ina, and either to force them back across their own frontiers,
or to turn the extreme end of their left flank. We have seen that
the Russian occupation of the Bukowina was more in the nature of
a political experiment than a serious military undertaking, and
that their forces in the province were not strong enough to indulge
in great strategical operations. Hence we may expect the Austrian
general's progress to be less difficult than that of his colleagues in
the western and central Carpathians. To some extent this presumption
is correct, for on February 18, 1915, after launching out from the
southern corner of the Bukowina at Kimpolung and via the Jablonitza
Pass down the Pruth Valley, they captured Czernowitz, and after that
Kolomea, whence the railway runs to Lemberg. Within three days
they reached Stanislawow, another important railway center, defended
by a small Russian force, and a big battle ensued. Altogether,
the Germanic troops in the Bukowina were reported at 50,000 in
number, though these were split up into two columns, one of which
was making but slow progress farther east.

Russian reenforcements were thrown into the town, and the struggle
for the railway, which lasted a week, appears to have been of a seesaw
nature, for no official reports of the fighting were issued by either
side. Still the Austrians pushed westward in the hope of reaching
the railways which supplied those Russian armies which were barring
the advance through the central passes. The Russians were forced to
withdraw from Stanislawow, and their opponents now held possession
of the line running to Stryj and Przemysl--a serious menace to the
Russian main communications. This meant that Von Pflanzer-Baltin
had succeeded in getting to the rear of the Russians. But assistance
came unexpectedly from the center, whence Ivanoff was able to send
reenforcements to his colleague, General Alexeieff, who was continually
falling back before the Austrians. Furious counterattacks were
delivered by the Russians at Halicz and Jezupol, the bridgeheads
of the southern bank of the Dniester. If the Austrians could not
force a victory at these points, their position in Stanislawow
would be untenable, since the Russians still had a clear road to
pour reenforcements into the fighting area between the Dniester and
the Carpathians. On March 1, 1915, the Austrians were defeated at
Halicz in a pitched battle, and on the 4th the Russians reentered
Stanislawow. Accordi