he German troops vigorously pushed the
pursuit. They occupied Makarze, Froncki, and Giby. On the same night a
German cavalry division took Kopciovo by assault. At this place alone
they counted 300 dead Russians, and more than 5,000 prisoners, 12
machine guns, and 3 cannon, fell into the hands of the Germans.

The threatened envelopment of this Russian army was typical of the
method employed by the leaders under Von Hindenburg in local
operations, as it was of German method in general when applied to
operations extending over the entire field of action. It could be
applied with special success where the German information service was
superior to that of the Russians, as it usually was, and the movements
of German troops were facilitated by good railway connections. In the
Augustowo forests, however, rapidity of movement had to be achieved by
the legs of the German soldiers to a large extent, and on this they
prided themselves not a little. The operation just described was
regarded by the German Great Headquarters as being of great
significance, valuable for its moral effect in establishing in the
German troops a sense of superiority, and confidence in their
leadership, and for its infliction of material losses of considerable
moment on the Russians.

The Russians likewise claimed advantages from their forward thrust
from Grodno. As represented by the Russian General Staff the
withdrawal of the Germans from a front close to the line of the
fortress in the first place was not a voluntary one, as it is pictured
in the German account, but was forced by the strong pressure exerted
by the Russian attacks following upon their retreat after the "winter
battle." Thus they report the complete defeat of two German army
corps, resulting in the seizure by the Russians of Height 100.3, which
they described as dominating the entire region of the operations
before Grodno. "In this battle," says the Russian report of March 5,
1915, "we took 1,000 prisoners and six cannon and a machine gun.
Height 100.3 was defended by the Twenty-first Corps, the best of them
all which lost during the battle 12,000 to 15,000 soldiers, as can be
estimated from the dead left behind. After the shattering of the
German counterattack at Height 100.3 the operations of the enemy
became entirely passive. We, on the other hand, took village after
village, and everywhere made prisoners."

The fortress of Ossowetz on the Bobr River proved inconquerable by the
42