time since the previous year. After heavy artillery preparation, lasting all day, the Russians on the upper Strypa began an advance along an eighteenmile front. This attack was eventually forced back by the destructive fire of the Austro-German machine guns, but the Russians had persisted so strongly that they suffered heavy losses. On the same day a similar attack was delivered by the Russians in the region

Ruschin

and nearly 9,000 men prisoners. The Germans, on their part, reported that the severity of the engagements exceeded anything that had taken place for a year and that the Russians suffered severely. How seriously the Germans took these operations may be judged from the fact that Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General von Ludendorff had hastened to Austrian field headquarters.

HE OFFENSIVE IS SUCCESSFUL DURING

the same result.

During that night artillery roared up and down almost the entire length of the Eastern Front. The next morn

THE

During the first few days of July, 1917, it became obvious that the Russian offensive was not only in full

By the 7th the Russian lines had advanced so far westward that Halicz, only sixty miles southwest of Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, was within range of the heavier Russian guns. Here the Russian offensive covered a front of more than thirty miles, along the Narayuvka River. On this same day there was heavy fighting near Stanislau, where one wave after another of Russian infantry stormed the AustroHungarian trenches, engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combats.

By the end of the first ten days of the offensive it became evident that the Russians had concentrated their efforts against the Austrians and Hungarians in the south, whose lines they seemed to consider the weakest. Toward the Baltic, they had not attempted any determined forward move, being satisfied to check the German attacks. So far their strategy was proving eminently successful; so far the Russian morale showed itself as strong as ever.

achievement of the general offensivethe capture, on the day before, of Halicz, an important railroad point on the Dniester. General Kornilov, the Cossack leader, was in command of the Russian army in this sector, and the Austrians defending the town were unable to withstand his attacks. Within two days the Teuton positions, to a

THE LAST RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE

depth of seven miles and fortified during a two years' occupation, had been overrun by the Russians.

In the direction of Dolina, in the region west of Stanislau, General Kornilov continued his offensive operations successfully. Here the Russians advanced toward Lemberg, on the heels of the retiring Austrians, along a front of nearly twenty miles.

On the 10th the troops which had captured Halicz crossed to the left banks of the river. By evening they had reached the valley of the River Lomnitza. They were now threatening the approaches to the passes in the Northern Carpathians. In this region. the Russians took over 10,000 prisoners during three days of fighting, as well as seventy field pieces and a dozen guns of heavy calibre.

very stubborn battle, with the result that the enemy was forced out of the town of Kalusz, which had normally a population of 10,000. This gave the Russians a hold on the important railroad running between Stanislau and Lemberg. The Russians holding Kalusz, however, were soon attacked by enemy reinforcements and were compelled to retire. Again they returned with a stronger force, and reentered the town, and once more the Austro-Germans counter-attacked, supported by an armored train. Back and forth swayed the battle line, in and out of the town, until dark, when

west of Kalusz. But now a heavy rain began falling and swelled the rivers and rendered the ground so marshy that further operations were considerably hampered.

The Russian operations up to this point, in the middle of July, had been efficiently conducted, and preeminently successful. Two important strategic centres had been taken, Halicz and Kalusz, and the AustroGerman lines, driven back many miles. During this period the Russians had taken nearly 36,000 prisoners, 900 of whom were officers, and large quantities of guns and other war material.

to bear in their favor. On July 15, these reinforcements began showing their presence by a perceptible stiffening of the Teuton defense along the whole front. On that day there was exceptionally heavy fighting, but the Russians made no further advances. On the contrary, they were thrown back slightly at several points.

On July 16, the Austrians, reinforced by Germans, resumed their counterattacks against the Russians about Kalusz. The latter were driven back across the river and the town abandoned. The weather was clearing now, but with the renewal of operations the

dozens of such incidents, which happened during the operations of the next few days. Everywhere men were refusing to obey their officers. Under the strain the Russian spirit was broken, not so much by attacks on the front as from the rear. Russian Russian reports now admitted that Russian army organization was collapsing, that disaffection was spreading like a prairie fire. Speaking of the Russian retreat before Tarnopol, the Petrograd report said:

"On the whole our soldiers did not show the necessary determination to win. Some regiments deliberately re

results in the capture of Kalusz with the Eighth Russian Army, was given command of the whole front in Galicia. Kornilov was unpopular with the radical elements, on account of the almost ferocious disciplinary methods he sometimes employed, but Kerensky was willing to risk the displeasure of the Soviet, if only the German advance could be stemmed. But neither Kornilov nor any other general could have accomplished that with the material at his disposal. The soul of the army had vanished. Regiments with glorious records now fled before the enemy, or refused to advance.