n the Lupkow and Uzsok passes, where great forces of the enemy,
concentrated for the purpose of relieving Przemysl, were stationed. In
the western sector, facing Dmitrieff, the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand
held the roads leading from Novy-Sacz and Grybow to Tarnow, covering
Cracow; and from south of the range the two roads diverging from Zboro
to Gorlice and Jaslo were in Russian possession, though the Austrians
held their junction at Zboro, eight miles north of Bartfeld. Of the
actual fighting that took place in this region very few details were
published by the Russian official communique. One of these documents,
dated April 18, 1915, announced that on March 23, "our troops had
already begun their principal attack in the direction of Baligrod,
enveloping the enemy positions from the west of the Lupkow Pass and on
the east near the sources of the San. The enemy opposed the most
desperate resistance to the offensive of our troops. They had brought
up every available man on the front from the direction of Bartfeld as
far as the Uzsok Pass, including even German troops and numerous
cavalrymen fighting on foot. The effectives on this front exceeded 300
battalions. Moreover, our troops had to overcome great natural
difficulties at every step. In the course of the day, March 23, 1915,
we captured more than 4,000 prisoners, a gun, and several dozen
machine guns."

On March 24, 1915, the battle was in full progress: "Especially severe
is the fighting for the crest of the mountain south of Jasliska and to
the west of the Lupkow Pass. The forests which cover these mountains
offer special facilities for the construction of strong
fortifications." March 25: "The woods in the Lupkow region are a
perfect entanglement of barbed wire ... surrounded by several layers
of trenches, strengthened by deep ditches and palisades. On this day
our troops carried by assault a very important Austrian position on
the great crest of the Beskid Mountains." The Russian captures for the
day amounted to 100 officers, 5,600 men, and a number of machine guns.
Advancing from Jasliska the Russians seriously threatened the
Austro-German position in the Laborcza Valley, to which strong
reenforcements were sent on March 25. With terrific violence the
battle raged till far into the night of the 27th, the Russians forcing
their way to within seven miles of the Hungarian frontier.

In eight days they had taken nearly 10,000 prisoners. By the night of
March 28, 19