tyn from
Debreczen to Kolomea. So far as concerned means of communication,
matters were nearly equal, but geographical advantage lay with the
Russians, as the way from Galicia to Hungary is by far an easier
one than vice versa.

[Footnote *: There are two passes named Beskid.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXIV

BATTLE OF THE PASSES

Before proceeding with the opening of the second winter campaign
in the Carpathians, the reader should remember that, as stated
in the beginning of this narrative, a Russian army under General
Radko Dmitrieff (a Bulgarian), held an advanced position on the
Dunajec-Biala line, extending from the Vistula to Zmigrod, northwest
of Dukla. This force was consequently beyond the zone of the
Austro-German offensive, but, as events proved, it had not been
overlooked, for it was here that the heaviest blow was finally
to fall. It is also important to bear in mind that the Russian
armies occupying Galicia and the northern slopes of the Carpathians
were not conducting an isolated campaign on their own account;
they formed an integral part of the far-flung battle line that
reached from the shores of the Baltic down to the Rumanian frontier,
a distance of nearly 800 miles. Dmitrieff's force represented a
medial link of the chain--and the weakest.

Over the slushy roads of the valleys and into the snow-laden passes
the Germanic armies advanced, each of the widely deployed columns
with a definite objective: From Dukla, Lupkow, and Rostoki to relieve
Przemysl; from Uzsok through the valley of the Upper San to Sambor;
through Beskid and Vereczke northward to Stryj, thence westward
also to Sambor; over Wyszkow to Dolina; via Jablonitza to Delatyn;
and across Kirlibaba and Dorna Vatra into the Bukowina. Opposed to
them were the Russian Generals Brussilov, Ivanoff, and Alexieff,
respectively.

Correspondents with the Teutonic troops in these weeks wrote in
wonderment of the scenes of the slowly forward toiling advance
into the mountains which they had seen. On every road leading into
Galicia there was the same picture of a flood rolling steadily on.
Everywhere could be seen the German and Austro-Hungarian troops
on the move, men going into the firing line to fight for days,
day after day, with the shedding of much blood, among the peaks
and valleys, under changing skies.

Here is a word picture of the supply columns winding upward into
the Carpathians to the support of the Te