es which apparently had been beaten to a
standstill emerged again, stronger than ever in number and equipment,
to undertake a new offensive against the German masses.

Just previous to the fall of Warsaw the eastern front, roughly
speaking, was formed by the two sides of an equilateral triangle, with
the northern side starting from a point on the Gulf of Riga, about
forty miles northwest of Riga, and with the southern side starting
from Chotin on the River Dniester in Russian Bessarabia, very close to
the point where that Russian province touches Rumania and Galicia. The
apex was at Warsaw. When this apex caved in with the withdrawal of the
Russians, it followed logically that something had to happen to the
two lines that met there. That the Russians retreated from Warsaw on
account of some insurmountable difficulties which made the further
holding of this most important center impossible, is quite clear. It
has been established by now, almost beyond all doubt, that this step
became necessary because of insufficient munitions. But whether this
is so or not, it still remained true that whatever caused their
retreat from Warsaw would exert a similar influence on their capacity
to hold their second line of permanent fortifications. And events
immediately following the fall of Warsaw proved this contention.
Backward and backward fell the Russian lines during the following
weeks until by the end of October, 1915, the two sides of the
erstwhile triangle had disappeared entirely, and the Russian front was
found now along the base of the triangle stretching from Riga through
Friedrichstadt, through a point somewhat west of Dvinsk, thence almost
due south, skirting Pinsk slightly to the east, and again running
south in front of Rovno, entering Galicia at a point about halfway
between Zlochoff and Tarnopol, and following, slightly to the west,
the River Sereth to a point on the Dniester only a few miles west from
where it had ended in August, 1915.

How immense a loss this involved for the Russians can be easily seen
by a glance at a map. The territory that fell into German hands
exceeded 50,000 square miles, with millions of inhabitants, containing
some of the most valuable railway lines from a strategic point of
view, and including besides Warsaw such important places as Mitau,
Kovno, Vilna, Grodno, Bialystok, Brest-Litovsk, Ivangorod, Cholm,
Kovel, Pinsk. Though the Russians destroyed many of the railways,
drove off men and