ent, the first step must be a close study
of this railroad situation.

We find from Riga to the fortress of Rovno there is a continuous
line of railroad, running generally north and south and passing
through Dvinsk, Vilna, Lida, Rovno, and thence down through Poland
to Lemberg. Every effort of the Russian armies in the succeeding
chapters will be made to keep to the westward of and parallel to
this line, and for a very good reason.

Feeding into this great north and south artery are the branch lines
from Petrograd to Dvinsk; from Moscow to the junction at Baranovitschi;
from Kiev to Sarny. Aside from these three important branch lines,
there are a few other single-track offshoots, but from a military
point of view they are of no importance.

This line was the main objective (short of capturing Riga itself)
of the German operations. This line proves especially vital to
the Russians, for nowhere east of it is there another such line
which could be used for the same purpose.

If, in the campaigns to be described, this railroad falls into Russian
hands, it gives every facility for strengthening or reenforcing any
part of the Russian front where German pressure becomes excessive. It
is, in addition, a solution to the difficult problem of transportation
of supplies. To use a military term, it gives the Russian army a
mobility not possessed by the enemy because of a lack of similar
facilities.

But should this railroad be taken by the Germans, the advantage
would immediately be reversed. And if once the Russian lines were
driven back beyond the railroad, a division of their forces would be
forced upon them; their armies would be obliged to group themselves
beside the three east and west branches already mentioned, for only
by these three systems could their forces be supplied, lateral
communications being absolutely lacking. And this is the key to
the fighting, not only in the northern section of the front, but
all along the line, down to Galicia. Naturally, only the Russian
railroads need be considered, for in the first months of the war
the Germans are the invaders in the northern half of the eastern
front, except for a few short periods in the beginning. Compared
to the German railway lines near the frontier, the Russian lines
are very few.

There are two distinct railway lines running from Germany into
East Prussia, with innumerable branches leading to all points of
the Russian frontier, laid especially for milita