Headquarters of Commander-in-Chief at Kovno
The military efficiency of the troops was not neglected. Training was promoted as far as possible, although schools could not be established on the same scale as they were in the West.
The Niemen fortresses, Grodno and Kovno, as also Libau, were strengthened, and the former frontier lines maintained. They formed reserve positions. The labour available did not allow of any further measures. My ordinary duties in looking after the various armies were very considerably increased by the demands made by the military and home authorities in the occupied territories—not to speak of my duty to take care of the local population. I cheerfully undertook all these fresh duties and firmly resolved to make a good job of them.
IV^s
The country was in a devastated condition owing to the war, and order prevailed only where we had been in occupation for some time. Some of the inhabitants had deliberately left before the retreating Russians ; others had been taken with them. Numbers of these had hidden themselves in the depths of the forests and now returned home. Many properties, however, remained unoccupied. The harvest had not been reaped, and it was impossible to imagine how cultivation was to be continued There was no supreme authority. The Russian government officials, judges, administrative authorities, and nearly all secret intelligence agents had left the country. There were neither gendarmerie nor police, and the priests alone possessed a certain amount of influence. This denuded country had to live somehow. At the very outset of our occupation of Vilna, Kovno and Grodno, serious difficulties arose in connection with the feeding of the population, and these difficulties threatened to increase and spread to other towns. There was also a shortage of wood for fuel.
The population, apart from the German portion, held aloof from us. Those in the German districts, especially the Baits, had welcomed our troops. The Letts were opportunists, and awaited events. The Lithuanians believed the hour of deliverance was
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