ntieth, under the command of
General Bulgakov, the latter was left out of the line. In consequence
its right wing was turned and it was pressed down toward the south
with the enemy on three sides of it. It speedily became a broken
force in the forest north of Suwalki. The Russians endeavored to
reach the protection of their great fortress of Grodno. It was the
task of the German division coming down from the north in forced
marches to cut off this way of escape and prevent the Russians
coming out of the forest toward the southeast.

The march of these German troops carried them through great woodlands,
amid frozen lakes, when suddenly a thaw set in. The sleighs which
had been used had to be abandoned and wagons requisitioned on the
spot wherever possible.

An officer with these troops relates that infantrymen were sent
forward on wagons, and on the night following the 15th of February
took Sopozkin, to the east of Augustowo, on the line of the Russian
retreat, capturing the baggage of an entire Russian army corps. "The
morning," he writes, "presented to us a unique picture. Hundreds
of vehicles, baggage carts, machine guns, ammunition, provision
and ambulance wagons stood in a vast disorder in the market place
of the town and in the street. In between were hundreds of horses,
some harnessed, some loose, dead Russians, dead horses, bellowing
cattle, and sounding over it all the words of command of our troops
endeavoring to create order in this mad mix-up, and to take care of
the rich booty. Many an interesting find did we make--'mementos'
which the Russians had taken with them from Prussia and which now
were to find their way back."

A German commander tells how, in their efforts to cut off the Russian
retreat, the artillery were compelled to cross many brooks running
through deep gullies, so that it was necessary frequently to lower
guns and wagons by means of ropes on one side and pull them up
on the other.

One of the German leaders, describing this encircling movement
to the southeast from the north in which he played a part, says:
"The roads and the weather were beyond all description--twelve to
fifteen degrees Reaumur, with a cutting wind and driving snow,
with nothing to eat, as the field kitchens on these roads could
not follow. During pauses in the march one could but lean against
the wall of a miserable house or lie down in the burned-out ruins,
without straw to lie on and no covering. Men and horses sank