ry narrow
front, but eight lines deep. Four times they came rushing on against
the German barbed-wire obstacles without being able to break through,
but losing some 3,000 men just the same.... On March 24, 1916, 6,000
Russian shells were counted in a small sector on the Dvinsk front."

In the latter sector and to the north of it, heavy fighting had
developed on March 22 and 23, 1916. Especially around Jacobstadt,
attack followed attack, both sides taking turns in assuming the
offensive. The Russian attacks were particularly violent during the
evening and night of March 22, 1916, and in some places resulted in
the temporary invasion of the German first-line trenches. Especially
hard was fighting along the Jacobstadt-Mitau railroad. Between Dvinsk
and Lake Drisviaty a violent artillery and rifle duel was kept up
almost continuously, resulting at one point, just below Dvinsk near
Shishkovo, in the breaking up of a German attack. South of the lake,
at the village of Mintsiouny, however, a German attack succeeded and
drove the Russians out of some trenches which they had gained only the
day before. Here, too, both artillery and rifle fire of great violence
carried death into both the Russian and German ranks. At Vidzy, a few
miles farther south, the Russians stormed four times in quick
succession against the German positions. Northwest of Postavy another
Russian attack failed, the Germans capturing over 900 men and officers
at that particular point. On the other hand, a German attack still
farther south and northwest of Lake Narotch was repulsed and the
Russians made slight gains in the face of a most violent fire. Near
the south shore of Lake Narotch a German attack supported by
asphyxiating gas forced back the Russians on a very narrow front for a
very short distance. From Lake Narotch down to the Pripet Marshes the
Russians maintained a lively cannonade at many points without,
however, making any attacks in force.

During March 23, 1916, a determined Russian attack against the
bridgehead at Jacobstadt broke down under the heavy German gunfire.
During the night repeated Russian attacks to the north of the
Jacobstadt-Mitau railroad a surprise attack southwest of Dvinsk and
violent attacks along the Dvinsk-Vidzy sector suffered the same fate,
although in some instances the Russian troops succeeded in coming
right up to the German barbed-wire obstacles. Between Lake Narotch and
Lake Vishnieff the Russians captured some wood