Russians there had
gradually gained some ground by a series of small engagements. About
the middle of the month the Austro-Germans launched a strong
counterattack and regained all the ground, inflicting at the same
time heavy losses on the Russians. At other points occasional
artillery duels took place, and at many places small local engagements
between outposts and patrol detachments occurred almost daily.

CHAPTER XXIII

WINTER AT THE EASTERN FRONT

With the beginning of December, 1916, the severity of the cold weather
became so pronounced that activities at the eastern front had to be
reduced to a minimum by both sides. During the first week of December,
1916, considerable fighting, however, continued in that part of the
Carpathians just north of the Rumanian border, especially in the
vicinity of Dorna Vatra and Kirlibaba. This, too, gradually decreased
in violence, and during the second week of the month only minor
engagements between outposts and the usual trench activities occurred.

On December 17, 1916, the Germans, after considerable artillery
preparation, started a more extensive offensive movement in the
vicinity of Great and Little Porsk, about twenty-one miles southeast
of Kovel. After considerable fighting, lasting all afternoon,
nightfall put a temporary stop to this undertaking. It was, however,
renewed during the early morning hours of the following day, and as a
result the Germans occupied small portions of the Russian positions.
These were held against a number of Russian counterattacks made during
the following days. Minor engagements also occurred on December 16,
17, and 18, 1916, near Kabarowce, northwest of Tarnopol; in the
Jezupol region of the river Bystrzyca between Stanislau and the
Dniester; southwest of Vale Putna in the extreme south of the
Bukowina; on the Narajowka River near Herbutow, about ten miles north
of Halicz; and near Augustowka south of Zboroff.

During the balance of December, 1916, nothing of importance happened
at any part of the eastern front, except that on December 25, 1916,
the Germans violently bombarded the Russian positions in the region
between Brody and Tarnopol in Galicia and farther south on the
Narajowka south of Brzezany.

The first few days in January, 1917, brought little change on the
eastern front. Engagements between small detachments occurred daily at
a number of places. None of these was of any importance.

On January 23, 1917, the Germans