across the river, but
had even advanced some distance into the Bosnian hills.

CHAPTER LIV

END OF SECOND INVASION--BEGINNING OF THIRD

Thus the second Austrian invasion was checked. The strategy was,
perhaps, not so spectacular as in the first invasion, but the losses to
both sides had been much heavier. In killed, wounded and prisoners the
Austrians lost fully 30,000 of their men. There now followed a
situation somewhat similar to that up in northern France; both sides
were deeply intrenched and in some parts faced each other over only a
few yards of neutral ground. Again and again the Austrians delivered
attacks, attempting to break through the Serbian positions. All the arts
of trench warfare were employed by the Austrians to overcome the Serbian
resistance, but the Serbian engineers showed themselves at least their
equals in such maneuvers. At one time they successfully mined over a
hundred yards of Austrian trenches and blew 250 of its defenders into
the air.

As for the Serbians, their attempts to break through the Austrian
positions were fatally hampered by a shortage of ammunition. At one
point they did, in fact, succeed in breaking through and then suddenly
the ammunition supply came to an end and the Serbians had to retire
again, leaving the Austrians to return to the trenches from which they
had just been ejected.

Up in the northwest the Austrians also held a narrow strip of Serbian
territory, along the Drina from Kuriachista up, but with this small
exception they were confined to their side of the river until the
triangular tract in the northeast of the Matchva Plain was reached,
previously mentioned.

Along the Save from Parashnitza to Shabatz they had also attempted a
southward movement, where they were supported by five river monitors.
During the period of comparatively little activity which now followed
the Serbians were much worried by these monitors, which patrolled up and
down the river at night, throwing their searchlights on and exposing the
Serbian trenches. Then, too, they could hurl bombs into the Serbian
positions with almost absolute impunity, for whenever the Serbian shells
struck the heavy armor of these river fortresses they rolled off
harmlessly.

On the night of October 22, 1914, the Serbians sent some mines floating
down the river, one of which struck a monitor and sank it in deep water.

For nearly six weeks through November, 1914, this deadlock continued.
But durin