On October 5 Servian troops were reported to have begun a northeast advance from Semlin, to effect a junction with two Russian columns advancing southward in Hungary. One of these columns was then assaulting a fortress in Northwest Hungary, sixty-six miles southeast of Olmutz, while the other was descending the valley of the Nagyan against Huszt in the province of Marmaros. This latter province or county, which the Russians invaded through the Carpathian passes, lies in the northeast of Hungary, bordering on Galicia, Bukowina and Transylvania. There was a legend that the eastern Carpathians are impregnable, but this legend was destroyed by the Russian invasion.
Before attaining Uzsok pass, in the Carpathians, the Russians successively captured by a wide flanking movement three well-masked positions which were strongly defended by guns. Each time the Russians charged the enemy fled and the Russians followed up the Austrian retreat with shrapnel and quick fire, inflicting heavy losses.
German troops joined the Austrian forces in Hungary and at some points succeeded in repulsing the invaders, though their general advance was not decisively checked and they continued the endeavor to effect a junction with the Servians to the south. Advices from Budapest, October 6, declared that the Russians had captured Marmaros-Sziget, capital of the county of Marmaros, necessitating the removal of the government of that department to Huszt, twenty-eight miles west-northwest of Sziget. A second Russian column was reported to be threatening Huszt and Austro-German reinforcements were being hurried up to check the Russian advance.
CHAPTER XIV
STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD
Thrilling Incidents of the Great War Told by Actual Combatants —Personal Experiences from the Lips of Survivors of the World's Bloodiest Battles—Tales of Prisoners of War, Wounded Soldiers and Refugees Rendered Homeless in Blighted Arena of Conflict.
HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING