Zone Maps
The maps on this and the following page show the position of the more important battle fronts on August 1, 1916—both as a whole, and in detailed form. Instructive and interesting as these works are, the real significance of what they portray can be grasped only with reference to the relative position of the lines and positions shown on corersponding dates in the preceding two years.
The great battle fronts are, of course, those known as the western and eastern—the western line being the line of the Franco-British-Belgian and German forces in Belgium and northern France—chiefly in the latter country.
The eastern battle line shown by the blue line on the large map, as the Austro-German, Russian, lying for the most part, in what was formerly Russian territory, and extending from the Gulf of Riga on the north to the Rumanian border on the south—with this length of line are included several great areas on which the great campaigns of this front have been fought.
The short and stubbornly bold line between the battling forces is shown in the bright yellow segment. It will be noted that this line follows rather closely the frontier division between Austria and Italy—and also that it is, for the most part, in the region of the Alps.
The Balkan battle front on August 1, 1916, extended from the borders of Montenegro, on the Adriatic sea, to the southern part of Bulgaria-Kavala. Within it are included the whole of Serbia, and a small portion of Greek territory.
If we examine, somewhat more in detail, in the smaller maps we shall be able to arrive at some idea of the changes in the combating lines within the two years. On August 7, 1914, there was, of course, no battle line on the western front. Several weeks later, however, such lines were established, and, in a large sense, they have been little changed. Such gains and losses as were made by the opposing forces on this line between September, 1914, and August 1, 1916, would scarcely make a perceptible dent in this line of over 300 miles.
On the eastern front the situation is quite different. Nothing could have been less stable than this line of battle. Had a map been drawn shortly after August 1, 1914, the line would have shown little of a battle front. An examination of a map of this front made on August 1, 1915, would have shown the German lines near Warsaw, upon which they closed in on August 5. Other Russian fortresses, now well within the German lines, would have shown the German forces closing in. Between the two August dates of 1915 and 1916 mighty strongholds on this front were lost and won, now by the Austro-Germans, now by the Russians. Never in the history of war have there been such reversals as took place between 1914 and 1916 on the territoy shown in this map.
On the Austro-Italian front, shown in detail in the lower right hand on the following page, comparatively little change would be shown by comparison with maps of the same territory in previous months.
From the first establishment of these lines during the first months following the declaration of war by Italy the warfare carried on gained little ground for either side. An examination of the nature of the country, as indicated on the map, will provide a sufficient reason for this. It is a mountain region, difficult for travel in normal times, but for military operations stupendously difficult. The line follows almost exactly the frontier between the two countries.