first massed attack against Von Hindenburg's lines since the
offensive in the south began was delivered on June 13, 1916, when,
after a systematic artillery preparation by the heaviest guns at the
Russians' disposal, troops in dense formation launched a furious
assault against the Austro-German positions north of Baranovitchy. The
attack was repeated six times, but each broke down under the Teuton
fire with serious losses to the attackers, who in their retreat were
placed under the fire of their own artillery.

Baranovitchy is an important railway intersection of great
strategical value and saw some of the fiercest fighting during the
Russian retreat in the fall of 1915. It is the converging point of
the Brest-Litovsk-Moscow and Vilna-Rovno railways. Sixty-one miles
to the west lies Lida, one of the commanding points of the entire
railway systems of western Russia.

Again, on June 14, 1916, the number of prisoners in the hands of the
Russians was increased by 100 officers and 14,000 men, bringing the
grand total up to over 150,000. All along the entire front the
Russians pressed their advance, gaining considerable ground, without,
however, achieving any success of great importance.

Closer and closer the lines were drawn about Czernowitz, though on
June 16, 1916, the city was still reported as held by the Austrians.
On that day furious fighting also took place south of Buczacz, where
the Russians in vain attempted to cross the Dniester in order to join
hands with their forces which were advancing from the north against
Czernowitz with Horodenka, on the south bank of the Dniester as a
base. To the west of Lutsk in the direction toward Kovel, now
apparently the main objective of General Brussilov, the
Austro-Hungarians had received strong German reenforcements under
General von Linsingen and successfully denied to the Russians a
crossing over the Stokhod and Styr Rivers.

June 17, 1916, was a banner day in the calendar of the Russian troops.
It brought them once more into possession of the Bukowinian capital,
Czernowitz.

Czernowitz is one of the towns whose people have suffered most
severely from the fluctuating tide of war.

Its cosmopolitan population, the greater part of whom are Germans,
have seen it change hands no less than five times in twenty-one
months. The first sweep of the Russian offensive in September, 1914,
carried beyond it, but they had to capture it again two months later,
when they proceeded t