ians 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 tr