j and Lemberg
for the Russians; enabled them to send reenforcements into the
Bukowina, and, finally, inspired the German General Staff to plan the
great and decisive Galician campaign, which was to achieve the task
wherein Boehm-Ermolli and Von Linsingen had both failed.

Meanwhile, what had Von Pflanzer-Baltin accomplished with Army C--the
third column? His path lay through Jablonitza, Kirlibaba, and Dorna
Vatra; his task was to clear the Russians out of the Bukowina, and
either to force them back across their own frontiers, or to turn the
extreme end of their left flank. We have seen that the Russian
occupation of the Bukowina was more in the nature of a political
experiment than a serious military undertaking, and that their forces
in the province were not strong enough to indulge in great strategical
operations. Hence we may expect the Austrian general's progress to be
less difficult than that of his colleagues in the western and central
Carpathians. To some extent this presumption is correct, for on
February 18, 1915, after launching out from the southern corner of the
Bukowina at Kimpolung and via the Jablonitza Pass down the Pruth
Valley, they captured Czernowitz, and after that Kolomea, whence the
railway runs to Lemberg. Within three days they reached Stanislawow,
another important railway center, defended by a small Russian force,
and a big battle ensued. Altogether, the Germanic troops in the
Bukowina were reported at 50,000 in number, though these were split up
into two columns, one of which was making but slow progress farther
east.

[Illustration: Detail Map of the Forts of Przemysl.]

Russian reenforcements were thrown into the town, and the struggle for
the railway, which lasted a week, appears to have been of a seesaw
nature, for no official reports of the fighting were issued by either
side. Still the Austrians pushed westward in the hope of reaching the
railways which supplied those Russian armies which were barring the
advance through the central passes. The Russians were forced to
withdraw from Stanislawow, and their opponents now held possession of
the line running to Stryj and Przemysl--a serious menace to the
Russian main communications. This meant that Von Pflanzer-Baltin had
succeeded in getting to the rear of the Russians. But assistance came
unexpectedly from the center, whence Ivanoff was able to send
reenforcements to his colleague, General Alexeieff, who was
continually falling back be