November 7, 1914 
LAND AND WATER 
THE WAR BY LAND. 
By HILAIRE BELLOG. 
NOTE. — ^THIS UiTIOLS HAS BEEN EUBKITTED TO THB PBBSS BUREAr, TVHICH DOES KOT OBJECT TO THB PUBLICATION AS CEXSOEED 
A^■D TAKES XO KESPOKSIHILI'IT TOE TH» OOKllECTKKSS OF THB STATEMENTS. 
m ACCOBDAXCE Wn'H THE EEQTTIEElIEi'TS OP TUB PRESS BtTREATT, TE» POSITIONS Oy TliOOPS ON FLAK3 ILHSTP.ATIXO THia 
ABTICLI JIUST ONLY HI EBQABDED AS APPEOXIMATI, AND NO DEFINITB STBEKQTH AT ANT POINT IS IJIDICATED. 
OPERATIONS IN POLAND. 
Tuesday afternoon, Noveviber 3rd, 1914. 
y 
RUSSIAN 
AUSTUO-GIRMAN 
TBS EASTERN FtELO Or WAS. 
WITH the great battle line in the East of 
Europe the readers of these notes are 
already sufficiently familiar. Its main 
tlieatre is the basin of the River Vistula ; 
its extent, though broken, a matter of nearly 400 
miles ; and the territory over which the struggle is 
taking place is that of Poland. 
That struggle still consists, as it has consisted for 
now over eight weeks, in two groups of very different 
importance. The main group, A-B-C, involves some- 
thing not far short of four millions of men, or at any 
rate over three and a half millions, and the theatre of 
their action is the Middle Vistula and the course of the 
lliver San. The second group, in which, all told, less 
than a million and perhaps not more than half a 
million are as yet engaged, is the groiip J), which 
is at issue upon the frontier between East Prussia and 
the Eussian Emphe, a week's march west of the 
Eiver Niemen. 
While the whole line thus divides itself into two 
main bodies of very unequal size, the larger body, 
A-B-C, should again be divided, for reasons which 
will presently appear, into two limbs, A-B and B-C, 
the first consisting in the defence by the Russians of, 
and the retreat by the Germans from, the [Middle 
Vistula ; the second, the fighting along and across the 
River San. 
Further, we must add in a separate and distant 
comer of the whole field,, in that little Austrian pro- 
vince kno'svn as Bukoviua, to the eastward of Galicia, 
a distinct Austrian effort, which includes the approach 
to and perhaps the occupation of the town of 
CzemoTvitz. 
The most notable feature is this general line, 
especially in its present disj^osition, is the separation 
between the gi'oup acting in the north at D, and 
the group acting in the south from A to C ; and before 
proceeding to the main actions upon the Vistula and 
the San, we should do well to note the nature of the 
fighting upon the frontier of East Prussia, for it con- 
veys an important political lesson upon the nature of 
this great European war. 
(A.)— THE FIGHTING UPON THE 
EAST PRUSSIAN FRONTIER. 
In spite of the need in M'hich, as we shall see later, 
the Austro-German forces stand in the south 
of reinforcement, a strong German body is kept 
isolated upon the frontier between East Prussia 
and the Russian Empire, just in front of the lino 
Suwalki-Augustowo. It will be remembered that 
these Gennan armies, after their considerable success 
at Tannenburg in the early part of September, 
following upon the Russian invasion of East Prussia, 
advanced rapidly and in some force towards the line of 
the River Niemen. It will fm-ther be remembered how 
they tried to cross this river and failed, were pursued to 
the fi*ontier, beaten by the Russians in the Battle of 
Augustowo, and compelled to give up the siege of 
Osowiec, which they had undertaken. There was 
even for a moment a ceiiain penetration of East 
Prussia by the Russian columns ; and it was not 
until the German forces had rallied that this Russian 
counter-advance was checked. Since that moment 
(now nearly a month ago) the two enemies have faced 
each^^other almost exactly upon the frontier itself. 
How closely the frontier corresponds with this 
"block" the sketch map on the top of the next 
page will show. It concerns but a small though 
the more important southern part of the general 
line in this region. So far as can be judged 
from the official descnptions upon both sides, the 
forces stand very much as they are given in this 
map. The railway junction at Lyck, which was for 
a moment threatened by the Russians, is again in 
GeiTnan hands; a large Russian force defends the 
village of Bakalarshewo, holding a strong position 
upon a bluff between two of the' lakes that mark this 
region. Heavy German efforts to force this position 
have failed. The line goes down southward in a 
cordon almost exactly corresponding to the frontier, 
thougli the Russian forces arc often slightly across it, 
especially in the neighbourhood of Lake Rayi-od. 
Finally, the Russian forces are astraddle of the main 
