t as soon as it
became evident that the other army's cause was lost. He was in a much
more advantageous position than his colleague had been. For not only did
the territory through which he had to fall back offer no particular
difficulties when once he had escaped Hindenburg's attempt to push him
up against the Mazurian lakes, but he had also a fairly efficient
network of railroads at his command centering in Insterburg.

Long before he evacuated this city on September 11, 1914, he had drawn
in most of his outlying formations in the north and west and had sent
them back safely across the border and behind the protection of the
Niemen and its shield of fortresses--Kovno, Olita, and Grodno. In this
he was also materially assisted by the stubborn resistance which Von
Hindenburg encountered at Lyck at the hands of a small army that had
been sent out from Grodno to aid him, and the nucleus of which consisted
of an entirely new Finnish, and an equally complete, Siberian Corps. In
spite of this, however, the pressure of the victorious Germans was
strong and rapid enough to force him to a generally hurried retreat. The
losses in killed and wounded were comparatively small, for almost all
the fighting was rear-guard action. But the Germans succeeded in
gathering in about 30,000 more prisoners, chiefly detachments that had
been unsuccessful in connecting in time with the main army. Much more
serious was the loss of some 150 guns and vast quantities of war
material for the removal of which both time and means had been lacking.

On September 15, 1914, Von Hindenberg could announce that the last of
the invaders had either been captured or driven back and that not an
acre of German soil was in the possession of the Russian forces. On that
date, moreover, he had already advanced far enough into Russian
territory to occupy the seat of government of the Russian province of
Suwalki, almost 150 miles in direct line east of Tannenberg, though less
than 20 from the German border. From that point on he intrusted the
further conduct of these operations to Lieutenant General von Morgen,
who had been one of his division commanders at Tannenberg.

By September 23, 1914, Rennenkampf had completed his retreat behind the
Niemen. The fighting which took place during the ensuing week is
commonly designated as the "Battle of Augustovo," though it covered a
much larger area. Augustovo itself is a small town about ten miles from
the German frontier, a