uation of any fighting in front of them in case of defeat. They would
offer no kind of sustenance to troops driven within them.

Russia was not prepared to put into the field an army large enough to
hold the entire line from the Baltic to the Rumanian frontier,
approximately 1,000 miles, and there was no time, if part of the German
forces were to be diverted from the western front, to raise such forces
and equip them.

At the beginning of hostilities on August 11, 1914, the chief offensive
against Russia was intrusted to the First Austrian Army under General
Dankl. This was composed of about seven army corps, having various
additional units, or amounting in all to about 350,000 men. This army
had its base on Przemysl and Jaroslav, and the work which had been
assigned to it was to advance upward between the Vistula on the left
side and the Bug on the right, on to Lublin and Kholm. There it was to
sever and hold the Warsaw-Kiev railroad so the line would be exposed in
the direction of Brest-Litovsk and the chief communications in the rear
of Warsaw. The First Austrian Army, while it advanced to this position,
would have as protection from attack on its right and rear from the
east and south the Second Army under General von Auffenberg. This army,
advancing northeast from Lemberg, would control eastern Galicia from the
Bug to the Sereth and the Dniester.

The numerical strength of Von Auffenberg's army at the start probably
was about 300,000, and consisted of five army corps with five divisions
of cavalry. This, however, was only its initial strength. As hostilities
developed Von Auffenberg added to his strength until he is reported to
have had no less than six corps and additional cavalry. At first this
increase came from the Third or Reserve Army, over which Archduke Joseph
Ferdinand had command. While General Dankl was advancing toward Lublin
on August 28, 1914, being protected on his right flank by Von
Auffenberg, the army of the Archduke appears to have been pushed out in
a similar manner on the left.

CHAPTER LXIII

AUSTRIA TAKES THE OFFENSIVE

The Austrians crossed the Polish border on August 29, 1914, and moved on
as far as Kielce and toward Radom without encountering serious
opposition. That may have been as far as it was intended to proceed. In
all three of the armies of Austria there were about 1,000,000 men, and
against these forces were arrayed three Russian armies--a small force on
the Bug, whi