reat commander. He had outmaneuvered von
Hindenberg again and again, and though finally the Russian armies under
his command had been driven back, the retreat itself was a proof of his
military ability, not only in its conception, but in the way in which it
was done.

The Emperor chose General Alexieff as his Chief of General Staff. He was
the ablest of the great generals who had been leading the Russian army.
With this change in command a new spirit seemed to come over Russia. The
German advance, however, was not yet completely checked. It was
approaching Vilna.

The fighting around Vilna was the bitterest in the whole long retreat.
On the 18th of September it fell, but the Russian troops were safely
removed and the Russian resistance had become strong. Munitions were
pouring into the new Russian army. The news from the battle-front began
to show improvement. On September 8th General Brussilov, further in the
south, had attacked the Germans in front of Tarnopol, and defeated them
with heavy loss. More than seventeen thousand men were captured with
much artillery. Soon the news came of other advances. Dubno was retaken
and Lutsk.

The end of September saw the German advance definitely checked. The
Russian forces were now extended in a line from Riga on the north, along
the river Dvina, down to Dvinsk. Then turning to the east along the
river, it again turned south and so on down east of the Pripet Marshes,
it followed an almost straight line to the southern frontier. Its two
strongest points were Riga, on the Gulf of Riga, which lay under the
protection of the guns of the fleet, and Dvinsk, through which ran the
great Petrograd Railway line. Against these two points von Hindenburg
directed his attack. And now, for the first time in many months, he met
with complete failure. The German fleet attempted to assist him on the
Gulf of Riga, but was defeated by the Russian Baltic fleet with heavy
losses. A bombardment turned out a failure and the German armies were
compelled to retire.

[Illustration: Map: Riga and Surroundings.]
THE GERMAN ATTACK ON THE ROAD TO PETROGRAD

A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equally
unsuccessful and the German losses were immense. Again and again the
attempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; the
German invasion was definitely stopped. By the end of October there was
complete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, and
though in