derable forces, the Russians
made prisoners 27 officers and 1,906 soldiers, and captured 7 machine
guns, 1,500,000 cartridges, and a large quantity of arms. In two
sorties the garrison in the region of Bircza had more than 2,000
killed and wounded, among them being many officers. No further
sorties were undertaken in that particular region. During January
and February, 1915, very little fighting took place around Przemysl;
sorties were useless as there was no Austro-German force anywhere
near the fortress, and the Russians were tightening the pressure
around it. The only means of communication with the outer world
was by aeroplane, so that, despite the rigid investment, the
Austro-German war staff were kept fully informed of the straits in
which Przemysl found itself. General Boehm-Ermolli, with Army A,
was making desperate efforts to extricate himself from the Russian
grip round Uzsok, Lupkow, and Dukla; he did not get beyond Baligrod,
as the crow flies, thirty miles south of Przemysl.

On March 13, 1915, the Russians stormed and captured the village
of Malkovise, on the northeast, breaking through the outer line
of the defense. From this position they began to bombard parts of
the inner ring. About the beginning of the third week in March,
1915, a new spirit of activity appeared to seize the beleaguered
garrison: they commenced a terrific cannonade which, however, elicited
no response. It was but the energy of despair: they were firing
to get rid of their ammunition, hoping at the same time to hit
something or somebody. The end was at hand.

On March 18, 1915, a Petrograd "official" laconically reports that:
"In the Przemysl sector the fortress guns continue to fire more
than a thousand heavy projectiles daily, but our troops besieging
the fortress lose only about ten men every day." It is also on
March 18 that General von Kusmanek issued the following manifesto
to the defenders of Przemysl:--"Heroes, I announce to you my last
summons. The honor of our country and our army demands it. I shall
lead you to pierce with your points of steel the iron circles of
the enemy, and then march ever farther onward, sparing no efforts,
until we rejoin our army, which, after heavy fighting, is now near
us."

Just before the surrender two Austrian officers escaped from the
fortress in an aeroplane. These reported concerning the last days
of the siege:

"On the 18th of March the last provisions had been dealt out and
at the sam