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 railr