762 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Typical Battle Ground In Galicia 

 country like this protected by \vire entanglements made the advance of one side or the other slow 

 ant) difficult and thousands of russians, germans ant3 austrian's have met death in sanguinary 

 battles in the heavy woods 



obvious that the enemy was making a 

 stand only long enough to permit him 

 to get out his impedimenta at his 

 leisure, it is equally true that there have 

 been other actions where he had not 

 the slightest idea in the world of leaving 

 unless he was forced. 



"The best illustration of this is the 

 battle which seems to be known in a 

 vague way as the battle of Ivangrod. 

 I have asked many people in the last 

 few days what they knew of this action. 

 All seemed to be aware in a general 

 way that it was an important Russian 

 victory. Some said it was a German- 

 Austrian rearguard action; but few 

 seemed to know any of the details of 

 the contest which, in any other war 

 that this world has ever seen, would 

 have filled books with its details of 

 fierce hand-to-hand fighting. As far 

 as I know there is nothing in the history 

 of war, with the possible exception of 

 the American battle of the Wilderness, 

 that can touch this event I speak of; 

 and the Virginia campaign, as regards 



losses, duration, and men engaged, 

 was a mere skirmish compared with 

 this. Yet here a few weeks afterwards, 

 beyond the mere fact of it having taken 

 place and having been won by the 

 Russians, practically nothing is known 

 about it. 



"I shall not attempt to describe the 

 military or strategic aspects of this 

 desperate spot, because if one begins on 

 historical relation of battles in this 

 war there is absolutely no ending. I 

 shall, however, sketch just a little of it, 

 to indicate the nature of the work that 

 the Russian soldiers did here. For in 

 no battle of the whole war, on any front, 

 has the fibre, determination and courage 

 of troops been put more severely to the 

 test than in this one. The German 

 programme, as has been pointed out, 

 contemplated taking both Warsaw and 

 Ivangrod and the holding for the 

 winter of the line formed by the Vistula 

 between the two. The Russians took 

 the offensive from Ivangrod, crossed 

 the river and, after hideous fighting 



