TREACHERY AND SPYING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12539, 10 May 1915, Page 2

TREACHERY AND SPYING.

GERMAN WOMEN WHO TRIED TO BETRAY RUSSIA.

GUARDING SECRETS.

(By Lt.-Col. Roustam Bek.)

During the last three days there has been some question in the Russian as well as in the British Press about suspicions of treachery taking place in the Russian army during the last operations •■ftf iu East Prussia, and hringing*aboiit the temporary failiire of the Russian north arinvjn the Masurian lake district. From the latest information I learn that something of the sort happened, but.no Russian general or soldier was mixed up in it. It is undoubtedly true that the Germans were fully informed about the position of the Russians and the strategical role which the 20th Army Corps would play in this operation, and this was the result of skilful work of German spies in Russia and perhaps owing to their presence in the war area. . It is absolutely certain that no case ■of treachery has occurred either in the Russian army or in the whole of Russia, whose population, including Jews and Poles, lias shown extreme loyalty to the great work which Russia is accomplishing.

I cannot associate the idea of treachery with that of spying. Treachery involves a shadow for the whole nation.

• Spying is a. profession: persons who willingly or for reasons of dutv undertake this discreditable part of the work of the intelligence department of every "war office are spies, but not traitors. VOLUNTEER SPIES.

Spies can be divided into three sections —spas ijy prOiCisioii, who \ohintfirily, lor certain -ums cf money, give their services to tlip War Office; military .spies, wliu are necessary during war, ;:ml who sacrifice themselves in accomplishing tiieir duty to their country; and spies who work voluntarily i'cr their country at their ' oven expense, for patriotic reasons, having a powerful organisation in the country -or the enemy when' they are naturalised, and under cover of this they sometimes attain considerable success.

from a legal point of view, of course, these last commit, certain treachery, but from a moral point of view they always think that they are accomplishing their duty, though in an underhand way, for their fatherland.

In the case of these latter being caught they are court-martinlied as traitors; the others are treated as spies. •Treachery is quite a different- thing. The idea of treachery can be tinderstood only if we suppose that for example a Russian, of Russian origin, especially when he is in the army or navy or holds a confidential Government post, comes into connection with the enemy, especially in war time, and give,* away such information as can Oring disaster to the army or navy. Stich a person is -a- traitor.

In Russian history we have very few examples of military treachery, and the eases which have arisen—except, perhaps, the instance of Mazepa at the time of Peter the Great—are not important. The chief of the Cossacks of the Ukraine, the hot man Mazepa, who was a favorite of Peter the Great, communicated with Charles XII. of Sweden and tried to betray his Emperor. Pie did not succeed, and in consequence the Russian.* smashed Sweden at- Poltawa.

Quite a different- position has arisen in Russia, with regard to German spies —professional as well as voluntary. There are many Russians, even in the army, married to Germans who belong in Germany to high society. The Germa.i woman is absolutely a German patriot, but more Chauvinistic than the Russian ; she never becomes Russian by nature during the whole of Jier life, and educates her children in Russia —though Russian subjects—in such, a way that they become more German than Russian at heart. Such a mother dreams only of returning as quickly as possible to her Fatherland with Russian money and with knowledge of Russian life —military as- well as civil —-which at the first opportunity she will communicate to the intelligence department of the German General Staff.

RUSH TO SPAS. ! As far as I have gathered from Rusi si-an friends whom 1 have met recently, j many German wives of important RusI sians left, different towns in Russia beI fore the outbreak .of war, in order to •'.restore their health'' at German spas, and were welcomed by our enemy. They were not- put with other persons in concentration camps, but enjoyed i their liberty in exchange for the valuI able information which they brought I with them. I All German strategists. Clausewitz inj eluded, suggest in their hooks that the fullest information about- the enemy, not only from the point of view of strategy and tactics, is absolutely necessary, but even that it is most important to know the character of the enemy, his customs and habits, the temperament of the leading elements, the capacity of different troops, the concentration of provision depots, the capacity of railways, and so on, which can be obtained not only by specialists, but also by private people, women included. The Russians knew that, and took some important precautions. They superintended all Germans, even though Russian subjects, and a special intelligence department attached to each army headquarters used special military police to watch carefully the region occupied by the army and its rear.

Friends of mine who were British correspondents with the Russian army have told me.with admiration how careful the Russians are; but the most active watchfulness on the part of the army to protect itself from spies i» sometimes powerless, especially when the population of the hostile countries have been too much mixed during peace, and if in the Masurian Lakes action there was evidence of successful work of spies, there is absolutely not the slightest trace of treachery by- any Russian. No. in Russia we do not find treachery : neither can we find it in Great Britain, Prance, or Servia.