When dawn broke on December 15, 1914, a heavy mist hung over the river,

but the Serbians knew with accuracy the location of the pontoon bridge.

All during the previous day and during the night the retreating

Austrians had been crowding over this bridge to escape into Austrian

territory. At first the retirement had been orderly, but later in the

day, as the news from the front became more serious, as the low, distant

roar of rifle and machine gun rolled nearer, the movement increased in

intensity, and, during the night, developed into a hurried scamper.

Cannon were unlimbered and thrown into the river, and troops fought

among themselves over the right of way along the narrow plank walk. In

the midst of this confusion, while yet thousands of the invaders were

still on the Serbian side of the river, just as dawn was breaking, there

came a deep report, the hissing of a flying steel missile, and a shell

dropped in the middle of one of the pontoon supports, hurling timber and

human beings up into the air. The confusion now became a wild panic.

Some tried to return to the Serbian shore, others fought on. Dozens of

the struggling figures rolled over the side of the bridge into the

eddying currents of the waters.

Again came the dull, heavy report, then another and another, followed by

the screeching overhead. Shells dropped into the water on all sides. And

then another bomb burst on the pontoon where the first shell had landed.

Even the roar of the shouting soldiers could not be heard above the

crashing of timbers, the snapping of mooring chains. The bridge swayed,

then caved in, where the pontoon had been struck and was sinking.

Between the two broken-off ends, still crowded with struggling humanity,

rushed the turbid current of the river. The last road to safety had been

cut.

Presently the fog lifted and revealed a long line of retreating

Austrians, reaching down the road toward Obrenovatz, still heading

desperately for the bridge, as unconscious of its destruction as a line

of ants whose hill has been trampled in by a cow's hoof. But they were

not long to remain unconscious of the fact that they were now prisoners

of war.

CHAPTER LIX

SERBIANS RETAKE THE CITY--END OF THIRD INVASION

As the sun rose on December 15, 1914, the Serbian cavalry, accompanied

by King Peter, swept down from the heights of Torlak and entered the

streets of the capital. A volley from the remnant of a Hungarian

regiment met them. The cavalrymen dismounted and began driving the

Magyars down the streets, from one square to another. And while this

fight, an armed riot rather than a military action, was going on,

finally to end in the practical slaughter of all the Hungarians who

would not surrender, the king entered the cathedral of his capital to

celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for the deliverance of his kingdom from

the hands of the enemy. And even as the Mass ended, stray shots echoed

through the streets of the city still.

Two hours later the Crown Prince Alexander, accompanied by his brother,

Prince George, a strong cavalry escort, and the British military

attache, approached Belgrade. They were met on the outskirts by a crowd

of women and children who, with a few exceptions, were all of the

inhabitants that remained, the Austrians having carried the others off

with them the day before. They had collected masses of flowers, and with

these they bombarded and decorated the incoming soldiers. The girls

brought the embroidered scarfs and sashes, which they had worked in

preparation for marriage, and these they hung about the cavalrymen's

necks until they looked as though they were celebrating at a village

wedding. Huge tricolor streamers now hung from the houses and buildings,

while bits of dirty bunting fluttered from the cottages.

In the streets of Belgrade the Austrians left 5 cannon, 8 ammunition

wagons, 440 transport wagons, and 1,000 horses. Some 150 junior officers

and 10,000 men also found their retreat suddenly cut off; among them

were few officers of high rank. In one of the officers' headquarters the

evening meal was still spread on the table, the soup half consumed, the

wine half drunk.

So ended the third Austrian invasion of Serbia. Of the army of 300,000

men who had crossed the Drina and Save rivers, not over 200,000

returned. During the last thirteen days of the operations the Serbians

had captured 41,538 prisoners, including 323 officers, and enormous

quantities of war material; 133 cannon, 71 machine guns, 29 gun

carriages, 386 ammunition wagons, 45 portable ovens, 3,350 transport

wagons, 2,243 horses, and 1,078 oxen. The Austrian killed and wounded

numbered not far from 60,000.

The Austrian occupation of Belgrade had lasted just fourteen days. The

invaders had evidently not counted on the disaster that was so soon to

come to them. Under the guidance of their late military attache in

Serbia they had established themselves in the best available buildings,

began to repair the streets, which they themselves had ripped open by

shell fire, and set up the semblance of a city administration. But it

was still evident that no central authority from above had as yet been

able to assert itself. The personality of each commander, was

represented by the marks left behind in his district. The buildings

occupied by one military authority remained cleanly and intact, even the

king's photograph being left undamaged. In others, furniture was

destroyed and the royal image shot and slashed to pieces. Entire

sections of the town escaped pillage. Other quarters were plundered from

end to end. While the cathedral and other churches were not seriously

damaged, the General Post Office was completely wrecked. The furniture

in the Sobranje, the house of the national assembly, was destroyed and

broken, and the Royal Palace was stripped from floor to ceiling, the

contents being carted off to Hungary in furniture vans, brought

especially from Semlin for that purpose.

With the army of occupation came 800 wounded soldiers from the other

theatres of operations. Most of them were immediately turned over to the

American Red Cross unit established in Belgrade, already caring for

1,200 wounded Serbians. As the fighting continued in the interior these

numbers were constantly augmented, until the American hospital

sheltered nearly 3,000 wounded men.

When the evacuation began the Austrians left their own wounded, but took

with them the Serbian patients, to swell the number of their prisoners

of war. Several hundred of the non-combatant citizens were also taken

into captivity.

In the importance of its influence on the war as a whole, the

achievement of the Serbians in repelling the three Austrian invasions

will probably be found, when the later history of the war is finally

written, to take very high rank. For had Serbia fallen, the Teutonic

Empires would have been united with little delay to their Turkish

allies. Austria might then have been able to hold off the Russians by

herself, while the Germans would thereby have been so much stronger for

pressing their campaigns in Belgium and East Prussia; with what results

can only be guessed. The Austrians themselves were astounded by the

extraordinary power of little Serbia. Their last disaster, indeed, so

roused their anger that they began preparing again for another attempt

to conquer this stubborn little nation.

Calling the Germans to their aid, they began in January, 1915, to

collect a new army, 400,000 strong, which was ranged along the Serbian

frontier. But the pressure from the Russians on the Carpathian front

presently became so heavy that this body of troops was needed there, and

so Serbia was left in peace for the time being.

Thenceforward only insignificant fighting took place between the

belligerents on each side of the river, such fighting being mostly in

the nature of artillery actions. Belgrade was not again, during that

period at least, subjected to bombardment. An arrangement was made

between the Serbian and Austrian commanders whereby the Serbians

refrained from firing on Semlin, and the Austrians spared Belgrade.

There was, however, some activity on the river itself. Belgrade was now

garrisoned by a mixed force of Serbians, British, and French, the

British being mostly gunners, who had been detached, together with some

big naval guns, from the British navy. For some time before they arrived

the Austrian monitors and picket boats had again been patrolling the

Danube and annoying the Serbians, but the Belgrade garrison put an end

to the activities of these vessels with their big guns. The British

sailors especially rendered good service by means of a small picket boat

commanded by Lieutenant Commander Kerr. Though armed with only a single

machine gun, this small boat was so persistently troublesome to the

enemy that it earned for itself the name "Terror of the Danube." Of dark

nights it would poke its way into creeks and passages, alarming the

Austrians constantly and causing them no little loss. Once it even

succeeded in persuading one of the monitors to pursue it into a

carefully prepared mine field, over against the Serbian shore, with the

result that the monitor was permanently put out of action. But these

operations were of minor importance just then. For now Serbia was called

on to face a new enemy, in some of its aspects much more terrible than

the Austrians, for it demanded a sort of fighting in which the Serbians

were not so well trained. The Austrians had, indeed, left behind them an

ally that was to accomplish as much mischief almost as they themselves

had caused the Serbians.

Not long after the final defeat of the third invasion an epidemic of

typhus appeared among the Serbian soldiers. Run down physically, as they

must have been, their vitality sapped by the hardships of the campaigns

they had just passed through, they fell victims to this scourge by the

thousands. Not knowing how to attack or to defend itself against such an

enemy, the little kingdom sent forth a cry for help, which was heard and

responded to by the United States, Great Britain, France, and even

Russia. Organizations were formed with the purpose of assisting Serbia

in this extremity, and private persons also came forward with offers of

money and service. The Red Cross also did what it could under the

emergency, but its resources were already being taxed to their full

extent by demands in all the battle fields of Europe. Sir Thomas Lipton

sailed his yacht, the _Erin_, to Saloniki, loaded with supplies of

medical stores, and carrying a full passenger list of doctors and

nurses. Lady Paget, Lady Wimborne, and other women of rank in Great

Britain also devoted their whole energies to the cause. A society of

women physicians, an offspring of the Scottish Federation of the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, did noble work in Serbia.

After sending two hospital units to France, this women's organization

dispatched a third to the Balkans, where it was received with the

deepest gratitude, Serbia agreeing with enthusiasm to pay the salaries

of its members and the cost of its maintenance. It was stationed at

Kragujevatz, where it was given a hospital of 250 beds.

But meanwhile the epidemic had spread over the country. There were

thousands of serious cases; men, women, and children were dying

everywhere, unattended and under the most distressing circumstances.

Hardly had the first of the foreign aid arrived when the immensity of

the task required was recognized, and telegrams and cables were sent all

over the world calling for further assistance. To this second appeal no

country responded more nobly than the United States.

Owing to the virulent character of the disease that raged in every

district the mortality was frightful. In many localities the death rate

was over 50 per cent. All during the spring and summer of 1915 the need

of Serbia was extreme. In July there were in the country 420 British

doctors alone, aside from the French, Russian and American medical men,

all working at the highest pressure and doing with very little sleep,

yet unable to cover the ground. Many were the stricken patients who must

be satisfied with floors instead of beds; many more who could not even

be admitted into the hospitals. Nor were the Serbians the only

sufferers; from among the foreigners who had so nobly come to help the

Serbians in their distress there were not a few who succumbed to the

fatal disease.

CHAPTER LX

MONTENEGRO IN THE WAR

The military operations on the Montenegrin front should really be

considered as a part, though a detached part, of the Serbian campaigns.

Up to the first Balkan War Serbia and Montenegro, or Tzernagora, as it

is called by its own people, were separated by the sanjak of Novibazar,

a territory which Turkey was allowed to retain after the Treaty of

Berlin at the instigation of Austria, so that the two countries should

have no opportunity to unite. By blood the two peoples are closely akin,

though the isolation of the Montenegrins has been the cause of their not

adopting so many of the outward tokens of civilization as the Serbians.

Already on July 25, 1913, before Austria had officially declared war

against Serbia, the Montenegrin Government, at the capital, Cettinje,

announced that it would support Serbia should there be an outbreak of

hostilities with their common hereditary enemy, Austria. Montenegro had,

indeed, even more reason than Serbia for hating the great empire to the

northward, for its territory stretched down the coast from Dalmatia, and

literally fenced her in from the Adriatic, whose blue waters are visible

from the Montenegrin towns and villages perched up on the mountains

above the shore. In the Balkan war the army of Montenegro had captured,

at a terrible sacrifice of blood, the town of Scutari from the Turks,

which dominates the only fertile section among the crags of the little

mountain kingdom. It was Austria, at the London Conference, who had

forced her to relinquish this dearly paid for prize, though so

reluctantly was it given up that the Powers were on the point of

intervening.

The value of the Montenegrin army in such a great war as was now begun

was slight, however, for in numbers it did not amount even to a full

army corps. Nor would it be very efficient outside of its own territory,

for the Montenegrins, whose manner of life is quite as primitive as that

of the Albanians, are essentially guerrilla fighters, who cannot well

adapt themselves to army discipline.

On a war footing the army is composed of four divisions, the first three

of three brigades each, while one is composed only of two brigades.

Altogether there are fifty-five battalions, or about 40,000 men. Each

brigade also includes one detachment of mounted scouts, one mountain

battery, one group of rapid-fire guns, one section of telegraphists and

one section of engineers. Each division has, in addition, attached to it

a detachment of mounted scouts, a section of engineers, a field battery

and a heavy battery. Then there is a reserve of eleven battalions,

usually assigned to garrison or guard duty. Altogether the total

armament amounts to 40,000 rifles, 104 guns and forty-four

mitrailleuses.

Of the actual operations along the Montenegrin front not so much

detailed information is available as there is of the other sections of

the theatre of war. War correspondents were not allowed to accompany

either army in this field and the only reports so far given out,

covering this period, are from the few official bulletins issued by the

two respective governments and from other more indirect sources.

On August 3, when the Austrians had already begun bombarding Belgrade,

King Nicholas signed an order for the mobilization of his forces, and

four days later, on August 7, he declared war against Austria. But

already the Austrians had detached an army corps under General Ermoly to

prevent any possible juncture between the Serbian and Montenegrin

forces. For the time being, therefore, until the Serbians had driven

back the first Austrian invasion, the Montenegrins facing this division

of the Austrian army acted on the defensive.

This, however, with the advantageous nature of the country, did not

require the full strength of the Montenegrin army; part of it,

therefore, was employed in an attack on the Austrian towns situated on

the narrow strip of Austrian territory running along the sea coast. The

chief of these, Cattaro, was subjected to a hot bombardment from the

heavy guns on Mt. Lovcen, commanding that section of the coast. A few

days later, on August 10, the Montenegrin infantry descended from the

surrounding heights and delivered a strong assault on Spizza and Budua.

The activity of Austrian warships, which bombarded Antivari, where

Montenegro touched the coast, made it impossible for the Montenegrins to

hold what they had taken. Another force, however, turned toward Scutari

and occupied that town. Mt. Lovcen continued, not only then, but at

intervals for the next year, to pour a heavy artillery fire on Cattaro,

and its environs.

In Bosnia, over toward the Serbian operations, fighting had already

begun and continued until the Serbians drove the main Austrian army

back. On August 20, just as the Serbians were delivering their last

attack on Shabatz and the Austrians were stampeding across the Drina,

the Montenegrins delivered a heavy attack along their whole front,

causing the Austrians to retire in that section as well. The following

day the Austrians, in trying to recover their lost ground, brought up

more mountain artillery, then advanced their infantry up against the

Montenegrin entrenchments. Here occurred the first hand-to-hand

fighting, the Austrians charging with their bayonets again and again,

but they were finally repulsed again with heavy loss.

From now on the Montenegrins, under the command of General Vukotitch,

who had so distinguished himself in the Balkan War, gradually assumed an

offensive and advanced into Bosnia. On September 2 he again encountered

the Austrians at Bilek, and succeeded in defeating them after a heavy

fight, in which a comparatively large number of prisoners were taken.

The Montenegrins, comprising practically all of their army, continued

advancing in three columns. On September 9 there was another hot fight

at Foca, south of Sarajevo.

At this juncture the Serbians sent a column into Bosnia, from Visegrad,

whose purpose was to effect a connection with General Vukotitch, that

the two combined forces might advance on and take Sarajevo, a movement

which was to be carried on simultaneously with the Serbian advance into

Austrian territory from the Save.

But, although the two allied armies almost reached the vicinity of the

Bosnian capital, the Austrians were now, toward the latter part of

September, returning to this region in great force, to begin the second

invasion of Serbia. The Montenegrin army was, in consequence, obliged to

retire before vastly superior forces and, during the rest of the year,

as did the Serbians, the Montenegrins were satisfied merely with keeping

the enemy out of their home territory. What fighting occurred after that

moment was of more or less a desultory nature and entirely defensive.

PART VI--AUSTRO-RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER LXI

STRENGTH AND EQUIPMENT OF THE ANTAGONISTS

The first campaign between the Austrian army and the Russian legions

began on August 6, 1914, when Austria declared war on Russia. We have

witnessed in the preceding chapters the German invasion of Belgium and

France, and the Austrian invasion of Serbia; we will now view the

fighting of the Russians and the Austrians on to the frontier, as it

progressed simultaneously with the Russian and German campaigns to be

described in subsequent chapters.

For some days before war was declared, as noted in Volume I of this

work, Austria-Hungary and Russia understood each other thoroughly.

Russia was satisfied that Austria intended to force war on Serbia, and

Russia was pledged to protect and uphold the little nation, which was

really her ward and over which she had announced a protectorate.

A review of the situation at this time shows that while mobilization was

being hastened, Russia had joined the Slav kingdom in asking for a delay

on the ultimatum that Serbia had received from Austria on July 24, 1914.

On July 27 Russia notified Austria that she could not permit Serbia to

be invaded. On July 29 an imperial ukase issued by the czar called all

reservists to the colors.

On July 31, 1914, M. Goremykin, President of the Council of the Russian

Empire, issued a manifesto which read: "Russia is determined not to

allow Serbia to be crushed, and will fulfill its duty in regard to that

small kingdom, which has already suffered so much at Austria's hands."

Germany on July 30, 1914, had asked Russia to stop its mobilization, and

had demanded a reply within twenty-four hours. Russia had ignored the

ultimatum, and on August 1 the German Ambassador had handed a

declaration of war to the Russian Foreign Minister. On August 6, 1914,

Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, and the Austrian Ambassador left

St. Petersburg. In such wise was the eastern arena cleared for action.

Before describing in detail the Austro-Russian campaign, it is necessary

to bear in mind the conditions in the opposing armies. The strength of

the Austrian army is discussed in the chapter on the Austro-Serbian

campaigns, while the fighting forces of Russia are discussed in the

chapter on the Russian and German campaigns.

Much has been said, and justly, in criticism of Russia's army at the

outbreak of the war and afterward, but there is no disputing the fact

that it had been improved wonderfully as the direct result of the war

with Japan. In the strenuous years that followed that war, with

revolution an ever-present menace, the establishment of a constitutional

monarchy, and the granting of religious toleration to the many creeds

and sects which helped to make up the population, awakened its diverse

people to a new unity, inspired the people with hopefulness and

activity, and the _morale_ of the Russian army improved accordingly.

The army, at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, on a peace basis

included about 50,000 officers and more than 1,200,000 men, which

included about 1,000,000 actual combatants. In recent years preceding,

the annual contingent had been about 430,000. At the end of July, 1914,

the ukase, which proclaimed a general mobilization, summoned to the

colors five classes, or about two million men. The total number was

increased by other reservists and volunteers to 4,100,000.

[Illustration: Pictorial Map of Russia.]

There had been a wave of reform in every branch of the military service.

The men who were conscripted to form the main strength of the army were

young and possessed more initiative than had the recruits of years

before. Every effort was made to encourage this initiative under the new

field service regulations.

In creating a new army with real fighting spirit, cohesion, and ability,

Grand Duke Nicholas, who was made Generalissimo, was conspicuous. Each

year the progress made under his direction has been displayed at the

autumn maneuvers. Another member of the imperial family, Grand Duke

Sergius, was largely responsible for the excellent showing made by the

Russian guns and gunners after war began.

For purposes of administration all of European Russia was divided into

eight military districts--the Caucasus, Kazan, Kiev, Moscow, Odessa,

Petrograd, Warsaw, and Vilna. There were also four Siberian districts,

making twelve in all. To each district were assigned two or more army

corps. In war, these were grouped in varying numbers from three to five

to constitute an army or army group.

The equipment of the Russian infantry soldier comprised at the outbreak

of the Great War a rifle, a 299-mm. weapon with a quadrangular

bayonet--which also was carried by noncommissioned officers--a waistbelt

supporting a pouch for thirty rounds on each side of the clasp, an

intrenching tool, a bandolier holding another thirty rounds carried over

the left shoulder under the rolled greatcoat, and a reserve pouch also

holding thirty rounds, which completed the full load of 120 rounds for

each man, suspended by a strap over the right shoulder.

As the Russian soldiers moved to the Austrian frontier, there was slung

over the right shoulder kits containing food and clothing and cooking

utensils, and over the left shoulder one-sixth part of a shelter tent.

The total weight borne by the regular Russian infantryman was nearly

58-1/4 pounds.

When the war started, the Russian army, in its invasion of Austria, had

its full complement of officers, and because of the great capacity of

its military schools, it was as well able as other nations engaged to

make up for losses in battle. One sweeping and beneficial change that

had been made was that promotion no longer went by seniority but

entirely by merit: the higher the position the more rigid the tests.

Incidentally, it was Russia's good fortune that the war came at a time

when the noncommissioned ranks were full and it was possible to promote

many of these men to fill vacancies in the commissioned service.

The use of Russian infantry on the battle fields, as we shall soon see,

differed in no essential way from that common to other nations of

Europe. An advance under fire was almost identical with that of other

nations. A single company in attack would dispatch two platoons as a

firing line, retaining two in reserve, each of the platoons in front

providing its own protection for skirmishing, according to the nature of

the ground.

If the cover was adequate, a few rifles were enough to locate the enemy,

and either they could be reenforced or the front could be extended. If

the ground were quite open, the two leading platoons were extended at

once, so as to oppose the enemy with an equal extent of fire, and then

advanced by rushes, each section covering the rush of the other by

alternate firing. The two reserve platoons could be used either to

outflank the enemy, if the nature of the ground permitted, or for direct

reenforcement in any formation required.

As has been said, all the nations engaged in the great conflict pursued

similar tactics in this respect, and the only advantage possessed by

Russia in their use was that both her infantry and artillery possessed a

much larger number of officers, who had been trained to understand how,

against a powerful opponent, to carry out efficiently in practice and in

times of great stress the theory which all nations held in common.

The observer of the battles in the Russo-Austrian campaigns will see

that the Russian cavalry was inadequate, because its horses were too

small, of inferior strain, and lacking the stamina needed in modern

warfare. They were valuable, however, because of their large numbers,

and the fact that during the winter months, being acclimated and to the

country born, they were able to pick up a living in the snow when other

horses would starve.

As regards field batteries, near the western Russian frontier and in

Asia, nearly all of them had, when war was declared, eight guns. In most

of the batteries in Asia the number of men maintained in peace was the

same as in war.

[Illustration: Russian Invasion of Galicia.]

The Russian army moved forward with adequate aerial corps. The keenest

interest in military aviation had been taken in Russia during two years

before the war. Grand Duke Alexander was one of the founders of the

aviation school at Sebastopol, where two-thirds of the Russian aviation

officers obtained their training. In the spring of 1914 the air fleet

consisted of 16 dirigibles and 360 aeroplanes, while orders for 1,000

aircraft of different descriptions had been placed with various firms in

Russia.

The army of Austria-Hungary which faced the Russians was composed of men

from a country where universal military service prevailed. In theory

only the physically unfit were exempt from service, and the liability

extended from the beginning of the nineteenth year to the close of the

forty-second. Actual service in the ranks and with the reserve was

twelve years. After the men had served ten years with the army and in

its reserve they were included in the Landwehr for another two years. It

is likely that Austria had at the outbreak of war from 1,200,000 to

1,300,000 men at her disposal. During the three years preceding she had

greatly strengthened her equipment.

The infantry of the joint Austrian army, which had to fight the

campaigns against the Russians on the east, and against the Serbians on

the south, comprised 102 regiments of infantry, 27 battalions of

Jaegers, 4 regiments of Tyrolese Jaegers, and 4 regiments of

Bosnia-Herzegovina infantry. Every infantry regiment had four field

battalions and a depot battalion. The duty of the latter was to fill up

the ranks of the others. Each infantry regiment had at least two

machine-gun detachments of two guns each, and in many there were two

guns per battalion. In Bosnia and Herzegovina every battalion had four,

and this also was true of every Jaeger battalion.

The Austrian infantrymen, as they met their Russian antagonists, carried

a small-bore magazine rifle, in use in the army since 1895, and known

after its inventor as the Maennlicher. It had a caliber of .315 inch and

fired a pointed bullet. It was loaded by means of a charger which

contained five cartridges, and it was equipped with a bayonet. The

cavalry carbine was shorter but took the same bullet. One hundred and

twenty rounds were carried by the infantry soldier, and there were

forty rounds in the company ammunition wagon, and 160 in the infantry

ammunition columns, in addition. The machine gun in use was of the same

caliber and took the same ammunition as the infantry rifle. It was

composed of few parts, and was a simple and highly effective instrument.

On these first days of August, 1914, the cavalry of Austria--the

hussars, uhlans, and dragoons, but really all of one type--light

cavalry--was equipped uniformly with saber and carbine. The

noncommissioned officers and others who did not carry a carbine rode

forth equipped with an automatic pistol. There were forty-two cavalry

regiments in the entire Austrian army, consisting of six squadrons, each

of which had a fighting strength of 150 sabers, not counting the pioneer

troops. Every cavalry regiment had four machine guns with 40,000 rounds

of ammunition. The pioneer troops of the cavalry, which first were

introduced in Austria, were composed of an officer and twenty-five men,

equipped with tools and explosives needed by an advance force to clear

obstacles, destroy railways, etc. Besides the pioneer troops, eight men

in each squadron were equipped with similar tools. The telegraph

section, consisting of eight men, carried about seven miles of light

wire.

The artillery of Austria-Hungary had been greatly modified in recent

years. The gun used for horse and field batteries was known as M5--that

is, the pattern of 1905. It was of 3-inch caliber, a quick firer,

throwing a shrapnel shell which weighed 14.7 pounds. High-explosive

shells also were carried in the proportion of two to five of shrapnel.

The gun had a long recoil on its carriage, which absorbed the shock and

the gun returned to its place. This made rapid fire possible.

Like the other powers, Austria-Hungary had adopted a howitzer for its

heavy batteries. It fired a shell of 38.132 pounds. There was also a

heavy gun in use, a 10.5 centimeter, corresponding to a 4.1-inch gun.

The ammunition was like that of a howitzer--a shell weighing 38.132

pounds, which contained a high-explosive bursting charge and shrapnel

with 700 bullets, fifty to the pound. On the march the carriage was

separated from the gun, and each was drawn by six horses.

The mountain regions on all the frontiers of the Dual Monarchy resounded

on these August days of 1914 with the mountain artillery. The

10.5-centimeter guns and 4.1-inch howitzer quick firers threw a shell of

thirty-two pounds. This howitzer had a range of more than 6,000 yards,

and was a powerful weapon. The 30.5-centimeter mortars fired a shell of

858 pounds with a bursting charge of 56 pounds of ecrasite. The extreme

range of this mortar was about six miles. Ten rounds could be fired each

hour. Two guns and their ammunition lorries were drawn by three large

tractors. An hour was required to get one of these guns ready for

action.

Let us enter the headquarters of the Austrian army at the beginning of

the Russian campaign. There we meet the engineer staff, which built and

besieged fortresses, and a military works department, which built and

maintained buildings that were not immediately connected with

fortifications. Austria-Hungary had only a few fortresses of modern

construction. The intrenched camps in Galicia, Cracow, and Przemysl were

soon to be besieged, and between them was a fortress known as Jaroslav,

of insignificant value, like that of Huy between Liege and Namur in

Belgium.

The Austrian army had not made as much progress in aeronautics as those

of other nations. There was a depot for dirigibles at Fischamend, about

eleven miles southeast of Vienna, but only a few dirigibles were ready

for service. These were of the Parsefal type. There were a number of

captive balloons. The number of aeroplanes available was very small. A

school for teaching aviation had been established at Vienna-Neustadt.

The faces of the soldiers of the Austria-Hungarian army on the Russian

frontier denoted many races, but it possessed considerable solidarity.

Officers and soldiers recognized alike that they were all under a single

head--the emperor. The officers were drawn from all classes of society,

and this was also a unifying influence. They were on more intimate

relations with their men than the Prussian leaders, and "led" instead

of "drove" them. Commands for the whole army were given in German, but

otherwise the language varied according to the composition of the

various regiments as regarded races. The use of the German language for

commands undoubtedly aided in unifying the army.

CHAPTER LXII

GENERAL STRATEGY OF THE CAMPAIGN

The Austrian army faced the Russians on August 11, 1914, with a

well-organized strategical plan. Austria, realizing the importance of

unity, cohesion, and harmony in her own forces, proposed at the outset

of the war to dissipate the strength of her enemy, Russia, by causing an

uprising in Poland. The vanguard of Austria's advance along the Vistula

consisted of the Galician army corps, made up of Polish soldiers. Along

the border, arms and ammunition had been collected for the anticipated

insurrection. A proclamation was sent by the Polish associations of

Galicia and Posen to their "brethren of Russian Poland." In this, the

Poles of Russia were urged to prepare for a rising, but not to attempt

it until the Austrian vanguard had arrived and won a first battle. Then

arms would be provided for them.

Russian strategy checkmated this plan. The czar issued a proclamation

promising home rule to Poland as soon as Germany and Austria had been

repulsed. With this home rule he also offered self-government and

freedom of law and religion, and the reconstitution of the old Polish

territory by means of the annexation of Posen and Galicia. This move

divided the Polish leaders and stifled the incipient revolution.

The spy system won and lost the first strategical battles before a shot

was fired. There is no doubt that the Austrians before the war knew

almost as much about Russia's preparations as did the Russians

themselves. The Austrian system of espionage was elaborate and accurate,

and the Austrians profited by that of Germany also. Nevertheless,

Russia surprised her foes and allies alike by the rapidity with which

she got her troops into action on the offensive once war was on.

The Russian army was handicapped by lack of railroad facilities, but she

made the most of them. Her total mileage was about 25,000, her system

being inferior to that of Germany or Austria. Germany's was by far the

best of the three. Many of the Russian roads had but one line of track,

their construction was inferior, stations were farther apart, and the

speed of trains was comparatively slow. They could not carry as much

traffic as those of either of her two adversaries. The gauge of the

Russian roads was 5 feet, so that the rolling stock could not be used on

German and Austrian roads, which had a uniform gauge of 4 feet 8-1/2

inches. The management of Russian railroads was too complicated for army

purposes. But Sukhomlinoff simplified it and instituted schools in which

army officers were instructed in putting soldiers on cars rapidly and

routing trains to the best possible advantage. This and other activities

of Sukhomlinoff, along the line of reform and improvement, were in no

small measure responsible for the rapidity with which Galicia was

invaded.

Austria's military problem was a difficult one from the start. Her ally,

Germany, could not extend much military assistance until a decisive blow

had been struck in the western theatre of war, but Austria, having a

million men in readiness and being strong in artillery, was expected to

assume the offensive from the start and attack the imperfectly mobilized

Russian forces in western Poland. An immediate offensive was required,

because she must hold Galicia at all cost.

There were three places where Russia might cross the frontier of

Galicia--west of the point where the waters of the San empty into the

Vistula, between the Upper Bug and the San, or along the line of the

River Sereth on the east. There was great danger in a combined movement

by Russia against the first and third sections of the frontier which

would cut off and surround the forces of Austria which were based on

Przemysl and Lemberg. In order to avoid this peril, apparently the

safest as well as boldest plan was to proceed northward against the

fortresses of Warsaw. Such an advance would in all probability prevent

the armies of Russia from crossing the Vistula and postpone any attack

against the Sereth from the east.

Austria was staking the success of such tactics on the incompleteness of

mobilization by the Russians, and therein she proved to be in error.

Indeed, the quickness of Russia's military movements amazed the entire

world, with the exception of her Generalissimo, Grand Duke Nicholas, and

his aides and advisors.

At the outbreak of the Great War, Nicholas was in command of the St.

Petersburg military district. Under him was a Corps of Guards, and the

First and Eighteenth Army Corps from 120,000 to 150,000 men. He was a

soldier of the first rank and an able strategist. He had familiarized

himself with the armies of other European nations. He long had planned

for the emergency that now confronted him.

In the rapid movement of the Russian forces, he was aided chiefly by

General Vladimir Sukhomlinoff. The latter saw that one of the chief

defects in the Russian army, as disclosed by the Japanese War, was the

slowness of her railroad operations, and some time before war was

declared he had set himself to improving conditions. He established a

school of railroading for officers where the rapid loading of troops on

cars and the general speeding up of transportation were studied

scientifically. The good results of such work were apparent at the very

outset of hostilities.

As we have seen, France was saved in the first campaign in the west by

the sturdy resistance of little Belgium to the advance of the Germans

through her territory, so Russia now helped to save France a second time

by the rapidity of her campaign. While German troops still were

investing Liege in Belgium, the Russian troops were registering their

first triumph at Eydtkuhnen, and upon the very day that Ghent fell into

the hands of the Germans, Russia began her strong offensive in East

Prussia. By such means were a large part of the German forces, intent on

taking Paris, diverted from attack on the western war arena to protect

the eastern frontier from Russian menace. The relief which Russia thus

gave her Allies was invaluable. The battle of Mons was over in Belgium

and the retreat to the Marne in France had begun, and the Germans were

almost in sight of the French capital, when, save for Russia's timely

blow on the Polish frontier, the Germans, many war critics believe,

would have reached Paris.

When the Germans in the west were striving toward Calais on the English

Channel as their goal, it was the Russian offensive in Galicia that

forced Germany to transfer more army corps to the eastern front in order

to stop the tide that threatened to overflow Austria. Thus the French

and British were able to stop the advance that threatened to engulf them

on the western front and given time to organize themselves for a

strenuous contest.

The strategic problem which confronted Russia was much more complicated

than that which had to be solved either by Germany or Austria. It was

quite evident to her General Staff that at least during the first few

months of hostilities Germany would devote her whole time and attention

to attack in the western arena, the French being at the time her most

dangerous enemy. Except for a small part of the Austrian forces left to

oppose the Serbians and Montenegrins, the whole army of Austria was

depended upon to oppose the Russian advance.

The important strategic condition that confronted Russia was this: Her

most dangerous enemy was Germany, but in order to attack Germany it was

necessary that Austria's army should first be destroyed.

The eastern theatre of the war has been described in a preceding chapter

and it will be recalled that for about two hundred miles from east to

west Russian Poland is inclosed on the north by East Prussia and on the

south by Austria. Moreover, the Sudetic Mountains on the Austrian

frontier and the huge forests of Poland protect the position of German

Silesia southeast of Breslau. Passing through it are the chief lines of

railway connecting eastern and western Europe, including the routes

between Poland, Galicia, Moravia, and Bohemia. At varying distances from

her Russian frontier Austria has a line of mountains of great defensive

strength. This is the Carpathian, which, extending inside the

Austrian-Russian border line, is joined by the Transylvanian Alps and

continues to form the south frontier of Austria.

It would not be possible for the Russian invaders to menace Austria

seriously until these mountains had been crossed. Russia, however, was

menaced by the configuration of the German-Austrian frontier, with

Poland open to invasion from three sides. Also, Austria and Germany had

many strongly intrenched positions at strategical points covering all

the chief lines of approach on their frontiers where the latter faced

Russian territory. Besides being defended by artificial works, the

frontier had natural defenses, such as lakes, swamps, and forests. All

along the Russian-Austrian frontier, in fact, there exist such natural

defenses against invasion. On the southern boundary of Poland the

Russian army was held off by great bogs which cover from east to west a

distance of about 250 miles. The only crossing was a single line of

railroad, the one extending from Kiev to Brest-Litovsk. From a military

viewpoint, these marshes divided the line in two parts, imperiling the

situation of any fighting in front of them in case of defeat. They would

offer no kind of sustenance to troops driven within them.

Russia was not prepared to put into the field an army large enough to

hold the entire line from the Baltic to the Rumanian frontier,

approximately 1,000 miles, and there was no time, if part of the German

forces were to be diverted from the western front, to raise such forces

and equip them.

At the beginning of hostilities on August 11, 1914, the chief offensive

against Russia was intrusted to the First Austrian Army under General

Dankl. This was composed of about seven army corps, having various

additional units, or amounting in all to about 350,000 men. This army

had its base on Przemysl and Jaroslav, and the work which had been

assigned to it was to advance upward between the Vistula on the left

side and the Bug on the right, on to Lublin and Kholm. There it was to

sever and hold the Warsaw-Kiev railroad so the line would be exposed in

the direction of Brest-Litovsk and the chief communications in the rear

of Warsaw. The First Austrian Army, while it advanced to this position,

would have as protection from attack on its right and rear from the

east and south the Second Army under General von Auffenberg. This army,

advancing northeast from Lemberg, would control eastern Galicia from the

Bug to the Sereth and the Dniester.

The numerical strength of Von Auffenberg's army at the start probably

was about 300,000, and consisted of five army corps with five divisions

of cavalry. This, however, was only its initial strength. As hostilities

developed Von Auffenberg added to his strength until he is reported to

have had no less than six corps and additional cavalry. At first this

increase came from the Third or Reserve Army, over which Archduke Joseph

Ferdinand had command. While General Dankl was advancing toward Lublin

on August 28, 1914, being protected on his right flank by Von

Auffenberg, the army of the Archduke appears to have been pushed out in

a similar manner on the left.

CHAPTER LXIII

AUSTRIA TAKES THE OFFENSIVE

The Austrians crossed the Polish border on August 29, 1914, and moved on

as far as Kielce and toward Radom without encountering serious

opposition. That may have been as far as it was intended to proceed. In

all three of the armies of Austria there were about 1,000,000 men, and

against these forces were arrayed three Russian armies--a small force on

the Bug, which may be called the First Russian Army; a Second Russian

Army under General Russky, which was moving on Sokal from the Lutsk and

Dubno fortresses; and a Third Army under General Brussilov, which was

proceeding against the Sereth. There were about 300,000 men in each of

the two latter armies.

Now the Russian strategy on September 1, 1914, was this: It was intended

that their First Army should retire before Dankl, the Second Army to

menace Lemberg from the northeast and put its right wing between Dankl

and Von Auffenberg, and the Third Army to advance from the Sereth to

the town of Halicz on the Dniester, and so finish the investment of

Lemberg on the south and east.

It may have been, though this is not certain, that the General Staff of

the Austrians did not see the close connection between the movements of

Russky and Brussilov. It may be that they believed they had only

Brussilov to face at Lemberg, since Russky would be obliged to proceed

to the aid of the First Russian Army on the Bug.

Russky was famed as a highly scientific soldier, being a professor in

the Russian War Academy. In the war with Japan, he had been chief of

staff to General Kaulbars, the commander of the Second Manchurian Army.

Afterward, he had been closely associated with General Sukhomlinoff in

the reorganization of the Russian forces. Brussilov, whose army

consisted of men of southern Russia, was a cavalry general and had seen

service under Skobelev in the Turkish War of 1877. General Ewarts, in

charge of the Third Army, the smallest of the three, whose duty was to

fight a holding battle, was a corps commander.

No serious resistance was made by the Russians against the main Austrian

advance under General Dankl, and it proceeded almost to Lublin. At one

time it was within eleven miles of that place.

On August 10, 1914, the Austrians who had crossed the frontier had a

front of about eleven miles wide to the west of Tarnogrod. The Russian

frontier posts had a brush with the advance cavalry of the Austrians and

then fell back. There was a second skirmish at Goraj and a more serious

meeting at Krasnik, and the Russians still retreated. The Austrians were

jubilant over their victory at Krasnik and at the few delays they

encountered at the hands of the enemy. The Russians in their retreat

proceeded toward the fortified position of Zamosc or toward Lublin and

Kholm.

In the meantime Russia had been gathering an army on the line from

Lublin to Kholm. There the Russians had the railroad behind them, in one

direction to Warsaw, and in the other to Kiev and Odessa. Each day as

the Austrians advanced the strength of the Russian army was improving.

In the early days of September, 1914, it probably amounted to 400,000

men.

When the Austrians were within fifteen miles of Lublin they first

encountered heavy resistance. They were checked and then delayed, but

the Russians were not ready to do more than hold their antagonists. They

were waiting for developments farther to the southeast.

On August 17,1914, the Russian offensive had its definite start. General

Dankl was finding himself with the First Austrian Army; when he stopped

in his advance toward Lublin, General Russky began a powerful attack

against Von Auffenberg. Cooperating with Russky, as we have noted, and

on his left was Brussilov, the total forces of these two commanders

being at first double those with which Von Auffenberg was equipped to

oppose them. As soon, however, as Von Auffenberg became aware of the

numerical superiority of his opponents, he drew for reenforcements on

the Third, or Reserve Army, which had advanced into Poland as far as

Kielce.

The latter troops hurried to join Von Auffenberg, crossing the Vistula

by means of bridge boats at Josefow. When the issue really was joined,

the troops of the Third Austrian Army, under the Archduke Joseph

Ferdinand, were ready to act in close cooperation with those of Von

Auffenberg. Thus, in the armies on both sides there were, in all, about

1,200,000 men, with the advantage in favor of the Russians. Having this

superiority in numbers, Russky felt that he was safe in attempting to

envelop the Austrian forces on both flanks. With the larger army--the

Second--he hurled his troops at the Austrian left and center, advancing

along the railway.

On August 22, 1914, the Russians crossed the frontier and on the

following day, Russky occupied Brody, with small opposition. On the same

day, Brussilov, on his left, also crossed the frontier at Woloczysk,

which is the frontier station on the Lemberg-Odessa railway. At this

point the rolling stock used by the Russians on their own railway in

their advance was no longer available, as the gauge of the Russian and

Austrian lines differs. The Austrians had retired with their own rolling

stock in the direction of Lemberg, destroying what they did not take

away, and so the Russian advance from that point was continued wholly,

perforce, on foot. There was a good wagon road which ran parallel to the

railroad toward Lemberg, and along this Brussilov's cavalry hurried.

CHAPTER LXIV

CAUTIOUS RUSSIAN ADVANCE--RUSSIAN SUCCESSES--CAPTURE OF LEMBERG

On August 23, 1914, the Russians were almost on the heels of the

retreating Austrians. After three hours' fighting, they drove them out

of Tarnopol. Thereupon they retreated along the line of the Zlota Lipa,

which is an affluent of the Dniester and runs almost directly southward.

On August 25 and 26, 1914, there was some heavy fighting along this

river, especially at Brzezany. Heretofore, the army under Brussilov had

not met with any important resistance, having encountered chiefly

frontier posts, skirmishers, and small detachments of Austrians. It

seems that no great body of Austrians had penetrated much beyond the

Zlota Lipa. On the eastern side of this river was a line of low hills,

offering a fine defensive position; the Austrians hastily began to make

use of them. They were still constructing trenches when the Cossack

cavalry appeared, driving the skirmishers of the Austrians before them.

A fight began on August 24, 1914, which lasted ten days. The Russian

cavalry was not strong enough to attempt to take the Austrians'

intrenched position, and therefore waited for the main body of the

Russian forces to come up. The fight extended over twenty miles of

front, stubbornly contested by the Austrians. Finally, by direct

assault, the Russians took the position and the Austrians fell back, in

good order, toward Halicz, where the Gnita Lipa joins the Dniester.

In the meantime, while Russky was thus pounding at Von Auffenberg's

right, Brussilov was attacking his right and center. Having crossed the

frontier between Brody and Sokal, Russky extended his forces on a wide

front. While the center advanced straight for Busk and Krasne in a

direct line toward Lemberg, the right, proceeding almost due west, was

attempting to penetrate between the army of Von Auffenberg and that of

Dankl on the north, and was pushing powerfully on Von Auffenberg's left.

Gallantly resisting, the Austrians were forced back in all directions,

slowly but firmly. The fighting on Russky's right and center was

especially fierce and severe and resulted in great losses on both sides.

By the time Brussilov had taken the position on the Zlota Lipa, his

right was in touch with Russky's left, and the first stage of the

campaign was over. That Russia had been able to proceed so far with her

plans would seem to indicate that the Austrians had underestimated the

rapidity with which she could complete her preparations. It was the fall

of Tarnopol that made possible a junction of the Russian armies and

enabled them to advance in a united line upon Lemberg.

General Brussilov had to move to the attack without attracting

attention. This was accomplished by both Russky and himself throwing out

a screen of Cossacks all along the frontier of Eastern Galicia. For an

extent of one hundred and fifty miles, the Cossacks skirmished at every

border road or bridge between the Bug and the Dniester rivers. They

started this immediately after war was declared and soon, so

inconsequential did such activity appear, that the Austrians, it seems,

came to regard it as lacking any real purpose. After the third week in

August, however, the commander at Lemberg sent a force of 2,000 men to

make a reconnaissance in Podolia.

These troops arrived at Gorodok, a small town across the border. Their

presence there was most inconvenient for the Russians, for General

Brussilov was at that time advancing with a big army through Gorodok on

toward Galicia. It was imperative that the Austrian reconnoitering

troops should be stopped and the only force available for this purpose

was nine hundred Cossacks stationed at Gorodok to screen the main army.

It was necessary for these Cossacks to repulse the Austrian

reconnoitering force, without calling for large reenforcements. If the

latter were done, it would excite the suspicions of fugitives from the

fight.

Therefore, the Cossacks lined out in the woods far beyond the village

and then thirty of them went forward from cover to cover until they came

upon the Austrians. Simulating surprise, they fled in apparent panic.

The Austrians entered upon a swift pursuit and were led into ambush.

Thousands of them were cut down by a cross-fire of rifles and machine

guns. The rest were pursued by Cossacks over the border and the invasion

of Galicia was begun by the Russian main force.

Then began the perilous part of the enterprise. The army of Russky was

advancing on Lemberg from the north and the army of Brussilov was

converging on the Galician capital from the east. After they had been

united, they would assuredly outnumber the Austrian force which was

guarding Lemberg, but in the meantime either Russky or Brussilov was too

weak to escape defeat. Each might be met singly and overwhelmed. The

skill with which their combined operations were carried out was such,

however, that General Brussilov was able to steal into Galicia and

occupy a large part of the country before battle actually was joined.

The secrecy with which his great movement was executed was

extraordinary. It was executed in daylight, covering a period of

thirteen days, from August 19 to August 31, 1915. It was performed in

spite of the fact that the Austrians had many spies, a large force of

trained cavalry, and scouts in aeroplanes darting over the frontier. Yet

not until it was too late did the Austrians discover the real nature of

the Russian turning movement in Eastern Galicia.

In part, this was attributable to the fact that the territory in which

Brussilov was operating was an ancient Russian duchy which had been

wrested from the ancestors of the czar. Eastern Galicia might be

compared to Alsace-Lorraine, which had been torn from France. Peopled by

a Slav race, Eastern Galicia had the same language, religion, and

customs as the soldiers in Brussilov's army.

When at the beginning of operations, Russia first assumed a general

offensive on August 17, the Grand Duke Nicholas issued the following

proclamation addressed to Russian inhabitants of Galicia:

"Brothers--A judgment of God is being wrought. With Christian patience

and self-annihilation, the Russian people of Galicia languished for

centuries under a foreign yoke, but neither flattery nor persecution

could break in it the hope of liberty. As the tempestuous torrent breaks

the rocks to join the sea, so there exists no force which can arrest the

Russian people in its onrush toward unification.

"Let there no longer be a subjugated Russia. Let the country which forms

the heritage of Saint Vladimir throw off the foreign yoke and raise the

banner of united Russia, an indivisible land. May the providence of God,

who has blessed the work of the great uniters of the Russian lands, be

made manifest. May God aid his anointed, the Emperor Nicholas of All the

Russians, to complete the work begun by the Grand Duke Ivan Kalita.

"Rise, fraternal Galician Russia, who have suffered so much, to meet the

Russian army for you and your brethren, who will be delivered. Room will

be found for you in the bosom of our mother Russia without offending

peaceable people of whatever nationality. Raise your sword against the

enemy and your hearts toward God with a prayer for Russia and the

Russian Czar!"

This proclamation was received in Galicia with acclaim. When the Russian

soldiers came, priests and people came out from the villages with

flowers and banners to meet their "little brothers." Flowers were thrown

on their heads from the upper balconies of houses, as they marched

through the streets. Whatever could be done by pretended ignorance or

silence to mislead the Austrians regarding the Russian advance was done

by peasants.

Meanwhile, General Brussilov was making the most of his opportunities.

He passed over the tributaries of the Dniester and without revealing his

strength pushed back the Austrian cavalry screen. For this work he used

large bodies of Cossacks, with all necessary infantry and artillery

support.

[Illustration: Field Marshal von Hindenburg]

While appearing to be merely a border raider, the Cossack had to veil

his main army and clear its path through bridgeheads, forts, and

blockhouses, and he was well suited to this kind of work. Moving at the

rate of eight miles a day in advance of the infantry and the big guns,

he maintained a continual skirmish with cavalry scouts, infantrymen, and

gunners in places that had been fortified, and even armored trains.

In all, the Cossack in the Galician campaign, proved himself not only a

most efficient soldier but well behaved. Previously, his reputation had

been an evil one. Naturally, there were reports of brutality and

savagery, but none were proved. In fact, neither on the part of the

Russians nor the Austrians was there manifest any of the "frightfulness"

attributed, rightly or wrongly, to combatants in the western theatre of

war.

It was, of course, not to the interest of the Russians to mistreat the

people of Galicia. They came, in their own estimation at least, as

deliverers, not as despoilers. As for the Austrians, they were in their

own country when in Galicia. When they penetrated north into Russia, it

appears that they did little wanton damage. On their return, it is true,

they laid waste a large part of the province of Volhynia, burning

villages and farmsteads as they proceeded. But this was dictated by

military exigencies, in order to delay and inconvenience their pursuers.

There was an occasion when it might have been supposed there would have

been excesses. This was when after an Austrian defeat, the Russian van,

composed of three divisions of Cossack cavalry, pushed through Halicz in

pursuit of the enemy. The victorious troops swept through a country,

full of Jews, and utterly undefended. It was a garden of plenty, a rich

and fertile country. Instead of presenting a picture of desolation and

ruin after the Russian army had passed, its cattle still grazed in the

fields, the fields were full of shocks of grain, and chickens, ducks,

and swine wandered about the streets of the town.

There was not a single wrecked house in the town itself, only a few

buildings, such as warehouses near the railway station, having been

demolished by the Russians in order to hasten the departure of the

enemy.

There was another significant incident at the neighboring town of

Botszonce. Here the retiring Austrians attempted to make a stand, but

were shelled out by the Russians with their heavy guns. There were only

three buildings in the city which were not reduced to ruins. These were

two churches and the Town Hall, which, having a church-like spire, the

Russians evidently took for a church of worship, also. In this

connection, we may quote here a second proclamation which the Grand Duke

Nicholas, as Commander in Chief of the Russian forces, distributed in

the districts of Austria captured by the Russians. It was designed to

prevent ill feeling between the people and the invaders. It was dated

September 17, and read:

"To the inhabitants of Austria-Hungary:

"The Government of Austria declared war against Russia because the great

empire, ever faithful to its historical traditions, could not forsake

inoffensive Serbia, nor acknowledge its enslavement.

"On entering the Austro-Hungarian territory, I declare to you in the

name of the great Emperor, that Russia, which has spent its blood many

times for the emancipation of nations from the yoke of foreigners, only

seeks the rehabilitation of right and justice.

"Russia also brings liberty and the realization of your national views.

For many centuries the Austro-Hungarian Government planted among you

discord and enmity, for it knew that as a result of this strife its

dominion over you would continue.

"On the contrary, my sole aim is that each and every one of you may grow

and prosper and keep at the same time the precious inheritance of

language and faith of your fathers.

"Let every one of you, united to his brothers, live in peace and harmony

with his neighbors, respecting their national rights. Being convinced

that you will cooperate with all your strength to realize this, I call

upon you to welcome the Russian troops as faithful friends who are

fighting for the realization of your greatest ambitions."

Now, to return to the campaign which had been waged by Von Auffenberg:

While he may be said to have lost this preliminary campaign, his army

was unbeaten. Immediately it fell back into the powerful and carefully

built line of defenses in front of Lemberg, extending over a front of

seventy or eighty miles, from the vicinity of Busk on the north to

Halicz on the Dniester, on the south. An irregular extent of volcanic

hills, some containing extinct craters, extended along the greater part

of its length, and ended on the south in a ridge parallel to the Gnita

Lipa as far as the Dniester. The northern end of this territory was

skirted by the railway running due east of Lemberg. The Austrian left

rested north of the railroad on the River Bug and the lake district

around Krasne. Artificial fortifications improved these natural

defenses. There were many miles of trenches with barbed-wire

entanglements, and at different points massive fortifications of

concrete and steel. The position was difficult to take at any point.

On August 26 and 27, 1914, after the forces of Russky and Brussilov had

been joined, the Russians immediately began their attack along the

entire front. The days that followed were replete with furious charges.

Positions were taken only to be surrendered. Bayonet fighting figured

largely in the clashes. After two days, though the Austrian lines were

still intact, the Russians claimed a victory. Events came about in this

way: After he had forced the crossing of the Zlota Lipa on August 26,

and his right wing had connected with Russky on the north, Brussilov had

extended his left, by forced march through a country almost devoid of

roads, as far to the south as the valley of the Dniester. On August 31,

1914, the main body of this flanking body arrived in front of Halicz. On

the day following, September 1, 1914, a furious attack began. More guns

were brought up and a fierce attack was concentrated near the little

village of Botszonce, where the enemy had taken a position. Afterward,

the condition of the field, which had been literally plowed up with

shell fire and strewn with the debris of cannonading and accouterments,

showed how terrific the conflict had been. The final assault was made by

the Russian Ninth and Fifty-ninth Infantry under cover of a heavy shell

fire. Enormous losses were sustained, but the Russians were enabled to

make a breach some kilometers wide in the Austrian line.

Then the entire Austrian line began to give way. A desperate stand was

made as a last resort in the village of Botszonce itself, but this was

turned into a useless sacrifice when the Russians, pushing forward heavy

guns, unlimbered them on the same hills where the Austrians had fought

so determinedly and quickly reduced the town to ruins.

On September 3, 1914, the Austrian retreat began in earnest. Where the

fighting had been hottest around Botszonce and Halicz, the Russians

claim they buried 4,800 Austrian dead and captured thirty-two guns, some

of which had been mounted by the Austrians but taken before they could

be brought into use. The Austrian reports deny such figures, while

claiming heavy losses by the Russians.

There was a fine steel bridge across the river Dniester at Halicz, and

the extreme right of the retiring Austrian army crossed this, with, the

Russian cavalry pursuing. The bridge was destroyed and also the only

other bridge in that region of the Dniester at Chodorow. In such wise

was the pursuit southward delayed until pontoons could be thrown across

the stream by Russian engineers.

This was done on the following day, whereupon Cossack cavalry to the

strength, it was reported, of three divisions, crossed the river and

came up with the retiring enemy. Behind the cavalry at a short distance

came several divisions of Brussilov's infantry, which rapidly pushed

across the south of Lemberg toward Stryj.

After the extreme right of the Austrian line had been shattered and

Russky had been victorious in his attack on the other extreme, the whole

line fell apart quickly and while the entire front was exposed to

attack, the Austrian left was being enveloped from the direction of

Kamionka by a flanking movement. One end of the Austrian line was being

broken and the other bent back. The Russians increased the fury of their

attack and it was not long before the entire Austrian army was in

retreat.

On September 2, 1914, Lemberg was in the hands of the Russians. This

city, otherwise known as Lwow or Loewenberg, was first known as Leopolis,

being founded in 1259 by the Ruthenian Prince Daniel for his son Leo.

His history had been a checkered and stormy one. In 1340 it had been

captured by Casimir the Great; it had been besieged by the Cossacks in

1648 and 1655, and by the Turks in 1672; it had been captured by Charles

XII of Sweden in 1704, and bombarded in 1848. As capital of the

crownland of Galicia, it had come to be a handsome city, of many parks,

wide boulevards, three cathedrals, many churches, and a great number of

important public monuments. It was the seat of a university which

contained a highly valuable library of books and manuscripts and a great

many treasures of historic and antiquarian interest. Its population was

about 200,000.

The Austrians declared that Lemberg had been evacuated in order to save

all these treasures from destruction. It is certain that the civil

population of the town was strongly opposed to its being defended. It

was cosmopolitan and contained elements, doubtless in the minority, who

sympathized with Russia and who welcomed the Russian troops with great

enthusiasm. Whatever other reasons may be given for its abandonment,

however, the fact remains that any attempt to hold it would have been

futile.

After the Russians had taken possession of Lemberg, tranquillity again

prevailed. Although it was crowded for a considerable time thereafter

with Russian soldiery, there was no violence, disorder, or confusion. On

every hand were seen Russian soldiers of all branches of the service

fraternizing with the people of the place. If a soldier even jostled a

civilian accidentally he saluted and apologized. No drunkenness was

permitted. A considerable number of Austrian policemen continued to

patrol the streets, with a Russian badge on their arms, however.

Austrian surgeons and nurses, left in the town when the Austrian troops

retreated, continued to help care for Austrian wounded, also left there,

and received the same pay for their services as their Russian associates

of the same rank. Austrian Red Cross attendants were allowed to walk

about the streets at will, unmolested.

After its occupation by the Russians, Lemberg at once became a huge

hospital base. For the care of wounded that daily came in from the

front, there were forty-two immense institutions.

The inhabitants of Lemberg welcomed the Russians as deliverers. A

deputation came to General Russky and requested him to make known to the

czar the readiness of the whole Slav population of the city to be loyal

"sons of Russia." In surrendering the government to Count Bobrinsky,

whom the czar appointed Governor General of Galicia, M. Rutovsky, Mayor

of Lemberg, said:

"Not without our cooperation have the Austro-Hungarian troops left

Lemberg, without firing a shot. There was no struggle here, thanks to

our efforts. We believe your excellency has been informed that your

troops found here cooperation and a cordial reception.

"In proffering the government of this capital, allow me to express my

gratitude to the former military governor, who lessened our hardships."

In his reply, Bobrinsky outlined the principles of his policy:

"I consider Lemberg and East Galicia the real origin of Great Russia,"

he said, "since the original population was Russian. The reorganization

will be based on Russian ideals. We will immediately introduce the

Russian language and Russian customs. These steps will be taken with the

necessary care.

"We shall at first limit this to the appointment of Russian governors

and other officials. Many of the present officials will not be replaced.

We shall forbid the convocation of your Legislature during the war. All

social and political organizations must be discontinued, and may resume

their activities only by permission. These precepts obtain only in East

Galicia; West Galicia will be treated differently."

The Russians considered Lemberg to be of great strategical importance.

Railroad lines radiated from it in all directions giving its captors

direct communication with Kiev and Odessa, with their fortified

positions at Dubno and Rovno and thence to Petrograd, with

Brest-Litovsk and Warsaw--save only for the inconvenience of changing

the gauge at the frontier. Soon after crossing the frontier, the

Russians had changed the gauge of many of their engines and cars to fit

the Austrian gauge. They found at Lemberg thirty locomotives and a large

number of railway cars left there by the Austrians.

When on September 3, 1914, the Russians entered Lemberg, the official

Russian announcement of its taking was as follows:

"Seven days of the most stubborn fighting in Eastern Galicia have

resulted in a complete victory for the Russians. Five Austrian Corps

were completely routed, and in retreating in disorder westward,

abandoned their arms and baggage.

"Besides an enormous number of killed, the Austrians lost not less than

40,000 prisoners, including many generals. The roads of retreat of the

Austrians are so encumbered with carts, guns, and impedimenta that the

pursuing troops are unable to use the roads. Panic is spreading among

the Austrian troops. During the seven days the Russians have taken over

200 guns, several colors, and about 70,000 prisoners. Lwow (Lemberg) is

in our hands."

Russia received this report with great joy. The news of the occupation

of the town was conveyed by Grand Duke Nicholas to the czar. The Fourth

Class of the Order of St. George was bestowed on General Russky for "his

services in the preceding battles." The Third Class was given him for

the capture of Lemberg. The Fourth Class of the same Order was bestowed

on General Brussilov. Throughout the empire, Thanksgiving Services were

held to celebrate "the reunion with Galicia." General Count Bobrinsky

was appointed Governor General of the province.

CHAPTER LXV

DANKL'S OFFENSIVE AND RETREAT

Let us now turn our attention to the scene of operations further north.

There, it will be recalled, was taking place the principal Austrian

offensive by the First Army commanded by General Dankl. In the middle of

August, he was being held up by the armies of Generals Ewerts and

Plehve, who barred his way toward Lublin and Kholm. A strong offensive

was not attempted then by the Russians against him, as they were

gathering strength and waiting until Dankl's army should be cut off from

reenforcements. It was desired that their advance take place at the same

time as the completion of the advance on Lemberg of Russky and

Brussilov. Finally, on September 4, 1914, the brief official

announcement was made by Russia:

"Our armies on September 4 assumed the offensive along a front between

the Vistula and the Bug."

Coming as it did, when the Russian people were rejoicing over the taking

of Lemberg, this news was greeted with great enthusiasm.

It will be recalled that when Russky's army advanced, a portion of the

Austrian Reserve Army, commanded by Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, was

hurriedly withdrawn from the position it held in Poland on the left of

the Vistula, across the rear of Dankl's army, to assist General von

Auffenberg.

This was referred to as an "advance," in a "communique" published by the

Austrian General Staff on September 3, 1914. It is probable that at that

very early date some German troops also were being brought up for the

same purpose. Some of the Austrian reenforcements had been joined with

Von Auffenberg's army and had shared in its reverses. Some had remained

to screen Dankl on the right.

After Von Auffenberg's army began to encounter difficulties and its

progress was stopped, the gap between its left and Dankl's right and

rear grew too large for safety, so that there was a hurrying of forces

from the left bank of the Vistula to fill the gap. Later, as the Russian

strength grew, an entirely new Austrian army was assembled, consisting,

it seems, of portions of the Third or Reserve Army under Archduke Joseph

Ferdinand, which was augmented by two corps withdrawn from the Serbian

frontier, and also some German troops.

The "Fourth" Army, under the command of the Archduke, was referred to

thereafter in official announcements by Russia as the "Tomaszow Army."

To strengthen Dankl's left, which lay upon the Vistula at Opolie, German

troops from Breslau also were brought up.

In the last part of August and the first part of September, 1914, there

was considerable confused fighting between detached forces on both sides

in the frontier country between Zamosc and Sokal. Both sides claimed

successes. The Russians claimed that their wedge was driven through

successfully to Tomaszow and that there a severe defeat was administered

to the Austrians.

From there the latter retired to the swampy land about Bilgoraj and upon

Tarnograd. The tactics of the Russians had put a last barrier between

the two principal sections of the Austrians. Interest thereafter

centered in Dankl's First Army.

Fighting on the Lublin-Kholm front, having been purely defensive on the

part of the Russians, at first, had grown fiercer as days passed, until

there was continuous battle along the entire line. When Von Auffenberg

had been defeated and his right and rear threatened, the condition of

the northern army seemed so critical that General Dankl decided to force

the issue. He might fall back or break through the Russian defense. He

decided to attempt to pierce the line between Lublin and Kholm. On

September 2, 1914, the Tenth Austrian Army Corps led the assault against

the weaker part of the Russian line and reached within eleven miles of

Lublin. There it was halted, and so the Austrian offensive seems to have

spent itself.

As we have seen, the Russian offensive began definitely on September 4,

1914. According to the Russian official announcement, two days later,

"the enemy's center, lying in the region West of Krasnostaw (this being

almost due north of Zamosc, about halfway to the center of a line drawn

from Lublin to Kholm) was particularly disorganized. The Forty-fifth

Austrian Regiment including the colonel, forty-four officers, and 1,600

men were surrounded, and surrendered." The same announcement stated that

"a German division, coming to the aid of the Austrians, was attacked on

the left bank of the Vistula." Presumably, the Russian troops there had

come from Ivangorod.

After the Austrian First Army began to retire, it was followed by the

Russian forces along its line. And this line, at first, was

approximately eighty miles. As it retired, the left wing being hemmed in

by the River Vistula, and the right feeling steady pressure from Russian

forces on the right, where direct retreat was prevented by the swampy

nature of the country, the front was contracted until it was less than

forty miles.

This had been accomplished by the time the army reached the San, where

it was necessary to effect a crossing by four or five bridges at

different points. Dankl was highly praised for the manner in which he

handled his army during this retreat, and saved it from destruction. In

Russia, it had been assumed that the retreat would degenerate into a

panic and the fate of the First Army was regarded there as practically

sealed. Russian strategists themselves speak in high terms of the way

Dankl handled his army in this crisis.

The Austrian advance on this front had its high mark on a line drawn

from Opolie on the Vistula, through Krasnostaw to Grabiowiec, whence the

line curved southward toward Tyszowce. And it was in the region of the

latter place that the Austrians claimed a big success, though this was

denied by Petrograd.

After the Russian advance on this front from Lublin and Kholm, as we

have seen, had begun with the "disorganization" of the Austrian center

at Krasnostaw, the next attempt was to strike at the Austrian left,

starting at Opolie and developing thence along the entire line as far as

Turobin.

It was on this wing of the Russian army that the chief strength had been

assembled, the other parts of the line being left comparatively weak.

Reasoning that even if the Austrians were able to break through the

front, where it was weaker, it would only make more certain their being

surrounded finally, all new troops that arrived were shifted over to the

right wing.

On September 5 and 6, 1914, the Russians attacked the Austrian army at

Tomaszow, situated northeast of Krubessiow and southeast of Rawa-Russka.

The Austrian army retired.

Near Frempol, the Russian cavalry rushed big convoys of the enemy in the

direction of Lublin. Troops and convoys which were moving in the

direction of the road leading from Josefow to Annopol were dispersed by

Russian artillery on the left bank of the Vistula.

Detachments of the Fourteenth Austrian Army Corps attempted an attack

near Rawa-Russka, during the night of September 7, but were repulsed.

Near Tomaszow the Russians took an enemy aeroplane.

Aerial battles were not infrequent. Captain Nesteroff, one of the most

daring of Russian aviators, sacrificed his life in a successful attempt

to destroy an Austrian aeroplane. He was returning from the front after

an aerial reconnaissance when he saw an Austrian aeroplane hovering over

the Russian forces with the intention of dropping bombs.

The Russian aviator immediately headed straight for the Austrian machine

at full speed and dashed into it. The force of the impact caused the

collapse of both machines, which plunged to earth, both aviators meeting

instant death.

The fortress of Nikolaieff, twenty miles south of Lemberg, was taken by

the Russians after severe fighting. The fortress was one of the most

modern military strongholds in Austria, being supplied with all the

newest forms of defense and offensive weapons. It had steel cupolas,

masked ranges of earthworks, and guns of modern type and heavy caliber.

The Nikolaieff fortress commanded the passage of the River Dniester. At

the fortress forty guns of the heaviest type and stores of all kinds

were captured. Like Lemberg, the fortresses had been well stocked with

provisions, which fell into the Russians' hands.

After occupying Nikolaieff the Russians undertook, after allowing their

soldiers only two hours of rest, a night march for the purpose of

attacking new positions occupied by the enemy. A Russian battery, placed

on the Vistula River, engaged with success an Austrian steamboat armed

with rapid-fire guns.

About the same time troops were sent by train from the east of Lemberg

to near Chelm, and put in action against Austrian infantry intrenched on

a long line, which included the village of Michailowka. The Russians

entered the village the same night, the Austrians having fallen back to

a half circle of small, steep hills which overlooked the town. Some

houses had been set afire, but the flames had been extinguished by the

villagers themselves.

At three o'clock the following morning the attack on the hills began.

The Austrians occupying them numbered 15,000, of which a large number

were in a deeply wooded gorge. The Russian artillery swept the crest of

the hill and shelled the gorge with shrapnel. The Austrians replied

strongly.

At noon the position was stormed. The Russians, at the word of command,

rose with cheers and rushed the hill. Austrian guns to the left cut them

down badly. Later, after a desperate, brave fight, the position was

taken. The gorge was full of dead men lying in heaps. Officers said they

had never seen so many dead lying in a single place. The troops gave the

place the name of "The Valley of Death."

It was reported that the Austrian general commanding the defense watched

some of his men being disarmed after the battle. Presently the Austrian

standards were brought up from the gorge. At this sight, it was said,

the Austrian general drew his revolver and shot himself dead.

On September 5, 1914, Austrian troops which had been stationed behind

the Grodek Lake district passed the railway lines of Rawa-Russka and

Horynier, and on the next day advanced to Kurniki. On the following day

a heavy battle began between these forces and a strong Russian force

advancing northward. Two days later the Austrians opened their offensive

on a forty-mile front, having the better of the conflict until September

11, especially on the southern wing near Lemberg.

The Austrians then retired because of the necessity which had arisen for

a new grouping of their forces, the north wing of their army near

Rawa-Russka being threatened by superior Russian forces near Krasnik and

between Krasnik and the battle fields of Lemberg.

The attack by the Russians on the Opolie-Turobin section of the line

seems to have been a powerful one and the Austrians retired southward,

paralleling the course of the Vistula. For nineteen miles the Russian

cavalry was engaged with the rear guard of the retreating forces. There

was particularly fierce fighting at Suchodola and also at Krasnik. At

Frampol, there was a strong Russian cavalry charge. From this point, the

Austrians were forced back on the left into the morasses about Bilgoraj

and the right and the center were crowded together as they drew near the

San. By that time, Russia claimed to have sent 10,000 prisoners back to

Lublin. These movements were all the first days of September, 1914.

CHAPTER LXVI

BATTLE OF RAWA-RUSSKA

During the time that Auffenberg's army had been retaining the position

before Lemberg, a new line of defense had been instituted in his rear.

This line ran from Grodek to Rawa-Russka, and thence along the railroad

line toward Narol. As the Russian forces between the armies at Tomaszow

had not as yet gotten as far as Tarnograd, the far left of Von

Auffenberg's troops, or those of the Archduke, which were a continuation

of Von Auffenberg's army at this point, were for a brief time almost in

touch with the fringe of Dankl's army on its way to the San. But there

was no combined and determined stand at any time. The entire army fell

back, set upon getting across the river.

It is probable that on the line from Grodek to Rawa-Russka there were

more than 1,250,000 men in the armies on both sides. The line was more

than sixty miles long, but the struggle was concentrated on certain

points and fighting elsewhere was not important. The most critical

points were at Grodek on the far south, where a position of considerable

strength was occupied by the Austrians, and at Rawa-Russka.

One advantage which accrued to the Austrians was that they occupied

positions which had been well fortified before the battle of Lemberg,

probably in anticipation of a retreat. Nature, itself, protected their

right at Grodek against a turning movement. They had excellent railway

facilities in their rear. The advantages possessed by the Russians were

those of numbers and the fact that they were encouraged by victory.

The battle had its beginning about September 8, 1914, round the position

at Grodek, where the Austrians had retreated after the capture of

Lemberg. It was on the extreme north of the line, however, that they

first began to give ground. There they were not able to make any

extended stand because the enemy, besides attacking them fiercely from

in front, began to envelop their left.

The fighting went on over a large extent of ground. At several places

large numbers of Austrian prisoners were taken. The upper part of the

Austrian line was forced steadily back, not without desperate fighting,

and finally the entire line became doubled back on itself at a sharp

angle from Rawa-Russka. Here the fighting was terrific.

Rawa-Russka was a small Galician city, inhabited chiefly by Jews. The

greater part of the town was old, but there was a modern settlement near

the railway station, the town being one of the chief railway centers in

that part of Galicia. There, two lines cross, one a branch of the main

line to Cracow, from a point near Jaroslav to the frontier at Sokal, and

the other extending northwesterly from Lemberg to the Polish frontier at

Narol. There were at Rawa-Russka large railroad works, roundhouses,

sidings, and storage yards.

As the big battle began to develop on September 8, 1914, it was seen

that Rawa-Russka was the place where it probably would be decided and

the best efforts of both sides were exerted there. The defenses on the

point of the angle of the Austrian line, just behind which was the

town, were in extent no longer than six, or at most eight, miles.

Nevertheless, during eight days, there were as many as 250,000 or

300,000 men engaged here in night and day fighting.

After the first two days, the Russians concentrated their attack on the

very apex of the Austrian angle, atop the bluffs at the edge of the

ten-acre battle field. During eight days, the Russians stormed this

point repeatedly. In a single mile the Austrians made no less than eight

distinct stands.

Some points before being evacuated were taken and surrendered several

times, and then retreat was only for a short distance, followed by just

as determined resistance. The courage and determination of both armies

was equally admirable.

One position held by Austrians for hours was in a stubble field. It was

necessary to hold this point while a better position was being dug a few

hundred yards behind in a slight dip in the ground. The rain of shrapnel

was so heavy about this place that later it was not possible to pick up

a handful of dirt from it without finding therein pieces of lead. For a

mile across the field where the Austrians had lain, bloody bandages and

pieces of equipment were strewn thickly.

Behind this line, two or three hundred yards, was another line just

beyond a small ground swell, where the Austrians placed themselves in

fairly deep trenches. The Russians took this trench, but being unable to

advance farther, dug themselves in on their side. The next day they were

driven out by the Austrians. Afterward the trench presented the strange

appearance of a ridge of earth with a trench on each side--with Austrian

relics on one side and Russian relics on the other.

Day by day the Russians drove the Austrians back farther, until at last,

the Austrians were holding a deep trench on the slope of the crest of

the last ridge of hills defending the town itself. Immediately over the

ridge the Austrian batteries were concentrated. The last trench was not

more than four hundred yards in front of the Russian guns.

Nevertheless, the Russians were unable to make any advance against this

position until they brought up and put into position a considerable

number of heavy howitzers. Then slowly they began to crumble the

Austrian defenses. Notwithstanding this bombardment, the Austrians held

on for more than a day. Then the Russians stormed the entire top of the

hill and seized the few guns which they had not already put out of

commission. The hill was taken at the point of the bayonet. This was the

decisive moment in the whole conflict.

From the center of the field where this action was taking place the

Russian wedge extended to the north and south. The Austrian center was

broken when night fell and the Russians were dropping shells into the

outskirts of Rawa-Russka. Attacks by the Russians followed, making it

impossible for the Austrians to hold the town and it was abandoned by

the Austrian forces. In any event it soon would have been enveloped in

the rear, considering the way events were shaping themselves on the

southerly end of the line, and the defense would have been costly.

CHAPTER LXVII

RUSSIAN VICTORIES--BATTLES OF THE SAN

Early in September, 1914, the Russians attacked strongly fortified

positions at Grodek. This was during the time when the Russian northern

army was busy driving back the enemy from Frampol to Biloraj. The

defenses of Grodek, which included the position at Sadowa-Wisznia, were

protected by a chain of six lakes and considerable ground cut up by

dikes.

The Russians were commanded by General Brussilov, who duplicated here

the tactics of continuous and heavy attack with which he had overcome

the resistance of the Austrians at Halicz.

The Austrians had taken stand on a group of heavily wooded hills. In

order to reach this, the Russians were obliged to cross a plain about

three miles wide, in a series of parallels, while subjected to fire from

machine guns and rifles.

It was not until three days later that they were able to gain a position

where their guns could reach effectively the trenches of the Russians.

When the assault was made with bayonets, the trenches were found heaped

with bodies. According to the Russians, the prisoners they took said

they had been without regular food for many days and had subsisted on

raw potatoes and wild pears. Continually harassed by the Russians, they

had not time to bury their dead and so the living had fought on while

the remains of their fallen comrades decayed beside them.

A brief account of the affair from the Russian viewpoint is contained in

the announcement from the Russian Headquarters Staff, made September 14,

1914:

"The army of General Brussilov, against whom the Austrians made their

last desperate onslaught has, on taking the offensive, captured many

guns, prisoners, and artillery parks, the numbers of which are now being

reckoned. General Brussilov testifies that his troops displayed the

highest energy, stanchness, and gallantry. The corps commanders calmly

and resolutely directed their troops and frequently wrested the victory

at critical moments. General Brussilov specially mentions the

distinguished services of General Radko Dmitrieff."

There is no doubt that the engagement here referred to was one of the

most bitterly and desperately contested of the war. But the conflict on

many fields was being conducted on a scale so huge that it loses much of

its importance in a general survey. On the day following the

announcement just quoted, the Grand Duke Nicholas briefly announced that

"the Russians, after occupying Grodek, reached Mocziska, and are now

within one day's march of Przemysl."

While Brussilov's center was moving on to Mocziska, which is about forty

miles west of Lemberg, his left was advancing southwesterly along the

railroad line to Sambor, and on to Chyrow. The latter place, however,

was not taken until September 24, 1914. The fortress of Przemysl was

thus cut off from the south.

When Grodek fell, Brussilov's soldiers had been marching and fighting

without pause for longer than three weeks. The feats of endurance they

had performed were extraordinary but without delay they pursued the

Austrians from Grodek with the same alertness that they had shown in

following them from Halicz.

In the meantime, as we have noted, Rawa-Russka had been taken. Like

Brussilov, Russky was not inclined to give an enemy he had bested any

chance to recuperate, and while Brussilov was pursuing the Austrian

right from Grodek to Chyrow on the south of Przemysl, Russky was

following up his success with equal vigor, driving toward Sieniawa the

shattered forces which had opposed him.

Sieniawa was occupied on September 18, 1914, the same day that Brussilov

took Sambor. Jaroslav was captured by assault on September 21. There was

hard fighting on the way there, around Javorow, fifteen miles east of

Przemysl, where the Russians claimed to have taken 5,000 prisoners and

thirty guns. In such wise was Przemysl cut off on the north, east, and

south. Behind its defenses, what was left of Von Auffenberg's army took

refuge.

The Austrians also had met with reverses where Dankl's army had been

falling back before the troops of Generals Ewarts and Plehve. It has

been shown that the continuity of the Austrian defenses had not been

effective in the region northwest of Rawa-Russka, though it extended

beyond the frontier between Tomaszow and Tarnograd. After the conflict

at Tomaszow, the line of the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand above Rawa-Russka

to that place had been bent back on the Rawa-Russka-Jaroslav railroad,

while the main body of Dankl's troops fell back on the line of the San.

Never was the Russian pressure on its rear relaxed. The pressure was

especially strong from the Russian right which had fought the battle of

Krasnik, after clearing the Opolie-Truobin district. The larger portion

of the Austrian troops crossed the San near its junction with the

Vistula. Probably they hoped that while they might place themselves, on

the other side, in touch with the Austrian railroads, the river would be

a barrier behind them against the Russians.

It appears that General Dankl, anticipating the necessity of falling

back across the San, had been sending his transports back in advance of

his retreat, almost from the time the retreat began. In fact, some of

the transport trains had been sighted and subjected to shell fire as

early as September 9, 1914, from the left bank of the Vistula. Not until

September 12 did the army itself reach the banks of the San.

Two heavy rear guards, to north and east, were left to hold back the

oncoming Russians, while the main body and the baggage were crossing the

river on September 12. The Vistula protected the left of one of these

rear guards, the San protected the right of the other. Thus the two

formed an arch between the two streams.

Marshy ground made difficult the attack on their front, but,

nevertheless, they seem to have been unable to prevent the Russians from

piercing the screen before the crossing of the river had been completed.

There was great slaughter. The Russians claimed that they took 30,000

prisoners. The artillery of the Russians was highly effective in

shelling the bridges while the Austrians were passing over them in solid

masses. Beside the large number of those killed by shell fire many were

reported to have been forced into the water and to have drowned.

Neither was there respite for the Austrians on the other side of the

river, although, in theory, the forcing of the passage of the San by an

invading army was considered an impossible task. Enormous sums had been

spent by the Austrians in an attempt to make it impregnable.

Along the upper or southern part of its extent it was protected by the

powerful position of Przemysl and by Jaroslav. From there a light

railroad, which had been built solely for strategic purposes, ran

parallel and close to its left bank almost to the point where it joined

with the Vistula.

As they retired, the Austrians destroyed bridges behind them. But they

were not able to destroy all, otherwise a few days' rest might have been

vouchsafed the First Army. By quick work the Russians seized and

maintained a hold on the bridge at Kreszov, on the frontier a few miles

west of Tarnograd. As an official communique from Petrograd put it:

"The Russians leaped across the river on the very shoulders of the

retreating enemy."

The victory on the San, September 12-19, 1914, may well be considered

one of the most important of the campaign. There is no way of estimating

the Austrian losses, over and above the 30,000 prisoners the Russians

say they took, but they probably were heavy. Still more important was

the fact that the Russians had broken down the barrier which the

Austrians had sought to put between themselves and the invaders. Save

for the fact that the Austrians were now in touch with their railroads,

and for the moment within reach of security, being under the shelter of

Cracow, their position within the triangle formed by the Vistula was no

more safe than it had been when they were above it.

The Russians reported that within that triangle they seized an enormous

amount of supplies of every kind. Moreover, with the advance on

Krzeszov, the last of the invading Austrians had been forced from

Russian soil. No longer was an enemy left in the provinces of Podolia or

Volhynia.

It must be recalled also that Russian troops which were based on

Ivangorod also had intercepted German reenforcements on the left of the

Vistula as they hastened across Poland to the aid of Austria. The guns

of the Russians also had shelled the transports of the Austrians as they

retired along the right bank. The Russian right, pressed on the retiring

Austrians, had been able to spare a large number of troops, and these it

had thrown across the Vistula at Josefow. These, acting as

reenforcements of the Russian troops already on that side of the river,

had hurried southward, paralleling the advance of the main army on the

right bank and brushing aside whatever forces of the enemy they met.

In this way they were able to prevent any help from that quarter coming

to the Austrians. Also, when their comrades were delivering a final blow

to the Austrians at the crossing of the San, they were busy on the

opposite side of the Vistula driving back a large Austrian force and

occupying the important place of Sandomierz. They encountered and

overcame near Sandomierz the Second German Landwehr Corps under General

Woyrsch. In the neighborhood of and at the town they reported that they

had taken 3,000 prisoners and 10 guns.

CHAPTER LXVIII

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS OF SEPTEMBER, 1914

Let us now briefly summarize the Russian strategy during this month of

portentous development, September, 1914, which concluded with the

advance down the left bank of the Vistula and the occupation of

Sandomierz.

It will be recalled that, being more or less prepared, Russia had found

herself invaded by armies operating in three different directions over

an extended front. These armies contained in all about a million men.

The weakness of this advance, the Russians saw, consisted in this: that

the farther two armies of invaders, advancing in divergent lines,

proceed, the farther they become separated. Thus it is more difficult

for them to act in harmony or for either to protect the flanks of the

other.

For this reason the Russians were satisfied to allow the First or

northern Army of the Austrians to advance almost without resistance

until it came within artillery range of its first main objective--that

is Lublin and the railway line to Ivangorod and Warsaw.

Then the Russians delivered a blow with force at the weak Point between

the two invading armies in the vicinity of Tomaszow. The Austrians, to

meet this attack, were obliged to withdraw their reserve forces from the

far left across the rear of the First Army. When these forces proved

inadequate, the organization of a new army began, and this was thrown

into the gap.

If it had been advanced immediately and simultaneously with the other

two armies, the new army might have served its purpose, but the

campaign, it seems, was already too far advanced. The strength of the

Russians had been augmented, and after they had driven the wedge in at

Tomaszow they retained it in place, and were able to widen the break by

means of the operations which followed in the vicinity of Bilgoraj, and

by driving back the Austrian forces above Rawa-Russka. In this way the

First Austrian Army was left dangling at the extreme of its advance.

In the meantime Brussilov had made his well-planned turning movement

along the Dniester on the far south, and had delivered his blow on

Halicz. Russky at the same time was hammering at the Austrian front and

left, penning in Von Auffenberg's army on an ever-contracting front, and

throwing it back on its successive lines of defense on the Zlota Lipa

before Lemberg, and from Grodek to Rawa-Russka.

The Austrians, pushed back from each of these, and with Cossack cavalry

on their right, ranging over a considerable extent in southern Galicia,

were forced to fall back, guarding as best they might their rear,

westward toward Cracow.

When Von Auffenberg's army had been put in a tight place, busy taking

care of its own safety, the Russians were able to devote their attention

to the army Dankl had in the north. There was no chance of aid reaching

it now, and it was weakened from efforts to force the barriers that had

been put across its path.