INVASION OF PRUSSIA
Within a week the Russian movement in eastern Germany assumed menacing proportions, the great army of invasion having moved rapidly, considering the natural obstacles. More than 800,000 men were sent over the border into Prussia. The Germans evacuated a number of towns, after setting them afire, and a considerable part of the Kaiser's eastern field forces was bottled up in military centers. Germany's active field force was at this time inferior in numbers to the invading army.
By the capture of Insterberg the Russians paralyzed one of the main German strategic centers and gained control of an important railroad. The German Twentieth Army Corps was reported to have been routed near Lyck. At the start the Russian forces extended from Insterberg to Goldapp, a distance of about thirty-two miles. Seventy-five miles further on was the first of the two strong German lines of fortifications.
Early victories were claimed by the Russians in their advance into Austria, which was made slowly. Austria then turned to fight the Russian invasion. It was forced to gather all its forces for this principal struggle and hence retired from offensive operations against the Servians. Unless she could halt the Russians pouring in from the north, a success against Servia could do her no good.
By the first of September the Russian advance into East Prussia was well under way and the strong fortress of Königsberg was in danger of a siege, German troops were being rushed to its defense. In Galicia there were fierce encounters between the Russian invaders and the Austrians. Several victories were claimed by the Russians all along the line and whole brigades of Austrian troops were reported destroyed, while the Russian losses were also admittedly heavy. The fiercest fighting occurred in the vicinity of Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, which was soon to fall to General Russky. The Austrian attack on Russian Poland failed and the Austrians were driven back across their own frontier. The Russians were seeking to destroy the hope of the Kaiser for help from Austria in Eastern Germany, where the Russian advance, ridiculed or belittled by Germany before it began, became more menacing every day. The German war plans had contemplated a quick, decisive blow in France and then a rapid turn to the East to meet the Russians with a tremendous force. But the belligerency of the Belgians and the cooperation of the British balked these plans, while the Russians moved faster than was expected by their foe. Austria had failed everywhere to stop the Czar's forces, and then came a crushing blow to Austrian hopes in a ruinous defeat near Lemberg and the loss of that fortress.
THE FALL OF LEMBERG
The capture of Lemberg from the Austrians early in September after a four days' battle was one of the striking Russian successes of the war. Details reached the outer world on September 10th from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) as follows, the story being that of an eyewitness:
"The commencement of the fighting which resulted in the capture of Lemberg began August 29th, when the Russians drove the enemy from Zisczow (forty-five miles east of Lemberg) and moved on to Golaya Gorka—a name which means 'the naked hill.'
"We spent the night on Naked Hill, and the actual storming of the town was begun at 2:30 o'clock in the morning. Then followed a four days' battle. A virtually continuous cannonade continued from dawn to darkness without cessation.
"Even in the darkness the weary fighters got little sleep. Whenever a single shot was heard the men dashed for their places and the battle boiled again with renewed fury.