ong 14,000 prisoners which they had taken
there were only a few officers, and that with these not a single
cannon was captured. They regarded it as showing that the Russians
were getting very cautious in the use of their artillery and were
short of officers.

CHAPTER LV

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE FROM KOVNO--FOREST BATTLES IN MAY AND JUNE

Offensives on a large scale such as that which had been prevented by
the "Winter Battle of the Mazurian Lakes" were not attempted by the
Russians on their northern wing after the short counterattack that had
pushed their lines into the Mlawa angle in the corner of the Vistula
and the Prussian boundary beyond Przasnysz, to the east of Thorn. They
virtually remained in their strongly fortified positions along the
Narew, the Bobr, and the Niemen, except for the sending out of
occasional attacking columns against the German lines lying opposite
to them.

These forward thrusts were made especially from the fortresses Grodno
and Kovno, and the fortified place Olita. We have already dealt with
one such operation which came to grief in the forest of Augustowo in
March. The German invasion of Courland had taken place, and the
extension of the German lines to the north invited a thrust at their
communications when, in the middle of May, the Russians attempted to
break through the German lines with columns starting from the great
forest to the west of Kovno. Here German troops under General
Litzmann, acting under the command of General von Eichhorn, stood on
guard. When Litzmann received information that the Russians were
advancing in force he was obliged hastily to gather such troops as he
could find to stem the Russian attack. Troop units from a large
variety of different organizations were freshly grouped practically on
the battle field. At Szaki and Gryszkabuda, on May 17-20, they struck
the Russians with such force that the Slavs were driven back into the
forests.

The German general now decided to clear this territory of his enemies,
as it had given them a constant opportunity for the preparation of
moves which could not be readily observed, because of the protection
of the thick woods. Again he executed the favorite maneuver of Von
Hindenburg's armies. He gathered as heavy a weight of troops as
possible on his left wing and pushed them forward in an extended
encircling movement. From the south a strong column from Mariampol and
the line of the Szsczupa moved upon the fortified posi