as especially the case in
the northern section, along the German-Russian frontier.

[Illustration: THE WAR IN THE EAST--THE RELATION OF THE EASTERN
COUNTRIES TO GERMANY]

As we view the armies marshaling along this upper section, along
the Baltic shore, southward, including part of East Prussia as well
as Baltic Russia, we look upon the ancient abode of the Lithuanians,
supposed to be the first of the Slavic tribes to appear in Europe.
Hardly any part of Europe has a more forbidding aspect than this
region. There the armies must pass over a flat, undulating country,
almost as low in level as the Baltic, and therefore occupied in large
part by marshes and lagoons through which they must struggle. In
all parts the soil is unproductive. At one time it was a universal
forest: thick, dark, and dank. A century ago, however, Catherine the
Great distributed large areas of this comparatively worthless land
among her favorites and courtiers. In this way a certain percentage
was reclaimed, and with the incoming of the sunlight more favorable
conditions for human life were established. Yet even now it is
very thinly settled.

Through this region the armies must cross big rivers: the Oder, Dvina,
Warthe, Vistula, Pregel, and Niemen, northward and northeastward.
Just above or eastward of that point, where the German-Russian
frontier touches the shore, the Baltic curls into a dent, 100 miles
deep, forming the Gulf of Riga. Near the southern extremity of
this gulf, eight miles from the mouth of the Dvina, is the city
of Riga, ranking second only to Petrograd in commercial importance
as a seaport, and with a population of about 300,000.

As the armies move across the frontier they come to a vast domain
projecting into this marsh country, like a great, broad tongue
licking the shore of the Baltic; this wide strip of German territory
is East Prussia--a country to be beleaguered. Not far below the
tip of this tongue, about five miles from the mouth of the Pregel
River in the Frische Haff, and about twenty-five miles from the
seacoast, is situated another embattled stronghold--the city of
Koenigsberg which, since 1843, has been a fortress of the first
rank. These two cities in the following pages will be the immediate
objectives of the enemy forces operating on this section of the
eastern front.

It will be obvious why the lines of battle were less permanently
fixed here than in the more solid and mountainous sections of northern
Fr