-centimeter mortars which had worked such terrific effects on the
forts of Belgium and France. It was continually under German artillery
fire through the months of February and March, 1915, without suffering
appreciable damage. The great mortars were brought up within range of
the fortress with much difficulty, owing to the fact that the place is
almost completely surrounded by swamps. The Germans apparently had
counted seriously at first on making a breach in the Russian defensive
lines at this place. After persistent attempts to make an impression
on the fortress with their heaviest guns they were obliged, however,
to content themselves with keeping the garrison in check so as to
forestall offensive moves.

A German artillery officer who took part in the bombardment relates
that the chief obstacle to the pressing home of an attack were several
heavily armored batteries which lay concealed outside the visible
works of the fortress itself in the broad strip of swampland
surrounding it. These were built deep into the ground, protected by
thick earthworks, and very effectively screened from observation. They
were a constant menace and apparently could not be destroyed by the
German fire. Even though the main fort itself had been destroyed they
would have prevented the approach of the enemy's troops, for they
commanded the only causeway leading through the swamps to the fortress
and would have blown to pieces any infantry that ventured to push
along this road.

Furthermore, even the intense cold did not make the swamp passable
except by the roadway because warm springs here and there prevented
the ice from freezing sufficiently strong to bear the troops. The
German gunners noted too that their shots fell practically without
effect, plunging quietly into the mud to a great depth so that they
did not even throw up earth or mud.

The result was that the 42-centimeter monsters were hastily withdrawn
after a few trial shots and the bombardment was continued with a
battery of 28-centimeter coast defense guns, an Austrian motor
battery, a 30.5-centimeter mortar and some other heavy batteries. The
fire rose to considerable intensity in the last days of February and
the first days of March.

On the 3d of March the Russians in their official report dwelt on the
fierceness of the bombardment and its ineffectiveness. On the 16th
they reported that the Germans were pushing several of their batteries
up into closer range, as they h