were fairly even.

In the center the Russian advance covered an extensive plain, known as
the Romintener Heide. There, too, continuous fighting, a great deal of
which was carried on at night, involved usually only comparatively small
formations and the result was equally indecisive.

The Russian left wing had been more successful. It had fought its way
across the border and taken Wargrabova. The Germans, however, succeeded
in retaking this place as early as October 9, 1914, pursuing the
Russians and finally stormed their strong intrenchments a week later.
The country here is slightly elevated and the Russians had dug
themselves in rather elaborately. Manyfold rows of trenches, in some
places six and eight deep, had been thrown up around the small village
of Vielitzken which suffered severely during the German onrush.

In the meantime another attempt to take Lyck had succeeded. The direct
road through Osowiec was not available on account of the German force
located there. So the Russians sent a division forward from Lomsha
which, taking Bialla, reached Lyck on October 8, 1914. The Germans,
lacking sufficient forces for a successful defense, withdrew not only
from Lyck, but also from before Osowiec.

But by October 13,1914, the Niemen Army's advance into East Prussia had
been either forced back or delayed to such an extent that this
comparatively weak Russian advance in the extreme south was out of touch
with the main forces of the Niemen Army, and therefore in turn was
withdrawn.

This practically finished the second Russian invasion of East Prussia.
The German forces gradually cleared all of their country of the enemy
and followed him even into his own territory. But although continuous
fighting went on during the last week of October, again chiefly around
Augustovo and Bakalartshev, the Russians for the time being contented
themselves with a defensive policy, just as the Germans were satisfied
with their success in preventing the Russian advance without going over
to a clean offensive.

CHAPTER LXXVII

FIRST GERMAN DRIVE AGAINST WARSAW

We have already spoken of the strategic position of Russian Poland, of
its vulnerability, exposed as it is to attack from the Central Powers on
three sides, and finally what Russia had done to strengthen Poland's
natural line of defense, the Vistula River, by building fortresses on
its most important points. It may be well to recall here that the lower
part of this ri