zyn-Gromnik road. Within this
triangle, commanding the banks of both rivers up to the Cracow-Tarnow
line, the Russians held the three hills marked 402, 419, and 269 which
figures express their height in meters.

During February and March, 1915, the Austrians attempted to dislodge
the enemy, but without success. It was now necessary to take those
positions before advance could be made against Tarnow, and the Fourth
Austro-Hungarian Army, commanded by the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand,
undertook the task. At six A. M. on May 2 the Austrian artillery
opened fire against Hill 419 from Mount Val (also within the
triangle), and the opposite bank of the Dunajec. After three hours'
bombardment some regiments of Tyrolese fusiliers, who had crossed the
valley between Mt. Val and 419 and had taken up positions at the foot
of the latter, about 400 yards from the Russian trenches, were ordered
to charge. Dashing up the open, steep slope the fusiliers were
suddenly enfiladed from their right by a spray of machine gun and
rifle fire, killing many and driving back the survivors. Next day Hill
419 was again fiercely shelled, this time with deadly effectiveness;
but even then the Russians still clung to their battered ground.

The Austrians now charged the trenches on Hill 412, whence the
fusiliers had been ambushed the previous day. A desperate hand-to-hand
encounter, in which they had to force their way step by step, finally
gave the position to the attackers. The few Russians still left on 419
could not hold out after the loss of 412. They retired northward on to
Height 269, but subsequently followed the general retreat of the line.
Still farther north, almost at the right flank of Dmitrieff's line,
the Austrians effected a crossing of the Dunajec opposite Otfinow,
thus breaking the connection between the West Galician Army of
Dmitrieff, and the neighboring Russian Army on the Nida--the left wing
of the northern groups commanded by Alexeieff.

Just below Tarnow, however, the Russians still held out; losing the
three hills had not quite broken their defense on the Biala. The right
wing of Von Mackensen's army, which had smashed the Russian front
around Gorlice, rapidly moved east in an almost straight line to reach
the Dukla Pass and cut off the retreat of the Russian troops stationed
south of the range between Zboro and Nagy Polena, in northwest
Hungary. The left wing, on the other hand, advanced in a northeasterly
direction, ever wide