racow, it was imperative to secure the southern flank in Galicia.
They had by this time partially grasped one particular feature of
German strategy, namely, to parry a blow from one direction by
striking in another. A further consideration may have been the
absolute certainty that Germany would dispatch more reenforcements
to the aid of her ally. Selivanoff's siege army was distributed
between Dmitrieff, Brussilov, and Ivanoff, but they could not be
employed to full advantage owing to the restricted area presented
by the Germanic front. Being largely composed of siege artillery
as well as cavalry, a considerable portion of Selivanoff's army
was unsuited for mountain warfare. Cavalry were converted into
infantry, but could not be supplied with the necessary equipment;
they had no bayonets, and most of the fighting was hand-to-hand.

Great masses of Germanic reserves were concentrating in northern
Hungary, into which the Russians had driven a thin wedge south
of Dukla, where they held an isolated outpost near Bartfeld. To
leave this position undeveloped meant compulsory withdrawal or
disaster. With the continual influx of reenforcements on both sides,
the struggle for the main passes gradually develops into an
ever-expanding and unbroken battle front: all the gaps are being
filled up. From Dukla westward to the Dunajec-Biala line and the
Carpathian foothills a new link is formed by the Fourth Austrian
Army, commanded by the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, with two and a
half army corps and one German division. In the Central Carpathians
a fifth army, under the command of the Austrian General von Bojna,
appears between the forces of Boehm-Ermolli and those of Von Linsingen.
Right away eastward the purely Austrian army of Von Pflanzer-Baltin
was holding the Pruth Valley. The Germanic chain was complete,
with every link welded together.

When the Russian offensive opened on March 19, 1915, the entire
battle line still rested on the northern side of the Carpathians,
and here the struggle was resumed. The Russian grand attack was
directed between the Lupkow and Uzsok passes, where great forces
of the enemy, concentrated for the purpose of relieving Przemysl,
were stationed. In the western sector, facing Dmitrieff, the Archduke
Joseph Ferdinand held the roads leading from Novy-Sacz and Grybow
to Tarnow, covering Cracow; and from south of the range the two
roads diverging from Zboro to Gorlice and Jaslo were in Russian
possession,