rman batteries one could see the
craters made by the Russian hits; they were dark holes where the hard
frozen ground had been broken up into thick, slaglike pieces weighing
tons and all over the white cover of snow had been strewn, dark brown
and as fine as dust, the torn-up soil.

"Then the storm of the trenches set in. At a given hour the roar of the
guns stopped suddenly. A few minutes later the masses of infantry, held
in readiness, arose. They came up from their trenches, climbed over
their walls, sought cover wherever it could be found, and were promptly
received by rifle and machine-gun fire from the Russians. That, however,
lasted only a moment; then they advanced in a jump; the attacking line
thinned out, stretched itself out and, continually seeking cover, tried
to advance. A few minutes only and the first Russian trench line was
reached. In storm, with bayonet and rifle butt, they came on and broke
into the trenches. They were fighting now man for man. Then the
artillery fire set in again. Again in the afternoon the infantry
advanced in storm formation against the head of the village and the
trenches flanking it. From them roared rifle and machine-gun fire
against the storming lines. Nothing could avail against these
intrenchments. Again artillery was called upon to support the attack.

"It was now five o'clock in the afternoon on January 31, 1915, and the
artillery fire still roared over the white plain. Here and there were a
few scattered farms, deeply snowed in. In the distance stood forests,
darkly silhouetted against the sky, covered with heavy, low-hanging snow
clouds. In between were yawning depths, and farther up other curtains of
clouds glowing in the full purple light of the setting sun. A wonderful
majesty lay on the heavens at that hour. But down on the earth, across
the white plain, the fighting German troops still crowded against the
enemy. Again infantry fire started and became the livelier the nearer
twilight approached and the deeper evening shadows prepared the coming
night.

"The 1st of February, 1915, the second day of battle, broke damp and
cloudy. Once more artillery fire set in. Later in the morning, just as
on the first day, the infantry again attacked. While the roar of the
battle went on, some of the men prepared the last resting place for
their comrades who had fallen on the previous day. Silently this work
was done. Here there were single graves, and then again places where
larg