ated previously how the railway communications had been
broken on the east and south by the advance of the Russians after the
fall of Grodek and the taking of Mocsiska. The isolation of the fortress
of Przemysl was completed by the fall of Jaroslav and the occupation of
Radymno, a town on the main Cracow railway on the left bank of the San,
about eight miles east of Jaroslav and fifteen miles north of the
fortress. And so it remained isolated, save for a short period when the
tide of invasion was driven back. During this time it was again in
communication with Cracow.

The Russians took it as a matter of course that the fortress would soon
fall to them. Its fate was predicted in the newspapers of the Allies;
but, in preparation for defense, stores of all kinds had been hurried
into it, and plans had been laid for stout resistance. It had a
determined commander in General Kusmanek.

The first shots were fired on September 18, 1914. The city was
surrounded on September 20, and an unbroken bombardment with many
desperate sorties ensued until October 2, when the Russians sent out a
white flag to the city and demanded its surrender. General Kusmanek's
reply was that he would not discuss surrender until he had exhausted all
powers of resistance. The attack reached its height on October 5, 1914.
The Russians stormed again and again, hills of corpses outside the works
testifying to furious attacks they made. They succeeded in carrying
temporarily one of the outer works, eleven battalions having succeeded
in approaching these defenses undetected, because of damage to an
Austrian searchlight.

Suddenly they stormed the walls. The garrison retreated to the
casemates, from which they defended themselves with rifles and machine
guns. The Russians forced their way to the casements and a hand-to-hand
struggle with bayonets, gun butts, and hand grenades followed. When
Austrian reenforcements, hastily telephoned for, arrived, the attacking
party was already retiring, leaving their dead and wounded in the
casemates and on the wall. Rockets and light shells illuminated their
retreat. There was desultory fighting during several days thereafter,
and then the Russian army settled down to a routine investment, biding
the time when their heavy siege guns could be brought up and the way
made ready for an effective assault. On October 18, 1914, there was a
battle to the east of Chyrow and Przemysl, which was successful for the
Austrians. The