forces, estimated at
three army corps, were compelled to yield a strip of East Prussian
territory, and had fallen back to positions of considerable natural
strength formed by the chain of Mazurian Lakes and the line of
the Angerapp River. They reported their forces standing on the
defensive here as 50 per cent Landwehr, 25 per cent Landsturm,
and only 25 per cent other troops not of the reserve. Repeated
attempts of the Russians to gain possession of these fortified
positions had, however, broken down. They had been directed especially
against the bridgehead of Darkehmen and the right wing of the German
forces in the Paprodtk Hills. Wading up to their shoulders in icy
water, the hardy troops of the Third Siberian Corps had attempted
in vain to cross the Nietlitz Swamp, between the lakes to the east
of Lyck.

At the beginning of February, 1915, finally Von Hindenburg had been
able to obtain fresh German forces and to put them in position for
an encircling movement against the Russians lying just to the east
of the lakes, from near Tilsit to Johannisburg. With the greatest
secrecy the reenforcements, hidden from observation by their fortified
positions, and the border forces maintaining the defense, were
gathered behind the two German wings. The Russians apparently gained
an inkling of the big move that was impending about the time the
advance against their wings was under way. The first news of the
opening of the battle came to the public in a Russian official
announcement of the 9th of February, 1915, to the effect that on
the 7th the Germans had undertaken the offensive with considerable
force in the Goldap-Johannisburg sector. The northern group of
Germans began its movement somewhat later from the direction of
Tilsit.

Extensive preparations had been made by the German leaders to meet
the difficulties of a winter campaign under unfavorable weather
conditions. Thousands of sleighs and hundreds of thousands of sleigh
runners (on which to drag cannon and wagons), held in readiness,
were a part of these preparations for a rapid advance. Deep snow
covered the plain, and the lakes were thickly covered with ice. On
the 5th of February, 1915, a fresh snowstorm set in, accompanied
by an icy wind, which heaped the snow in deep drifts and made
tremendously difficult travel on the roads and railways, completely
shutting off motor traffic.

The Germans on the south, in order to come into contact with the
main Russian forces