attery. There is nothing in warfare quite like the furious onslaught
of the little men of the steppes on their wiry ponies.

[Illustration: Painting]
HIDE AND SEEK IN THE BALTIC
A Zeppelin flying over a British submarine in the stormy sea.

[Illustration: Map bounded by Koenigsberg on the North, Warsaw on the East,
Cracow on the South and Posen on the West.]
THE EASTERN FIGHTING ZONE

East Prussia, therefore, had a sentimental importance in the eyes of the
Prussian nobility. The Prussian Royal House, in particular, had toward
this country an especial regard. Moreover, it was regarded by the
Germans as a whole as their rampart against the Slav, a proof of the
German power to withstand the dreaded Russian. That this sacred soil
should now be in the hands of a Cossack army was not to be borne. The
Kaiser acted at once.

Large forces were detached from the west and sent to the aid of the
eastern army. A new commander was appointed. He was General von
Hindenburg, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War who had been for some
years retired. After his retirement he devoted his time to the study of
East Prussia, especially the ground around the Masurian Lakes. He became
more familiar with its roads, its fields, its marshes, its bogs than any
of the peasants who spent their lives in the neighborhood of the lakes.
Before his retirement, in the annual maneuvers, he had often rehearsed
his defense against Russian invaders. Indeed report, perhaps unfounded,
described his retirement to the displeasure of the Emperor William at
being badly worsted in one of these mimic combats. He had prevented the
country from being cleared and the swamps from being drained, arguing
that they were worth more to Germany than a dozen fortresses. A man of
rugged strength, his face suggesting power and tenacity, he was to
become the idol of the German people.

His chance had come. His army consisted of remnants of the forces of von
Francois and large reinforcements sent him from the west. In all,
perhaps, he had with him 150,000 men, and he had behind him an admirable
system of strategic railways.

The Russian High Command was full of confidence. Rennenkampf had
advanced with the Army of the Niemen toward Koenigsberg, whose fall was
reported from time to time, without foundation. Koenigsberg was in fact
impregnable to armies no stronger than those under Rennenkampf's
command. Samsonov with the Army of the Narev, had pushed on to the
nor