pened
their counteroffensive on April 6, 1915. Official reports on the first
day's fighting differ somewhat. The Russians admit a slight German
advance, but assert that they were able to withstand all further
attacks. The Germans, on the other hand, claim great successes and the
capture of 6,000 Russian prisoners.

The Germanic armies in this case, however, certainly did advance, for
the Russians withdrew from the Virava Valley, which they had entered
four days earlier. The first object of the counteroffensive was to
save the Austrians who were holding the frontier south of Lupkow from
being enveloped and cut off. But on April 9, 1915, the Russians again
moved forward, and recovered part of the Virava Valley. By this day
the whole mountain crest from Dukla to Uzsok, a distance of over
seventy miles, had been conquered by the Russians. By the same night
they had repulsed a counterattack near the Rostoki and captured a
battalion of Austrian infantry. The Russian report sums up thus: "We
seized Height 909 (909 meters=3,030 feet) with the result that the
enemy was repulsed along the entire length of the principal chain of
the Carpathians in the region of our offensive."

For the next three days Brussilov attempted to work his way to the
rear of the Uzsok position with his right wing from the Laborcz and
Ung valleys, while simultaneously continuing his frontal attacks
against Boehm-Ermolli and Von Bojna. Cutting through snow sometimes
more than six feet deep, the Russians approached at several points
within a distance of three miles from the Uzsok Valley. But the
Austrians still held the Opolonek mountain group in force. Severe
fighting then developed northwest of the Uzsok on the slopes between
Bukoviec and Beniova; the Russians captured the village of Wysocko
Nizne to the northeast, which commands the only roads connecting the
Munkacz-Stryj and the Uzsok-Turka lines. Though both sides claimed
local successes, they appear to have fought each other to a deadlock,
for very little fighting occurred in this zone after April 14, 1915.
Henceforth Brussilov directed his main efforts to the Virava and
Cisna-Rostoki sector. From here and Volosate, where there had been
continuous fighting since the early days of April, the Russians strove
desperately for possession of the Uzsok. They were ow only two or
three days' march from the Hungarian plains.

Between April 17 and 20, 1915, a vigorous Austrian counterattack
failed to check t