ripet River the line reached the Styr River and followed its many
turns for some thirty miles, now on its western bank and then again on
its eastern shore. This river was crossed between Czartorysk and
Kolki. About thirty miles south of Kolki, just to the east of the
village of Olyka the Russians had succeeded in maintaining a small
salient, the apex of which was directed toward their lost fortress of
Lutsk almost twenty miles to the west, while the southern side passed
very close to that other fortress, Dubno, even though it ran still
some distance to the east of it. Crossing then the Lemberg-Rovno
railroad, the line ran along both banks of the Sokal River to Ikva and
crossed the Galician border near Novo Alexinez.

A short distance south of the border, about twenty miles, it crossed
the Lemberg-Tarnopol railroad, at Jesierne, a little town about sixty
miles east of Lemberg and less than twenty miles west of Tarnopol. Ten
miles further south the Strypa River was crossed and followed within a
mile or so along its west bank for a distance of some twenty miles,
passing west of Burkanow and Buczacz. Just south of the latter town
the line overspread both banks of the Strypa up to its junction with
the Dniester, thence along the banks of this stream for almost twenty
miles to a point about ten miles west of the junction of the Sereth
River with the Dniester. At that point the line took another slight
turn to the east, passing just east of the city of Czernowitz, and
crossing at that point the river Pruth into the Austrian province of
Bukowina. Less than ten miles southeast of Czernovitz the border of
Rumania was reached near Wama and thereby the end of the line.

As the crow flies, the length of this line, from the Gulf of Riga to
the Rumanian border was six hundred and twenty miles. Actually,
counting its many turns and twists and salients, it covered more than
seven hundred and fifty miles. From the Gulf to the Pripet River the
eastern front was held by German troops with one single exception.

From there an Austrian army corps with only a very slight admixture of
German troops completed the front of the Central Empires down to the
Bessarabian border.

[Illustration: Eastern Battle Front, August, 1916.]

From the Gulf of Riga down to the Oginski Canal five distinct German
army corps were facing the Russians. The most northern of these
covered the Gulf section and the Dvina front down to a point near
Friedrichstadt. Th