The German official statement claimed that these
prisoners belonged to seven different Russian regiments, giving
thereby an indication of the comparatively large masses of troops
employed on the Russian side.

Again on March 30, 1916, new attacks were launched in the same
locality. At one point the Germans were forced to withdraw a narrow
salient which protruded to a considerable distance just south of Lake
Narotch. Russian machine guns had been placed in such positions that
they enfiladed the salient in three directions and made it untenable.
The German line here was withdrawn a few hundred feet toward the
heights of Blisuiki. During the night of March 20, 1916, especially
violent attacks were again launched against the German lines between
Postavy and Vileity, a small village to the northwest of that town.
There the Russians succeeded in gaining a foothold in the German
trenches. During the afternoon the Russians attempted to extend this
success. With renewed violence they trained their guns on the German
positions. In order to throw back a strong German counterattack, a
curtain of fire was laid before the trenches stormed earlier in the
day. At the same time German artillery strongly supported the attack
of their infantry. On both sides the gunfire became so violent that
single shots could not be distinguished any longer. Shrapnel exploded
without cessation and rifle fire became so rapid that it sounded
hardly less loudly than the gunfire. Late in the afternoon the Germans
succeeded in retaking the trenches which they had lost in the morning,
capturing at that time the Russian victors of the morning to the
number of 600.

On the same day, March 21, 1916, the Russians extended the sphere of
their attack. At the same time that they were hammering away at the
German lines south of Dvinsk other attacks were launched all along the
northern front. In the Riga region, near the village of Plakanen, as
well as in the district south of Dahlen Island, heavy engagements were
fought. Farther south, between Friedrichstadt and Jacobstadt, on the
south bank of the Dvina River the Russians captured a Village and wood
east of Augustinhof.

At many other points, along the entire eastern front from Lake Narotch
south attacks developed. In most of these the Russians assumed the
initiative. But here and there--near Tverietch, just south of Vidzy;
along Lake Miadziol, just north of Lake Narotch, and around Lake
Narotch itself--the Ger