and in
compliance with instructions received from my supreme chief, I am
compelled to surrender the Imperial and Royal Fortress of Przemysl to
the Imperial Russian Army."

The Russians took charge without any triumphal display. Some officers
were sent to receive the surrender and take stock of the spoils.
General von Kusmanek himself supplied the inventory, in which were
listed 9 generals, 93 superior officers, 2,500 "Offiziere und Beamten"
(subalterns and officials), and 117,000 rank and file, besides 1,000
pieces of ordnance, mostly useless, and a large quantity of shells and
rifle cartridges.

General Artamoff was appointed military governor and to superintend
the process of dispatching the prisoners into Russian territory, which
was carried out at the rate of 10,000 a day. Extensive arrangements
were set on foot to supply the inhabitants with food, drink, and other
necessaries of life. As the Russians had not bombarded the town, its
natural and artificial beauties had suffered no damage beyond that
which the Austrians had themselves inflicted; only the outskirts and
the fortifications had been injured by fire and explosion.

Thus fell, on March 22, 1915, Przemysl, "by its own momentum like an
overripe fruit," and with a garrison twice as large as would have been
adequate to defend it. To Austria the blow was a severe one, for it
cost her about four army corps; the immediate advantage it brought to
the Russians was the release of Selivanoff's army of 100,000 men, who
were urgently required elsewhere. It was only a week earlier that the
commander in chief of all the Austro-Hungarian armies, the Archduke
Frederick, had granted an interview to an American journalist (Dr. J.
T. Roche), in the course of which he stated: "We have only recently
reached the point where we are really prepared, to carry on a campaign
as it should be carried under modern conditions of warfare. Now that
our organization has been completed and all branches of the service
are working harmoniously, we entertain no doubts as to our ability to
hold the enemy at all points and to drive him back from that section
of Galicia which is still in his possession."

CHAPTER XXXIX

NEW RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE--AUSTRO-GERMAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE

Three days before the fall of Przemysl the Russians abandoned the
defensive and commenced a vigorous attack on the Carpathian front.
Active preparations for the advance had been completed when the
capitulation of