y-five
degrees. From the lower or southern shoulder of the jar the Third
Austro-Hungarian Army pushes forward inside, supported on its right by
Boehm-Ermolli, who had been just inside a long time, but could get no
farther. They began to shepherd the Russian troops around and in the
western passes toward the lower double-edged blade of Von Mackensen's
terrible scissors. The Russian retreat to the Wisloka was a serious
disaster for Dmitrieff; he had been caught napping, and had to pay
dearly in men and guns for not having created a row of alternative
positions. His force had been a cover for Brussilov's operations on
both sides of the western passes as well as for the whole Russian line
in the Carpathians. Now that Von Mackensen had pried the lid off,
Brussilov's men in the south encountered enormous difficulties in
extricating themselves from the Carpathian foothills, suddenly
transformed from comparative strongholds into death-traps and no
longer tenable. They suffered severely, especially the Forty-eighth
Division.

Besides the menace from the northwest of Von Mackensen's swiftly
approaching right, a third blade was gradually growing on the deadly
scissors, in the shape of Boehm-Ermolli's and Von Bojna's forces,
threatening to grind them between two relentless jaws of steel. It is
Sunday, the second day of May, 1915; to all intents and purposes the
battle of the Dunajec, as such, was over, and the initial aim of the
Germanic offensive has been attained. The Russian line was pierced and
its defense shattered. Von Mackensen's "Phalanx" was advancing two
mighty tentacles guided by a master mind, remorselessly probing for
the enemy's strongest points. Its formation comprised, in the
northeastern tentacle, the Sixth Austro-Hungarian Army Corps and the
Prussian Guards; in the southern, the Bavarians under Von Emmich and
the Tenth Austro-Hungarian Army corps under General Martiny.

On May 3, 1915, Dmitrieff's troops were falling back farther every
hour, continuously fighting rear-guard actions and compelling the
pursuers to conquer every foot of ground. There was a powerful reason
for this stubborn retirement: it was to gain time for Brussilov to get
his men out of their perilous positions and to join the main line
again with Dmitrieff's receding ranks. If this could be effected, the
fatal gap between them--made by Von Mackensen's battering-ram--would
be repaired, and they could once more present a united front to the
enem