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position, so once more there was an unbroken Russian line opposed to the Germans. But the strength of the on-creeping German battering ram was as great as ever, whereas the Russians were far weaker along the San than they had been along the Dunajec.

So that it proved as impossible for Brusiloff to stop von Mackensen at the San as it had proved for Dmitrieff to stop him at the Dunajec. By May 14, the German heavy guns arrived at the San, battered down the Russian resistance and crossed the river north of Przemysl at Jaroslav, capturing that city. In the meantime, the Austro-German troops who had been facing Brusiloff in the Carpathians, before Brusiloff retreated, began to appear on the scene. They moved for the south wing of the Russian forces, in back of Przemysl, while von Mackensen made for the north wing. In the meantime, however, General Evarts to the north had not been idle. He struck with vigor against the Austro-German troops facing him, inflicted a severe defeat upon them, and drove them back a considerable distance. But the main Austro-German force was too strong and numerous for any flanking movements upon it by Evarts; so that the latter's success, although inconveniencing the main bulk of the army of von Mackensen, nevertheless did not stop it. Away off to the east, in Bukowina, also, a Russian counter-attack had been successful, but the German centre was too strong and could not be stopped by reverses on the wings. So that the German advance on the centre continued, despite heroic Russian resistance. Przemysl was attacked, and after sharp resistance fell on May 31. The Russians had spent more than four months in capturing it; they had held it little more than two. Its stand had merely given the Russians time to retire, and by the first of June they had succeeded in withdrawing, with heavy losses, from the San to the hills and marshes in front of Lemberg. Practically all of Galicia was now freed of Russians and the forces of the Central Powers had crossed into Russian Poland from the south so well as from the west.

Upon the Russian line in front of Lemberg, von Mackensen now employed new tactics. His heavy artillery could hardly be used in a hilly and swampy region. He therefore fell upon the Russian south wing, far below Lemberg and the lakes to the west of the town. By

June 7, the Austro-Germans had crossed the Dniester to the southeast of Lemberg. In the meantime, von Mackensen had shifted his heavy guns to the north of the Russian line, and from June 10 began to break through there. Lemberg was too strong to be attacked frontally, but the Russians were being driven in on it; and it was useless to attempt to defend it. Retirement was better than encirclement. By June 20, von Mackensen was in the rear of Lemberg both to the north and the south, and the Russians abandoned the town. The battle-line in the east was now entirely on Russian soil. The AustroGermans were northeast and southeast, as well as west, of Russian Poland. Russian Poland was being surrounded, and was now a salient from Brest-Litovsk to Warsaw extending into an unbroken enemy line. If the salient should narrow, the battle-line would be straightened and Russian Poland would be completely in the hands of the Central Powers.

In eight weeks, the Central Powers had undone the Russian work of eight months. The Russian armies had been shattered and disrupted, and hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers were now in German prison camps. In the east, after almost a whole year of war, Russia was weaker and Germany stronger than on August 1, 1914.

THE CAPTURE OF RUSSIAN POLAND

With Russian Poland surrounded on three sides and hence forming a sharp salient projecting into the enemy lines, the fall of Warsaw and of the remainder of Russian Poland not already in the hands of the Central Powers became inevitable. There was little demand for unusual strategy or for unusual preparations on the part of the Germans. Their lines in France and Belgium were still holding, so that there was no need for withdrawing back to the west the troops which had been withdrawn to the east. The Russian forces were beaten, weakened, outnumbered, disorganized and discouraged; the Russian morale was at a low ebb; Russian military supplies were becoming scantier and scantier; and enthusiasm for prosecuting the war was dying out in the high administrative circles of the Empire

of the Tsar no less than among the millions over whom the Tsar reigned.

Indeed, the general Austro-German advance upon Russian Poland got under way not long after the fall of Lemberg. Lemberg had fallen in the latter part of June; in the first part of July, the German north wing advanced along the Baltic Sea in the Baltic Provinces and got within striking distance of Riga. It also thus got on the north side of the salient, and into position to march upon the rear of Warsaw. At the same time, a considerable concentration of German troops was effected in East Prussia, around Thorn, on the Vistula, almost due west of Warsaw. Meanwhile, the Austro-German forces under von Mackensen which had completed the rout of the Russians in Galicia were now marching upon Russian Poland from the south. Warsaw was almost at the apex of the salient, and was hence in a most precarious position. But the chief Russian railways in Poland. concentrated on Warsaw, and if Warsaw should be surrendered, the transportation facilities of the Russians would become even more inadequate than they then were. Grand Duke Nicholas accordingly prepared to defend the city, although it was obvious that eventually Warsaw would have to be abandoned.

The Austro-German advance from Galicia upon Russian Poland was in two bodies-one, the Germans under von Mackensen; and the other, the Austrians under Archduke Joseph. On July 3, both these bodies came into contact with the south wing of the main Russian forces defending Warsaw and Poland. After several days, the Russians managed to stop the army of von Mackensen, who entrenched and awaited developments in other points of the line. At the same time, the troops of the Archduke Joseph were sharply checked around Krasnik, and were compelled to retreat before they, too, could entrench to await developments on the northern and western sides of the salient.

From July 6 to July 15, the Germans advanced all along the lines in the north and east. On the latter day, the general attack of the Central Powers was launched in earnest. On July 15, Przasnysz fell. On the eighteenth, the Germans were across the Rawka and Bzura Rivers. By the twentieth, the Russian line was back of the Narew,

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and the famous fortresses along that river were under the fire of the German heavy guns. On the twenty-third, the Narew was crossed in a number of places. By July 25, the Germans were on the Bug, only twenty miles from Warsaw.

Simultaneously with this advance from the north, the Austro-German forces on the south had again assumed the offensive. On the eighteenth, although the army of the Archduke had been held, the army of von Mackensen won a signal victory, and by retreating the Russians were compelled to narrow their salient on the south as well as upon the north. By the twenty-second, the Austro-Germans were at Ivangorod, commanding the immediate approach on Warsaw from the southeast. On July 30, Lublin fell, and with it, command over one of the main railroad lines leading from Warsaw.

Ever since July 15, the Russians had decided to evacuate Warsaw, and their military plan since that day had been that of defending the sides of the Warsaw salient long enough to allow the troops in the centre of the Russian line to withdraw in safety. The civilian evacuation of the capital of Russian Poland had begun around July 20 and by July 25, the military evacuation. The Russians conducted their retreat with rare skill, avoiding encirclement, and by the beginning of August Warsaw was free of Russian troops. Exactly one year and four days after Germany had declared war on Russia, German troops were in possession of Warsaw.

The surrender of Warsaw by no means ended the danger confronting the Russian army. The wedges driven by the war machine under the general direction of von Falkenheyn and the immediate direction of von Hindenburg were being constantly deepened, and many of the corps of the Russian army were in danger of being surrounded and compelled to surrender in mass. Their only course was to avoid lengthy engagements and to retreat to a line where a stand might be made with some hope of success. The sole ray of hope in the Russian situation was the presence of a number of strong fortresses in Russian Poland which should have been able to hold off the Germans long enough for the forces of the Tsar to consolidate a new line of defence. On the extreme north, the Germans had advanced in the Baltic Provinces along the Gulf of Riga, but Riga itself had not fallen.

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