ty effort, and the secret was kept
with extraordinary success. The little conflicts in the Carpathians and
in East Prussia were meant to deceive, while a great army, with an
enormous number of guns of every caliber, and masses of ammunition, were
being gathered. The Russian commanders were completely deceived. There
had been no change in the generals in command except that General
Ruzsky, on account of illness, was succeeded by General Alexeiev. The
new German army was put under the charge of von Hindenburg's former
lieutenant, General von Mackensen. This was probably the strongest army
that Germany ever gathered, and could not have numbered less than two
millions of men, with nearly two thousand pieces in its heavy batteries.

On April 28th, the action began. The Austro-German army lay along the
left of the Donajetz River to its junction with the Biala, and along the
Biala to the Carpathian Mountains. Von Mackensen's right moved in the
direction of Gorlice. General Dmitrieff was compelled to weaken his
front to protect Gorlice and then, on Saturday, the 1st of May, the
great attack began. Under cover of artillery fire such as had never been
seen before bridges were pushed across the Biala and Ciezkowice was
taken. The Russian positions were blown out of existence. The Russian
armies did what they could but their defense collapsed and they were
soon in full retreat.

The German armies advanced steadily, and though the Russians made a
brave stand at many places they could do nothing. On the Wisloka they
hung on for five days, but they were attempting an impossibility. From
that time on each day marked a new German victory, and in spite of the
most desperate fighting the Russians were forced back until, on the
11th, the bulk of their line lay just west of the lower San as far as
Przemysl and then south to the upper Dniester. The armies were in
retreat, but were not routed. In a fortnight the army of Dmitrieff had
fallen back eighty-five miles.

The Grand Duke Nicholas by this time understood the situation. He
perceived that it was impossible to make a stand. The only thing to do
was to retreat steadily until Germany's mass of war material should be
used up, even though miles of territory should be sacrificed. It should
be a retreat in close contact with the enemy, so that the Austro-German
troops would have to fight for every mile. This meant a retreat not for
days, but perhaps for weeks. It meant that Przemysl must be