dropping bombs. Between Jacobstadt and
Dvinsk a Russian battery succeeded in reaching a German munition depot
and with one well-placed hit caused havoc among men and munitions.
Southeast of Lake Med a surprise attack, carried out by comparatively
small Russian forces, resulted in the capture of some German trenches.
Northwest of Krochin strong German forces, after artillery preparation
lasting over three hours, attacked the village of Dubrovka. Some
ground was gained, only to be lost again shortly after as a result of
a ferocious counterattack made by Russian reenforcements which had
been brought up quickly.

May 6, 1916, brought a slightly new variation in fighting. Russian
torpedo boats appeared in the Gulf of Riga, off the west coast, and
bombarded, without success, the two towns of Rojen and Margrafen.
Artillery fire of considerable violence marked the next day, May 7,
1916. Russian batteries before Dvinsk caused a fire at Ill, the little
town just northwest of Dvinsk on the Dvinsk-Ponevesh railway, and so
well was this bombardment maintained that the Germans were unable to
extinguish the conflagration before it had reached some of their
munition depots. In the early morning hours very violent gunfire was
directed south of Illuxt. But an infantry attack, for which this
bombardment was to act as preparation, failed. Other bombardments were
directed against Lake Ilsen and the sector north of it, and against
the region south of the village of Vishnieff on the Beresina River.
Mining operations of considerable extent were carried out that night
near the village of Novo Selki, south of the town of Krevo. On May 8,
1916, artillery fire again roared along the Dvina front, especially
against the Uxkull bridgehead. An attack in force was made by German
troops against the village of Peraplianka north of Smorgon on the
Viliya May 9, 1916. After considerable artillery preparation the
Germans rushed up against the Russian barbed-wire obstacles. There,
however, they were stopped by concentrated artillery and rifle fire
and, after heavy losses, had to withdraw. A Russian attack of a
similar nature south of Garbunovka was not any more successful. In the
Pripet Marshes, too, artillery operations had by now become possible
again and the Russian positions west of the village of Pleshichitsa,
southeast of Pinsk, were subjected to a violent bombardment.

Throughout the balance of May not a day passed during which guns of
all calibers