rth, east, and
south. Behind its defenses, what was left of Von Auffenberg's army took
refuge.

The Austrians also had met with reverses where Dankl's army had been
falling back before the troops of Generals Ewarts and Plehve. It has
been shown that the continuity of the Austrian defenses had not been
effective in the region northwest of Rawa-Russka, though it extended
beyond the frontier between Tomaszow and Tarnograd. After the conflict
at Tomaszow, the line of the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand above Rawa-Russka
to that place had been bent back on the Rawa-Russka-Jaroslav railroad,
while the main body of Dankl's troops fell back on the line of the San.

Never was the Russian pressure on its rear relaxed. The pressure was
especially strong from the Russian right which had fought the battle of
Krasnik, after clearing the Opolie-Truobin district. The larger portion
of the Austrian troops crossed the San near its junction with the
Vistula. Probably they hoped that while they might place themselves, on
the other side, in touch with the Austrian railroads, the river would be
a barrier behind them against the Russians.

It appears that General Dankl, anticipating the necessity of falling
back across the San, had been sending his transports back in advance of
his retreat, almost from the time the retreat began. In fact, some of
the transport trains had been sighted and subjected to shell fire as
early as September 9, 1914, from the left bank of the Vistula. Not until
September 12 did the army itself reach the banks of the San.

Two heavy rear guards, to north and east, were left to hold back the
oncoming Russians, while the main body and the baggage were crossing the
river on September 12. The Vistula protected the left of one of these
rear guards, the San protected the right of the other. Thus the two
formed an arch between the two streams.

Marshy ground made difficult the attack on their front, but,
nevertheless, they seem to have been unable to prevent the Russians from
piercing the screen before the crossing of the river had been completed.
There was great slaughter. The Russians claimed that they took 30,000
prisoners. The artillery of the Russians was highly effective in
shelling the bridges while the Austrians were passing over them in solid
masses. Beside the large number of those killed by shell fire many were
reported to have been forced into the water and to have drowned.

Neither was there respite for the Austr