengage Learning Testing powered by Cognero is a flexible, online sys-
tem that allows you to:
• Author, edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning
solutions.
• Create multiple test versions in an instant.
• Deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom, or wherever you want.
Each test bank chapter provides more than 100 questions, all tagged by learning
objective, AACSB standards, and Bloom’s taxonomy. There are true/false, multiple-
choice, and essay items for each chapter.
•• PowerPoint™ Presentation Slides. These presentation slides will add color
and interest to lectures. Lecture slides also include engagement items such
as video links and discussion questions to enhance the classroom learning
experience.
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Acknowledgments
Because preparation of manuscript for a project as large as Managing Human Resources
is a continuing process, we would like to acknowledge the work of those colleagues
who provided thoughtful feedback, and invaluable content expertise for this and the
previous editions of the text. Our appreciation and thanks go to:
Ryan Hall, Chatfield College
Loren Kuzuhara, University of Wisconsin
Kim Fox-Marchetti, Lone Star College
Dale King, Lenoir-Rhyne University
Carol Decker, Tennessee Wesleyan University
Christie Hovey, Lincoln Land Community College
Tony Hunnicutt, College of the Ouachitas
Debra Moody, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dave Quirk, Northwest Christian University
Greg Berezewski, Robert Morris University of Illinois
Avan Jassawalla, SUNY Geneseo School of Business
Jeffrey Moser, Valley City State University
Jonathan Biggane, Fresno State University
Niesha Geoffroy, Golden Gate University
Julia Levashina, Kent State University
Jaime Simmons, Marlboro College Graduate School
Zhaoquong Qin, Langston University
Justin Wareham, Oklahoma City University
Kiristen Jefferson, Southern New Hampshire University
LaSondra Banks, Triton Community College
Misty Resendez, Ivy Tech
Neeley Shaw, Waynesburg University
Rimjhim Banerjee-Batist, Schenectady County Community College
Rhoda Sautner, University of Mary
Robin Sawyer, University of Maryland
Sandra Obilade, Bresica University
Shirley Rijkse, Central Carolina Community College
Weichu Xu, East Stroudsburg University
Steve Ash, University of Akron
Michael Bedell, California State University, Bakersfield
Brad Bell, Cornell University
Katherine Clyde, Pitt Community College
Mary Connerley, Virginia Tech University
Susie Cox, McNeese State University
Paula S. Daly, James Madison University
Sharon Davis, Central Texas College
Douglas Dierking, University of Texas, Austin
Suzanne Dyer-Gear, Carroll Community College
Joe J. Eassa, Jr., Palm Beach Atlantic University
Summer Zwanziger Elsinger, Upper Iowa University
Robert E. Ettl, SUNY Stony Brook
Diane Fagan, Webster University
Angela L. Farrar, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Scott A. Snell
University of Virginia
Shad S. Morris
Brigham Young University
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My first destination was Dynow, where I was to find the staff of the
SS Corps. The Polish inhabitants whom I asked pointed forward
along a good straight road, and with the wind behind me I made
good way. I passed plenty of troops going both ways, and the
cavalry indulged in friendly banter with me as to who would arrive
first.
Meanwhile, at Dynow things were not at all as we imagined. The FF
Corps further on found that it was advancing into an empty space,
while its neighbour, the SS Corps, was being beset by superior
German forces; there was nothing left for it but to give up its
attempt. The SS Corps arrived at Dynow only to find it already
occupied by the enemy. In instant danger of being cut off, this corps
swerved from the road and went straight forward at a point where it
had to cross two bends of the river. The water was more than breast
high; the two passages were made under a hot fire, and a number
of men were killed or drowned; but the corps made good its retreat,
and indeed served as rearguard from hence to the San line. It was
followed closely and vigorously, the Germans showing the greatest
ardour, which in one case brought on them the most serious losses
at the hands of the Russian artillery. The SS Corps also suffered
severely and was greatly reduced in strength.
I should have ridden straight on to the enemy, but my bicycle
collapsed, and I was misdirected as to the road, so that in the
evening I found myself at quite a different point, not far from the
town of Rzeszow, which I had left in the morning. Making for a
railway station, I found a train waiting and learned the new turn of
events, also that Rzeszow itself was likely to fall into the enemy's
hands.
It was important that this news should reach those with whom I had
been working; but it was twelve hours before any train could move
in this direction, and then it was only an engine that was sent
forward, with one carriage full of high explosives and a colonel in
charge. The colonel and I sat on either side of the engine, and the
driver kept looking out and slowing down to ask news of the
stragglers who were coming from Rzeszow. Of course we got the
usual exaggerated reports; some said that every one had left or was
leaving Rzeszow and that the enemy were just about to enter. Puffs
of shrapnel were to be seen ahead of us, but we made our way
safely into the town.
Here little was known of what was happening; but several plain
signs indicated retreat, and an officer whom I knew kindly gave us
the lead that we required. In the streets there was an unpleasant
silence, and the people seemed to be waiting for something from the
west. The last trains out started with little delay. We looked back on
the smoke of explosions and travelled leisurely and without panic
through a peaceful country, where at each halt the road was lined by
good-natured soldiers resting, eating or chaffing each other on the
embankments, as if there were no war and they were all happy on
the banks of some great Russian river. At one point there was a
small collision, but all was put right without the slightest hurry or
excitement.
May 18.
We had retreated to the San, and the Corps of the Third Army held a
not extensive front, partly in front of and partly behind the river. The
apparently endless file of trains had all made their way along the
single line across the river. Wherever they stopped, the station was
infested by the enemy's aeroplanes; at one time ten of these were
flying along the line. In one day three were brought down, all the
airmen being killed.
The long road picnic on these trains, military or ambulance, shows
the Russian soldier at his best. All content themselves with the
simplest and roughest conditions, and lie anywhere about the
spacious vans or dangle their legs out of the broad doors and talk
cheerily with any who pass. Most of these goods vans are festooned
with boughs.
Of course there is an endless stock of narratives from the life at the
front, always with a complete absence of self, except for a summary
mention of the date and occasion of the narrator's own wound. The
main features are always the same—regiments reduced by sheer
artillery fire to half or a quarter, furious infantry attacks of the enemy
vigorously repelled.
Now that we again had a definite line in front of us, I decided to go
up again. I started on foot in fine evening weather and took a
straight line for a point to the south-west. I was halfway to my
destination when in the failing light I saw a motor, which carried one
of the adjutants of the commander of the army. He beckoned me up,
and explained the day's fighting, at which he had been present. It
was a furious artillery duel; and it was chiefly concentrated at a
different point from that for which I was making. He advised me to
return and to visit this point the next day.
On the following morning I started out, again on foot, with a supply
of big biscuits. Nearing the area of firing, I turned across the fields
and came upon a battery of Russian heavy artillery, which was so
well masked that, though I was looking for it, I did not make it out
until I was only a hundred yards off. I had a talk with the
commander and went on to a neighbouring village which was under
a heavy fire. Here were the staffs of a regiment and of the Division
which I was seeking. On the telephone there was brisk conversation.
I was invited in to lunch, where all business talk was avoided, and I
was given a Cossack to take me to the infantry positions. Heavy
shells were rattling like goods vans over our heads, sometimes three
being in the air at once and all taking the same direction. The
crashes came from some distance behind us. The enemy was
clearing a space in our reserves and among our staffs.
The Cossack was a quaint person, with flashing eyes, who walked
about leading his horse everywhere. When he was told to take me in
the direction of the firing, he murmured something about its being
"the very best." His idea was that we should go on foot, he leading
his horse, from which he was most unwilling to part, because he
would feel lost without it. This was all very well: but the appearance
of any horse near the positions is strictly barred, as it at once calls
forth a more or less accurate fire on the infantry. This it was
hopeless to explain to him; so in the end I left both him and his
horse behind.
I went on to one of the regimental staffs, and obtained two guides
to the respective regiments which I was visiting. I had hardly left
this hut when a bomb fell on it, killing or wounding several of the
staff. We had sheltered ground almost up to the river. The famous
San is here about a hundred yards broad, with a steep further bank
and, on our own side, a long hollow running parallel with the river
and thick with willows and alder; the country in general, except for
some depressions, is quite flat.
I passed along the front of the C regiment. There was hardly a shot
fired, though the enemy could be seen moving on a hill opposite and
was free to approach to the further side of the river. Our own people
had made some progress with their entrenchments, which were not
yet under artillery fire. To the greeting from the English ally, which I
gave as I passed along, there was an interested reception, and the
men put questions as to the western front. One man, when I told
him we were advancing, crossed himself and said "God grant it."
The men had a very difficult part of the stream to guard and could
easily be put under a flanking fire. With two of the officers I stayed
some time; they were cool and keen, but deeply mortified at the loss
of ground for which they had sacrificed so much. We watched the
shells bursting just behind us; and after a time I made my way back
over ground which was often traversed by shells and shrapnel,
usually fired together.
The cannonade became more and more intense in the evening and
lasted all night and into the next day. Some hours after I left the
enemy crossed at the point which I had visited and made good a
footing on our side of the river. In the morning he was driven back
out of our lines; but returning in force, he finally established himself
on our side and forced these regiments to retreat for some miles. A
day later I heard that the German Emperor in person was opposite
to us, just across the river.
May 24.
On the day when I walked along the San, the enemy did not show
themselves in any force till the evening. Then and throughout the
night the tremendous cannonade that they had kept up all day
became more intense, and with the aid of the powerful German
projectors the area to the rear of the Russian lines was swept,
especially at three given points. Here in the evening the enemy
crossed the narrow stream in boats. The railway bridge was mined,
but was left standing as long as possible. An Austrian shell cut the
train of the mine, without exploding it, at a point forty yards on the
Russian side of the river. Masses of the enemy were already at the
bridge when a Russian officer and private went forward and made a
new connexion, which they fired at once. The bridge was blown into
the air, and the two daring Russians were sent flying by the shock,
but remained alive.
At different points the enemy effected a lodgment on the eastern
bank and, where the Russian line was thinnest and held by
regiments already reduced to half or quarter strength in the previous
fighting, the trenches were partly occupied by the Germans or
Austrians. Next morning the Russians made vigorous counter attacks
and recovered the ground lost; but returning in overwhelming force,
the enemy not only regained his hold on the eastern bank but
extended it on either flank and pushed further eastwards.
There followed five days of very severe fighting. The issue at stake
was whether the enemy's successes could still be limited to western
Galicia—or, in other words, whether half or the whole of the territory
conquered by the Russians was now to be flooded by his armies. His
object was, of course, to find room eastward of the San for his
powerful forces and artillery. There were in all five German or
Austrian armies in the area chosen for the enemy's impact. Of these,
two were engaged with the Eighth Russian Army and three were
opposed to our Third Army; these last numbered nine army corps,
including the Reserve Corps of the Prussian Guard and two others
which were drawn from the French front. German heavy artillery,
though apparently of a different calibre from that employed at the
beginning of the Galician battle, took a prominent part in this
fighting; and the Austrians showed better marksmanship than at any
period in the war.
The enemy's advance, however, had slackened before it reached the
San; and the Russians had had time not only to make good a very
spirited retreat but to give their men two days' rest on the eastern
side of the river. These two days were invaluable. Large
reinforcements were hurried up. In the shortest time entrenchments
were thrown up of a kind superior to those held by the Russians
during their long occupation of western Galicia, and very much
better supported. The earlier ruinous effects of the enemy's heavy
artillery were now minimised or even avoided; and the Russian
artillery were in much greater force than before. Above all, the men
proved, if proof were needed, by the vigour of their resistance and
by beating off one German attack after another that the earlier
retreat had been due simply to the enemy's technical superiority in
artillery, and that even a half-annihilated Russian regiment felt itself
to be master as soon as the issue lay with the bayonet.
The enemy daily sent aeroplanes to the Russian rear, in one day ten
at a time, but in at least five cases these were brought down and in
most instances by the fire of musketry and machine guns. In one
comparatively weak spot the Russian infantry was rescued by a few
timely discharges from our artillery, which sent the close column of
Germans running like hares.
Attempt after attempt of the enemy to break through in close
column failed. At certain points the Germans were able to push
home their blow, at others the Russians closed in on their flanks,
driving them back to the river and threatening even their success in
the centre with serious consequences. At one moment the enemy
thought that he was through; but the gap was filled at once from
the large Russian reserves. At another he even launched his cavalry
through what seemed an empty space, and it looked as if he might
find room to develop the favourite German cavalry advance, which
has spread such terror among peaceful inhabitants in other parts;
but without delay the tide was stemmed by Cossacks and Russian
infantry.
The struggle is still going on; but one thing is certain—that the
Russian resistance east of the San has stopped the forward flow of
the German advance. It is a new chapter in the war, and different in
essentials from that which preceded it. News of successful resistance
or of advance comes from the Russian armies on either flank of our
own.
May 27.
The situation seemed to be changing rapidly and at the same time
clearing. There were reports of German attempts to break through
at various points, but all of them seemed to be stopped and our line
was apparently becoming more stable. As I have explained before,
there is a splendid ambulance organisation of the most complete
kind managed by a joint committee of all the Zemstva (or county
councils) of Russia and directed by Prince George Lvov. Apart from a
wide system of hospitals right away to the rear and all over Russia, it
includes ambulance and depôt trains which run almost up to the
very front, and flying columns, giving first aid to the wounded.
These last have attached to them large field transport trains,
adapted to the local roads and working in close touch with the
generals at the front and the military surgeons.
It is always a pleasure to meet with any section of this organisation.
It possesses the free initiative characteristic of self-government, for
the Zemstva members and employés have everywhere volunteered
for this service; and there is in it the healthy sense of open air and a
practical experience at making the best of any conditions.
There was a flying column which I met at the beginning of our
retreat, and which took charge of my baggage. The same column
was now quite near me, and they kindly gave me a lift to the front. I
set out in one of their sensible "two-wheelers" adapted for carrying
the wounded, and travelled a good part of the night to where they
had their park: there I had a splendid sleep in the two-wheeler. The
next day we went on in a long train of carts through pine-woods and
sand, sometimes almost losing our bearings, until we found the
flying column at work in a wood: among the sisters was an English
lady, Miss Hopper, and in a neighbouring flying column of the
Zemstva is another English sister, Miss Flamborough; the others call
them "our allies."
I was told that one of the military doctors wondered whether I was a
spy. As he was going to the staff of the LL Corps, I asked him to
take me with him. Here I had a kind welcome, though I happened to
be without all my papers. Everything seemed to be going better. The
General in command, a man of decision and much humour, was
evidently in good spirits; business was barred at meals; but the
position was explained to me, and it was clear that the enemy was
being held.
I was sent on to one of the Divisions, which had been in action for
about five days. Here, in spite of the rapid changes in the personnel
of the officers, there was the same feeling of confidence and hope.
In the evening I rode out with the General of Division on his visit to
one of the regiments. Everywhere we passed fresh troops coming
up. We found the regimental staff in a wood; though there were
huts quite near, the Colonel preferred a series of elaborate burrows
which had been made in the sand among the trees. Near these
burrows we sat round a table in the twilight, while orderly masses of
grey figures kept passing us in their march forward. This Colonel, a
big genial man with a composure that inspired confidence, soon
dropped into a conversation about old comrades. The General had
commanded the O regiment, and it was painful to hear his inquiries
about one after another of his officers: almost all were gone.
The next day I again visited this regiment and went forward to the
front. The rear was being shelled by the enemy with a good deal of
shrapnel, and this seemed to be going on every day. As I got further
forward I passed line after line of entrenchments and shelters, and
eventually came on the front line, which was admirably complete
and much more detailed than most of the positions which I had yet
seen. The battalion, which was in a wood, was commanded by a fine
young fellow, still a lieutenant, who exposed himself freely but took
the greatest thought for his men. The enemy was only a few
hundred yards off and suddenly opened a hurricane of musketry fire;
practically none but explosive bullets were used; this was quite clear
as they kept crashing into the trees all around us. The men, who
were in fine strength and spirits, did not suffer; and such measures
have been taken that the losses inflicted earlier by the German
heavy artillery are very unlikely to be repeated.
At no time have I seen so marked a difference in the course of a few
days. When I visited the San there was still the atmosphere of the
preceding operations, heroism against odds. Now there was a quiet
confidence for which one could everywhere see the reason—in the
troops that had come up, and the lessons that had been learned.
May 29.
Matters here continue to take a better complexion. Yesterday in the
staff of the LL Corps I was given the sketch-map of the day, which
showed an advance at more than one point. The regiment which I
had last visited had now crossed the little brook in front of its
trenches and also the larger stream which runs at some distance
almost parallel with it. Of this I had painful evidence just outside
headquarters. A man with face bound up had just been brought in
and came forward to me making signs. On the paper which I gave
him he wrote: "I am the Commander of the second battalion of the
Y regiment. Where are you off to now?" It was the fine young
lieutenant whom I had seen a few days back, so proud of his new
command and so brisk and vigorous in all his dispositions. He wrote
that he had been wounded during the attack by an explosive bullet,
such as I had heard crackling against the trees when I was with his
regiment. His mouth was shattered, but he was quite cool and gave
no sign of pain. My companion sent him off at once by motor to the
ambulance.
At another point there had been a more definite advance, which,
coming as it did just where the enemy had made a great effort to
break through, seemed to promise results all along the line. This was
the point that I decided to visit; so I was directed to a cavalry
division from the Caucasus which was stationed there. I
experimented in a new means of conveyance, namely a hand-truck
which worked between our last station and the front. It was a
sporting ride, and we went faster than a good many trains. Just
before I started I was asked to carry word to a badly wounded
officer that a motor was being sent for him. Alighting at a signal-
box, I made my way to the place, and the poor fellow was delighted;
but alas! no motor could make its way over this road, and the young
man died before there were other means of moving him.
Headquarters staff of the Division was a farm building crowded with
fine horses and soldiers. The men wore the long black busbies and
the picturesque flowing uniform of the Caucasus, with decorated
sabres and bandoliers. The General was a patriarchal man with bald
head and long beard, easy of manner and short and conclusive in
speech. He kindly put me up in his own room, and through the night
he seemed to be doing business at a great rate with the minimum of
exertion. Next morning the whole position was shortly and plainly
explained to me; in the night we had taken another village, and
levelled up the line of our advance rightwards. I was sent to see the
corresponding movement on the left.
The General took me with him to one of his Brigadiers, and on the
way in a few vigorous words put renewed heart into two brisk-
looking batteries that lay on our road. The soldier who took me
forward had the day before got a skin wound on the face from
shrapnel, while carrying a message to the staff; it had not prevented
him from returning to the front. The General jocularly told him that
to-day he would probably get one on the other cheek.
As we came out of the wood, we saw a man dodge past us, and the
next minute came the explanation in the shape of a shell. The
railway ran straight forward up the bare slope; and the enemy was
shelling all along this line. A few hundred yards on, behind the
lightest of shelters, was a hole in the ground with a telephone,
which served during action for the staff of the regiment. I asked for
the Colonel, and they pointed to a splendidly built man lying
stretched out on the ground. I thought for a moment that he was
dead, but he was only lying fast asleep under the shrapnel, after the
ceaseless and arduous work of the attack. He stood up and shook
himself like some noble animal, standing in the open, much against
the wish of his officers.
We sat and talked for some hours. The ground where we were had
all been won in the night. Our present positions, temporary and little
developed, were about five hundred yards further up. Our men were
only six hundred yards from the Germans and had orders to advance
by short stages. Some of them had already crept forward two
hundred yards and were throwing up head cover on the ridge of the
slope. Other parts of the ridge were still in the hands of the
Germans; their trenches were plainly visible, and they were firing
down on us, aiming at anything which stood upright.
A soldier was sent by the railway ditch up to the front, so I went
with him. The best plan after all was to walk forward, stepping out
but without hurry. A little beyond the level of our lines I found some
breast-high shelters on the edge of the railway ditch. Here we
posted the bearers, who would wait to attend to the wounded.
One got a near view of all our front. A group of some twenty men
had gone forward together and were entrenching themselves; others
at intervals crept forward on their own initiative on different sides; it
was rather like men at a Salvation meeting, coming in, one by one,
for conversions. As one was halfway up to his comrades, a shrapnel
burst with a flare just above him; he lay still for a few minutes and
then crawled slowly back, evidently wounded. The twenty had hardly
established themselves when three shrapnels and a shell burst at
intervals all along their little line. However, the slow process went
on, and the line was being gradually levelled up to those who were
furthest forward.
This slow advance, inevitable in daytime, is very trying. The moment
of greatest danger was when the men came in full view of the
enemy, who from his trenches could direct his artillery fire with
precision on to the Russian advance. As our men came closer in, this
danger would disappear, for the German artillery in the rear would
be afraid of hitting its own infantry; but this stage was still far off.
I came back to the staff, and when close to it I was noticed and
followed with a little shower of explosive bullets which burst near
me. Beyond the railway, much the same movement was in process,
except that here machine guns were at work. I made my way back
to the wood; shells travelled overhead far to our rear; as each
passed, the wounded men whom I was supporting jerked
instinctively away from me and wished to lie down or seek any
shelter.
I had a long walk back, passing on the way groups of those
wounded who were able to go on foot, and followed for some
distance by two soldiers who were on the lookout for spies.
May 31.
I have had an interesting talk with a German officer, commander of
a battery which was cut off by the Russians in a recent advance on
our side. He comes from the Rhine and has lived long in Hamburg,
and he inspired in his captors the greatest respect by his breeding
and good feeling.
We talked first of Hamburg: he described it as a dead town; trade
there is, but it goes by other roads and most of the profits remain in
neutral countries. The short rations in Germany he insisted were
simply a measure of precaution, and latterly prices had been
lowered; he had a poor opinion of potato bread. Next we talked of
the Rhine Universities, which are practically emptied of students by
the war. There are in the army many volunteers from the age of
sixteen to that of forty-eight, but this is no indication of the
depletion of material for the Army.
We now got on to the main questions; he was very ready to discuss
them and spoke perfectly frankly. I asked on what side Germany
could hope for any deciding success. He admitted at once that no
such point, of the kind that Napoleon used to look for, was to be
found on any side, and he maintained that from the outset, both
militarily and politically, Germany was fighting a purely defensive
war, of course by frequent counter-offensives. In that case, I
suggested, Germany could only have peace by our offering it, that
is, by our getting tired of the war; and surely it was unfortunate that
she had all of us against her at once. In reply he reminded me of the
German word Streber, which means a restless pushing person who
is always disturbing and annoying others. Economically, he said, the
struggle for life in Germany had become almost impossible, of which
he himself had seen many instances. Some outlet was essential, and
this England and the other Powers had united to prevent. I said that
for us English the issue was whether Germany should have things
which we at present possess, and that we were not likely to give
them up without fighting. He quite accepted this. Germany, he said,
was like the troublesome boy of the school, who was dissatisfied and
had a grievance, and was always making things unpleasant for all
the rest, so that there was no wonder if he was not liked. I
suggested that this went too far, if his own old allies, such as Italy,
turned against him. He expressed a natural resentment against Italy,
and said that anyhow here right was on the side of Germany, who
would continue to defend herself to the end. I answered that we
might disagree as to the question of right, but that I could not
understand how any successful issue could be hoped for under such
conditions. He was of my opinion, and twice spoke of the war as a
"catastrophe." I asked, then, why Germany should persist in a policy
which had obviously, especially in the case of Italy, proved to be a
misguided one; we all felt admiration for the magnificent fighting
power of the German army, which might have dealt successfully with
us separately; but it had been set an impossible task. He replied that
England had a long experience as a state and that policy with her
was well thought out; Germany had only some forty years of a
united existence behind her, and the policy which had led to "the
catastrophe" could not, as a policy, be defended. I asked whether it
was likely to be changed, and to this I neither expected nor got any
answer. But it was interesting that, in spite of the great successes in
western Galicia, he described the present mood of the army as
nothing like the first great outburst of enthusiasm at the beginning
of the war.
I was later given an opportunity of examining a German private (a
Hanoverian). This man had been asleep when the Russians stormed
his trenches. I was interested both in the readiness of his answers,
which he gave with a smiling face, and in the answers themselves.
The German heavy artillery was all beyond the San, and troops were
being sent away to the Italian front. Food was poor in Galicia; all the
soldiers were for peace, and there was the same refrain in all the
letters received from home. He had been on the western front near
Reims and had made the railway journey to Neu-Sandec (Nowy
Sacz) in five days. He spoke with especial respect of the first English
troops, of the Russian field artillery and of the accuracy of the
French heavy artillery.
June 7.
I had a talk with a staff officer of the E E Corps on the fortunes of
his corps and on the German methods of advance. The corps had
not been hit so hard as some others by the Austro-German impact;
it helped to cover the retreat to the San, and stood to its ground
beyond the river until one of its neighbours retired. When the enemy
had thus got a footing beyond the river, the E E Corps made a
counter-attack vigorous and successful. But the enemy pushed the
next corps still further back, so that the E E's had also to rectify their
line. However, they continued to make counter-attacks, at one point
gaining about a mile of ground, and they were still holding good.
They had at least the satisfaction of holding the forces of the enemy
which were opposed to them, so that these troops could not move
further along the Russian line to complete their offensive movement.
This record is typical of very much of the Galician fighting, which is
full of such ups and downs of attacks and of counter-attacks, and
only reached decisive results by the employment, at given points, of
an overwhelmingly superior heavy artillery.
The German method is to mass superior artillery against a point
selected and to cover the area in question with a wholesale and
continuous cannonade. The big German shells, which the Russian
soldiers call the "black death," burst almost simultaneously at about
fifty yards from each other, making the intervening spaces practically
untenable. The cannonaded area extends well to the rear of the
Russian lines, and sometimes it is the rear that is first subjected to a
systematic bombardment, the lines themselves being reserved for
treatment later. On one of my visits the divisional and regimental
staffs were being so shelled that the former had to move at once
and one of the latter was half destroyed; but meanwhile there was
hardly a shot along the actual front. In this way confusion is created,
and reinforcements and supply are made difficult. It is the wholesale
character of these cannonades that make their success, for there is
nowhere to which the defenders can escape. The whole process is,
of course, extremely expensive.
When a considerable part of the Russian front has thus been
annihilated, and when the defenders are, therefore, either out of
action or in retreat, the enemy's infantry is poured into the empty
space and in such masses that it spreads also to left and right,
pushing back the neighbouring Russian troops. Thus the whole line
is forced to retire, and the same process is repeated on the new
positions.
When success in one district has thus been secured, the German
impact is withdrawn and again brought forward at some further part
of the Russian front. In other words, the German hammer,
zigzagging backwards and forwards, travels along our front, striking
further and further on at one point or another, until the whole front
has been forced back.
The temper of this corps, as of practically all the others, is in no
sense the temper of a beaten army. The losses have been severe;
but with anything like the artillery equipment of the enemy, both
officers and men are confident that they would be going forward.
June 10.
I rode over dull country on my way to the SS Corps, one of whose
divisions I had visited a week or so before. While I sat lunching in a
wood, regiments of cavalry swept past me, filling the air with dust;
sometimes one could not see a horseman until he was upon one.
Not far from the Staff there was a sick soldier lying by the road, with
some peasants looking after him; we sent him forward on a passing
army cart.
The SS Corps was having an easy time after the recent fighting in a
large village over three miles long which had several good clean
quarters; the Polish peasants are excellent hosts. Neither side was
making any move, but our Staff went up every day to the positions
to direct the work of entrenching, which was being carried forward
with the greatest energy. The General in command, who is very
hearty and sociable, was just starting in his motor when I arrived,
and he invited me to come with him. It was a far drive, and at one
point we were stuck in the sand; we passed quite a number of
different lines of defence, carefully planned and executed. As large
drafts of recruits had come in recently, we halted at the edge of a
wood and the General gathered the men round him and made them
a very vigorous little speech. He described how Germany and
Germans had for several years exploited Russia, especially through
the last tariff treaty, which was made when Russia was engaged in
the Japanese War, and set up entirely unfair conditions of exchange.
He said that the German exploited and bullied everybody; and that
was a thing which the peasant could understand, often from
personal experience. Then he got talking of the great family of the
Slavs, of little Serbia's danger and of the Tsar's championship, of
Germany's challenge and of Russia's defiance. Next he spoke of the
Allies and of their help. And then he spoke of the regiment, which
bears a name associated with the great Suvorov; they were always,
he said, sent to the hardest work, often, as now, to repair a reverse;
and he spoke plainly and without fear of the recent retreat.
Concluding, he told them a story of Gurko: some of his men had said
that the enemy would have to pass over their bodies, and Gurko
answered, "Much better if you pass over his." He ended by telling
them all to "fight with their heads." In the wood he addressed
another group. Both his little speeches were manly and effective,
and they were very much appreciated; one of the men (I wear no
epaulettes) called me to closer attention.
On the further edge of the wood there were good trenches, and
from them ran a long and very winding covered way to the front line
of all. The enemy here was only some sixty yards off, and we could
get a good view of his lines; but this day he only sent a few
intermittent shrapnel over our heads.
The next day we motored again to this side, which was on our
extreme right flank. We left the motors and rode fast through thick
brushwood. Most of us got separated from the leaders, but we
picked up their tracks, and our Cossacks gave us a great gallop to
catch up with them. We had tea in a beautiful wood with an outpost
of the Red Cross, which was living in tents; the regimental band
played to us, and gave us "God save the King." We were just
beginning to talk about the stifling gases. "Confound their politics;
Frustrate their knavish tricks" seemed to have a new significance.
After tea we rode and walked to an artillery observation post, from
which the enemy's lines were clearly visible. This day wore a holiday
atmosphere, with music and snapping of photographs and the forest
picnic. But the General's alertness was soon to be proved. Three
days later the Germans made their new advance exactly at this
point, but of that I will write later.
June 13.
Next to the L Corps on the right is one of the most famous corps in
the Russian army—3 K. In this war it has been put to hard and
dangerous work all over the front.
At Kosienice, which saw some of the hardest fighting in the war, two
regiments crossed the Vistula—the Vistula, mind; and those who
have seen it will know what that means—under fire and in face of
two German corps and three Austrian; another brigade of 3 K came
along the river from a Russian fortress on the western bank,
marching knee-deep through marsh and water with the general at
its head. The two regiments that crossed moved forward to a vast
forest near the river, and there they had an hour and a half's
bayonet fighting—one may imagine what that means. An enormous
number of officers went down; the B's lost forty, and the S's in the
course of those five days had seven successive officers killed while
commanding the regiment. In the midst of the bayonet fighting,
when most of the Russian officers fell, some of the Germans shouted
out in Russian, "Don't fight your own men!" and in the confusion
which followed the Russians left the forest and lay, half in marsh and
with only the most elementary cover, under a devastating artillery
fire; however, they held their ground on this bank of the river, and,
as soon as they were reinforced, they again moved forward and
scattered the Germans, drove them off westward, and then pushed
the Austrians, in more than a week of fighting, beyond Kielce, where
they feasted their triumph with the old corps song, "God has given
victory." After this followed arduous fighting in the Czenstochowa
region. Later the corps went to the eastern Carpathians to stem an
Austro-German advance, and it was thence brought rapidly across to
the assistance of our army when the tremendous artillery impact of
the enemy fell on Galicia between Gorlice and Tarnow.
I first saw General Irmanov the day he had entered Kielce. He is one
of the most remarkable and sympathetic figures of the whole war. I
saw what seemed an old man of middle height, of sturdy figure, with
a curious outward kink in his walk as of one who had lived much on
horseback; he has a singularly peaceful and gentle face, with a high
colour and grey hair and beard; a child-like simplicity and directness
blended with a fatherly benevolence; but the suggestion of different
ages ends, when one sees much of the General, in one's forgetting
age altogether. The voice is a mild, high one which sometimes
comes out like a little bark. I had a long talk then with General
Irmanov, and for every one of my questions got a clear and full
answer. Irmanov was not a General Staff officer; in peace and off
duty he lives a quiet domestic life in his mountain home. His staff is
like a family; there is a peculiar smartness and spirit in the salute
when the General appears and all line up to greet him. He mounts
without delay and is off in a moment; he is one of the fastest riders
in the army, and in a few minutes his suite, trained riders as they
are, are all streaming behind him.
In the battle of Gorlice the corps was set a desperate task. It was to
turn the German flank and get to the devastating heavy artillery and
take it. It is always shorter to go forward than to go back; and this
was the one way in which bold hands could beat metal. When I first
heard the order, some one said, "Irmanov can do it"; and he very
nearly succeeded. The Prussian Guard Reserve was against him, and
their prisoners, who held their heads high in other matters, were all
agreed as to the heroism of 3 K. There followed tremendous
rearguard fighting, battles or marches every day. The corps was
40,000 when it marched on the guns; it was 8000 when it stood
covering the Russian rear beyond the river San. It was 6000 when it
made its counter-advance on Sieniawa, and then it took 7000
prisoners and a battery of heavy artillery. Not much of the beaten
army in this!
I reached the pleasing white farmhouse in which the staff of the
corps lived, and felt at home from the first. They made me feel
myself to be one of the party; there was no ceremony, but the
General, who found time for everything, saw to it himself that I had
a little room of my own, which he visited to see that all was in order.
Next day he asked me whether I would like to go with a colonel of
Cossacks. This seemed simple enough. We went to the colonel's
quarters, took a quick lunch and then mounted. The whole regiment,
I noticed, was behind us; we started at a dashing pace, breaking a
way through thick forest, the branches often lashing our faces. The
Germans had come through at one point, and we were on our way
to stop them; if we found them on the march, the regiment would
charge; if they were taking cover, we should take cover opposite
them and possibly advance on foot to a counter-attack, in which the
Cossack's sword would replace the infantry bayonet. At a signal all
heads were uncovered and, while we still rode forward, there rose a
solemn hymn which is always sung before action. Later the colonel
said, "We have been serious long enough; let's have some songs";
and with the music of the Don and Caucasus rising and falling we
rode forward.
I had begun to wonder what exactly was my part in the day's
business—for I was riding, with only a Red Cross brassard, next to
the colonel—when we were all told to dismount, hide in a wood and
await further orders. We were here for about two hours; I woke
from a good sleep to see the divisional general come out of his hut
with our colonel. The General made vigorous gestures which I
thought must be an order for attack; but it turned out just the
opposite. The gestures meant that the German advance had already
been stopped, and the colonel came back, saying, "Got to go home."
From my point of view it was just as well, for I am sure I could have
done nothing to help except fall off. We rode slowly back in the
evening; and every now and then the men sang long melodies that
fitted the hour and the bare plains.
June 16.
The day after our ride there was nothing doing, and it was difficult
to make any plan. I spent most of the day lying about the big
garden, as many of the soldiers did. There were pleasant gullies,
and beyond lay the long, rambling, white-walled village with a pretty
church. The village girls were all on the way thither dressed in bright
colours. It seemed that there were services twice a day; and the
people, who were Poles, met whenever they heard the cannon, to
pray for the success of the Russian arms.
I sat for some time in the church. The younger girls all knelt before
the chancel and sang a long and beautiful prayer, into which, in the
second half of each stave, there joined the voices of the men
behind. Then the priest, who looked both kind and clever, had a talk
with the younger children. Poland is one of the few countries where
all the church music is congregational, and it is often sung very
beautifully. For the Pole the church is the fortress and shelter of his
country; and in this terrible war, which has fallen so hardly on
Poland, this comfort is more needed and more real than ever. It is
many times that the inhabitants of this region, especially old peasant
women, have told me how they feared the coming of the Germans.
The Staff was a very pleasant company. The chief, also a general,
had the face and manner of a conscientious English country
gentleman; he was widely read in military history, and his judgments
were always weighed. The senior adjutant had been contusioned
and invalided, but somehow had managed to return almost at once;
he was humorous and talkative; in his room he had a placard,
"There is no air in this room, don't spoil your health and GO AWAY."
Over the General's door he had written, "Don't disturb work or rest."
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