hall lead you to
pierce with your points of steel the iron circles of the enemy, and
then march ever farther onward, sparing no efforts, until we rejoin
our army, which, after heavy fighting, is now near us."

Just before the surrender two Austrian officers escaped from the
fortress in an aeroplane. These reported concerning the last days of
the siege:

"On the 18th of March the last provisions had been dealt out and at
the same time the last attempt at breaking through the line of the
besiegers had been ordered. This was carried out on the night of the
19th of March. It was shattered, however, against the unbreakable
manifold ring of the Russian inclosing lines and against the superior
forces which were brought in time to the threatened points. Our men
were so weakened by their long fasting that it took them fully seven
hours to make the march of seven kilometers, and even in this short
stretch many of them had to lie down from exhaustion, yet they fought
well and were bravely led by their officers.

"In spite of all this," Captain Lehmann, one of the escaped officers,
reported, "the heroic garrison fought on, after their last sortie, for
fully forty-eight hours, against assaults of the Russians which now
set in with terrific violence. The men of the fortress were fully
informed of the situation by an announcement of the commander. They
knew that the provisions were at an end and this very knowledge
spurred them on to make their last sacrifice. Practically all the
nations of the monarchy were represented in the fortress. Tyrolese
Landsturm held the south, Hungarians the west, Ruthenians and Poles
the north, and lower Austrians the east. To this last battle the
troops marched out singing, striving thus to master their weakness. On
this, occasion the above mentioned notice had fallen into the hands of
the Russians and the prospect had thus been opened to them to seize
the fortress with little effort. For two days and nights all the works
of Przemysl were taken under an uninterrupted terrible artillery fire,
including that of modern howitzers of all calibers, up to eighteen
centimeters. Then followed an assault at night on the east front,
which, however, was again bloodily repelled."

Starvation is conducive neither to good feeling nor heroism,
especially when it is superimposed upon an unbroken series of more or
less disastrous experiences. Misfortune and the so-called "tradition
of defeat" had dogged the steps of A