LAND AND WATEE 
November 14, 1914 
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60 enters Gemian territorv. The extreme north of 1 
this line touched the Warta near Kolo. The south 
of it passed througli Czestochowa, and was thence 
continued to the neighbourhood of Cracow. 
The southern part of the whole line thus falling 
back similarly relied upon a line of railway, that 
running from Ivano^orod throuarh Eadom and Kielce 
to the placewhere the three Empires meet. The extreme 
south-eastern end of it stiU hung on to Sandomir. 
Apparently the order for the Austrian and German 
forces to retii-e as a whole from the Vistula and the 
San together was either not suggested, or not given, or 
if given, not obeyed ; and the enemy was still clinging 
to Sandomir at the junction of the two rivers on the 
same day (November 3rd) which saw his expulsion 
from Kielce (at which place he lost a certain number 
of prisoners and machine guns). 
It was precisely because he had hung on to 
Sandomir so long that the capture of this place by 
the Russians became of such great importance. 
It is evident from the sketch map above that 
after Sandomir was taken last Tuesday v;eek the 
southernmost bodies of the Austro-Gerraan forces in 
the neighbourhood of Sandomir had all to cross the 
Vistula southwai-d in the direction of the arrows 
C C C, with the exception of some small portion 
that may have been able to retire directly south- 
westward in the direction of the arrow B ; while the 
main part of this southern group near Kielce u.sed 
the railway for their retirement. The liussian cavalry 
pushed forward and, on November 6th, last Friday, 
had crossed the Eiver Nida, and the next day, 
Saturday, the Eiver Nidi.sca, 10 miles further on. On 
that da}- the Austro-Germau line north of the-Vistula 
lad been pushed back to some such front as is 
indicated upon the map by the line of dashes, 
stretching from the neighbourhood of Ploeschen to the 
positions in front of Cracow, and was presumably 
continued somewhat south of the Vistula in tiie 
direction I have indicated by an interrogation mark. 
The whole Austro-German reti-eat was now back upon 
an averagre more than a hundred miles from the 
line of the Vistula, which it had attemped to force 
three weeks before. 
But it had left, dangerously far to the eastward, 
along the Hirer San, the remainder of the Austrian 
forces irhich should have l-ej)* in line with this retreat. 
V/ith the effect of that too prolonged delay upon the 
San I will deal in a moment. But before leaving 
this maia subject of the German retreat from the 
Vistula we have to ask ourselves, first, how far the 
Austro-German force has suffered in this retreat, and, 
secondly, where this retreat is likely to end and a 
German stand to be made against the Eussian 
tide, with the chances of success that stand may 
have. 
As to the first of these questions : The answer 
must be that the German retreat has been orderly 
and apparently inexpensive. What losses it has 
involved in killed and wounded we do not know, but 
there is no Eussian account of any considerable 
capture here of prisoners or of guns. It is, as might 
be expected, the southern part of the general retirement 
— where the Austrian were the princii^al contingents — 
tliat has suffered most heavily. But even tliere the 
losses of the enemy, chiefly in front of Kielce — which 
was defended apparently too long — were insignificant 
compared with their total forces. 
4* 
