behind. Again that unfortunate general was roughly handled--another of
his divisions was annihilated southeast of Lemberg in a rear-guard
action. Von Linsingen directed his efforts against the Gnila Lipa and
Halicz, while Von Pflanzer-Baltin still operated on the Dniester. For
many months the Russians and Austrians faced each other in eastern
Galicia; they were still skirmishing at the end of the year. Both
Russia and Austria had more important matters on hand elsewhere: the
former against Germany in the north, and the latter with her new
enemy--Italy. Galicia became a side issue.

The Galician campaign will rank as one of the most instructive
episodes in military history, an example of unparalleled calculation,
scientific strategy, and admirable heroism, involving, it is computed,
the terrible sacrifice of at least a million human lives.

PART VII--RUSSO-GERMAN CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER XLVIII

WINTER BATTLES OF THE MAZURIAN LAKES

The battle known in the German official accounts as the "Winter Battle
in Mazurian Land" is sometimes described as the "Nine Days' Battle."
In this sense it is to be considered as beginning on the 7th of
February, 1915, and ending on the 16th, when the German Great
Headquarters reported that the Tenth Russian Army, consisting of at
least eleven infantry and several cavalry divisions, had been driven
out of its strongly fortified positions to the east of the Mazurian
Lake district, forced across the border, and, having been almost
completely surrounded, had been crushingly defeated. In fact, however,
fighting continued as part of the same action until the 21st of
February, 1915, when the pursuit of the defeated army ended.

The forces engaged in this titanic conflict were the Russian Tenth Army,
consisting, according to the Russian version, of four corps, under
General Baron Sievers, and the German East Prussian armies, under
General von Eichhorn, operating on the north on the line
Insterburg-Loetzen, and General von Buelow on the line Loetzen-Johannisburg
to the south of Von Eichhorn. Sources favorable to the Allies represent
the strength of General Sievers's army as 120,000 men. They assert that
the total German force consisted of nine corps, over 300,000 men. These
are said to have included the Twenty-first Corps, which had been with
the Crown Prince of Bavaria in the west; three reserve corps, also from
the west; the Thirty-eighth and Fortieth Corps, new formations, from
th