hours of furious shelling and
only half the town is now remaining. The Russian infantry again proved
its sterling quality, and, supported by the tremendous fire of its own
guns, drove home charge after charge, smashing the German resistance
completely. By nightfall out of two army corps, numbering 80,000 men,
there remained only a remnant.

The number of prisoners reaches the total of about 20,000, and of the
remainder fully 80 per cent, were killed or wounded. This is the
estimate supplied to me. Owing to the small area on which the fighting
was concentrated, the dead are lying in great mounds and walls at points
where the charges were pushed home. For miles the countryside is dotted
with dead.

In the sparser grounds an unknown number of fugitives, most of whom are
wounded, are lurking in the woods. From Rawa, south of Skierniwice,
midway between Lodz and Warsaw, to Lodz on the line of the former German
retreat and present advance, not a single village remains. All the
burned-out district is utterly desolate.

On Dec. 1, 2, and 3 the force conducting the defense of the town of Lodz
was all but surrounded. The German positions were at Royicie on the
southern road, within four miles of the long, straggling street which
comprises most of the town of Lodz, while at Zgierz, seven miles to the
north, they had a battery of heavy guns with which they shelled the town
itself, killing several hundred civilians. The fire was chiefly directed
on the railway and station and the Russian guns were unable for some
time to locate the battery. It was discovered and reconnoitred at last
by an aeroplane.

[Illustration: The War in the East (with Net Change of Battle Line Up
to Jan, 1, 1915) from Eastern Prussia to Galicia.]

Then followed an act of heroism and harebrained enterprise which is now
the talk of the whole army. On Thursday night last the Colonel of
Artillery made his way out and with a little group of assistants
contrived to drag a field telephone wire within half a mile of the
German battery. While a searchlight was swinging over the face of the
country, he lay on the ground, and from there directed the Russian guns,
which with his help actually succeeded in silencing the battery. The
Russian guns were at this time placed in the streets of Lodz.

On Thursday night, when the attack culminated, there were 700 guns in
action at one time on both sides, and throughout the night all was
alight with flashes from the guns an