NoTcmber 7, 1914 
LAKD AND WATEB 
THE WAR BY LAND. 
By HILAIRE BELLOG. 
NOTE. — THIS ^BTICU HAS BBasN SUBMITTED TO THE I-EESS BUREAU, T\ HICH DOES NOT OBJECT TO THM PUBLICATION AS CENSOEKD 
AND TAKES NO liBSPONSIBLLlTT TOE THB COBKKCTNKSS OF THK STATEMENTS. 
IN ACCOBDAKCn WITH TUB EKCJDIT.aJIENTS OF TBS TKESS BUEEAU, TUB POSITIONS 0¥ TBOOPS ON PLANS ILLrSlTlATINO THIS 
ABTICLH MUST ONLY BB BSGABDKD AS APPKOHMATB, AND NO DEFINITH STEENQTH AT ANY POIMT IS INDICATED, 
OPERATIONS IN POLAND. 
Tuesday afternoon, November Zrd, 1914. 
i I 
THM XASTXBN FIZLD OF WAB, 
WITH the great battle line in the East of 
Europe the readers o£ these notes are 
already sufficiently familiar. Its main 
theatre 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 
River San. The second gi'oup, in which, all told, less 
than a million and perhajxs not more than half a 
miUion are as yet engaged, is the group D, which 
is at issue upon the frontier bctw-een East Prussia and 
the Russian Empu'e, a week's march west of the 
River Niemen. 
While the whole line thus divides itself into two 
main bodies of very unequal size, the hirger 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 fi-om, 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^vn as Bukovina, 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 disposition, is the separation 
between the group acting in the north at I), 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 uj)on 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 TPIE 
EAST PRUSSIAN FRONTIER. 
In spite of the need in which, as Ave shall see later, 
the Austro-Gennan forces stand in the soutli 
of reinforcement, a strong German body is kept 
isolated upon the frontier betv\^een East Prussia 
and the Russian Empire, just in front of the line 
Suwalki-Augustowo. It wiU be remembered that 
these German armies, after their considerable success 
at Tannenburg in the early part of September, 
following upon the Russian invasion of East Prassia, 
advanced rapidly and in some force towards the line of 
the River Niemen. It will f ui-ther be remembered how 
they tried to cross this river and failed, were pursued to 
the frontier, beaten by the Russians in the Battle of 
Aug^istowo, and compelled to give up the siege of 
Osowiec, which they had undertaken. There was 
even for a moment a certain 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 descriptions iipon 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 
Gennan hands; a large Russian force defends the 
village of Bakalarshewo, holding a strong position 
upon a bluff between two of thejakes 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 tlie frontier, 
though the Russian forces are often slightly across it, 
especially in the neighbourhood of Lake Rayrod. 
Finally, the Russian forces are astraddle of the main 
1* 
