Page:Michael Farbman - Russia & the Struggle for Peace (1918).djvu/70

another factor which contributed a great deal to the terrible position of Russia. I mean the immense stores of supplies which the retreating armies destroyed or left in the hands of the enemy. The real amount of these stores will never be known, but there is little doubt that it must have been enormous. A soldier said to me once when I was in Russia: "When we saw that in a certain place they (meaning the High Command) were beginning to accumulate big supplies of grain, fodder, trucks, ammunitions, then we knew that this place was shortly to be given up to the enemy." This accusation of treachery may be only a prejudice on the part of the soldiers. However, the story conveys the right impression, that retreats were always followed by destruction or loss of enormous quantities of supplies.