e, dead Russians, dead horses, bellowing cattle,
and sounding over it all the words of command of our troops
endeavoring to create order in this mad mix-up, and to take care of
the rich booty. Many an interesting find did we make--'mementos' which
the Russians had taken with them from Prussia and which now were to
find their way back."

A German commander tells how, in their efforts to cut off the Russian
retreat, the artillery were compelled to cross many brooks running
through deep gullies, so that it was necessary frequently to lower
guns and wagons by means of ropes on one side and pull them up on the
other.

One of the German leaders, describing this encircling movement to the
southeast from the north in which he played a part, says: "The roads
and the weather were beyond all description--twelve to fifteen degrees
Reaumur, with a cutting wind and driving snow, with nothing to eat, as
the field kitchens on these roads could not follow. During pauses in
the march one could but lean against the wall of a miserable house or
lie down in the burned-out ruins, without straw to lie on and no
covering. Men and horses sank to their hips in the snow, and so we
worked our way forward, usually only about two kilometers an hour.
Wagons and horses that upset had to be shoveled out of the drifts. It
was a terrible sight, but we got through. We had to go on without
regard for anything, and the example of the higher officers did much."

Two Russian corps from the southern wing of the army retreating by the
Suwalki-Sejny causeway and by the Ossowetz Railway, according to
accounts from Russian sources, made their way out of the trap under
heavy rear-guard fighting.

The escaped portions of the Russian army crossed the Bobr toward
Grodno. From the direction of this Russian stronghold a desperate
effort was made to relieve the four corps which were endeavoring to
escape toward the fortress from the forest southeast of Augustowo into
which they had been pressed by the Germans from the west and north. On
the 21st of February came the final act in the great drama. The German
troops pushed forward at their best speed from all directions toward
the forest. The help that had been intended for them came too late.
Concerning the captures of this day, the German Great Headquarters
reported: "On the 21st of February the remnants of the Tenth Army laid
down their arms in the forest of Augustowo after all attempts of the
Russian commander of t