It was only with difficulty that we
found some sort of lodging in a kind of pavilion which was icy and had no
chimneys. However, we managed to heat it and arranged litter for 20 men.
With bread and biscuit brought from Ochmiana we prepared a good meal."
"When we crossed the Goina we numbered 50; this number had increased so
that we were at one time 70, but now our number had decreased to 29."
"We left at an early hour on the next morning. It was frightfully cold.
Half way to Miednicki we had to stop at a bivouac. On the road we saw many
cadavers." Von Brandt here describes the fatal effects of cold and his
description, though less complete, corresponds with the descriptions given
by Beaupre, von Scherer, and others. Especially revolting, he says, was the
sight of the toes of the cadavers; often there were no more soft parts. The
soldiers, first of all, took the shoes from their dead comrades, next the
cloaks; they would wear two or three or cut one to cover their feet and
their head with the pieces.
The last part of the march to Miedniki was most painful for von Brandt, on
account of the inflammation of his left foot.
He describes his stay at that place in which there were many stragglers. He
bivouaked in a garden; they had straw enough and a good fire, also biscuits
from Ochmiana, and they suffered only from the cold, 30 deg. below zero R.
(36 deg. below zero Fahrenheit.) On this occasion von Brandt speaks of the
pains, the sufferings, the condition of his comrades.
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