uccessful retreat in
the face of disaster is a no less difficult military achievement
than the gaining of a decisive victory, and Brussilov's retreat
from the passes deserves to rank as a masterly example of skillful
tactics.

On May 8, 1915, the Third Russian Army and the Forty-eighth Division
had reunited with Brussilov's main army in the neighborhood of
Sanok, twenty miles north of the Lupkow. When the commanders of a
retreating army lose their heads the rank and file will inevitably
become demoralized and panic-stricken. The retreat became a rout,
and the possibility of making a stand, and to some extent retrieving
the lost fortune of war, was extremely remote. A deeper motive
than the mere reconquering of Galicia lay behind Von Mackensen's
plan--he aimed at nothing less than the complete overthrow and
destruction of the Russian armies. It was a gigantic effort of the
Germanic powers to eliminate at least one of their most dangerous
enemies. Once that was accomplished it would release some millions
of troops whose services were needed in the western theatre of war.
The original plan had fallen through of crushing Russia quickly
at the beginning of the war, before she would have had time to
get ready, and then to turn against France in full force. The
Austro-German Galician campaign was planned and undertaken with that
specific object, and now, although defeated and in full retreat, the
Russian troops still formed an army in being, and not a fugitive,
defenseless rabble. So long as an army is not captured or annihilated,
it can be reorganized and again put in the field. It is on this
consideration that so much importance attaches to the handling
of an army in retreat. The Russians did not, of course, run away;
on the contrary, they fought desperately and stubbornly throughout
the retreat, for their pursuers did not average more than six miles
per day--a fact which testifies to the steady and orderly character
of the Russian retirement. They suffered from the consequences of
inadequate preparation and lack of foresight on the part of their
leaders.

The Russian troops on the Lower Wisloka held their positions longest,
but they also fell back about May 8, 1915, and for the next two days
engaged the enemy near some villages southwest of Sanok. Here a strong
force had collected, which not only offered a powerful resistance,
but even attempted a counterattack against their pursuers. Over
a front of 145 miles, extendin