m these
two points the Russians after yielding Przasnysz, on the 14th,
retired to their defensive line Ciechanow-Krasnosielc which had been
prepared long beforehand. On the 15th the German troops pressing
closer upon the retiring Slavs stormed this line and broke through
it to the south of Zielona on a breadth of seven kilometers, forcing
the Russians again to retire. General von Gallwitz's troops in
this assault were supported by the forces of General von Scholtz,
on their left, who were pressing the Russians from the direction
of Kolno. On July 16, 1915, the Russians were retreating on the
whole front between the Pissa and the Vistula, toward the Narew.

The German summary of the fighting during these days reported the
capture by the army of General von Gallwitz of eighty-eight officers,
17,500 men, thirteen cannon (including one heavy gun), forty machine
guns, and seven mine throwers; and by the army of General von Scholtz
of 2,500 prisoners and eight machine guns.

This great attack in the north, to which may be ascribed the final
breaking of the lines that had so long protected Warsaw, had been
carefully planned and undoubtedly was timed in coordination with
the movements of Mackensen's armies on the south, striking the
Russians just when Mackensen and the Archduke Josef, having had
time for recuperation and preparation for another push forward after
the check administered at Krasnik, were in readiness to inflict
a heavy blow on their side of the Warsaw salient. When it began
the German lines all along the front burst into fresh activity. It
was the signal for a simultaneous assault along nearly a thousand
miles of battle front.

In the Mlawa sector to the north of Przasnysz the Russians had
developed an exceedingly strong system of fortified positions between
their advance lines and the Narew fortresses. For miles, to a depth
of from fifteen to twenty kilometers, there ran some three or four
and at certain points even five systems of trenches, one behind
the other. Hundreds of thousands of thick tree trunks had been
worked into these defensive works and millions of sand bags piled
up as breastwork. Bombproof dugouts had been constructed deep in
the ground. Everywhere there were strong wire entanglements before
the front, sometimes sunk below the level of the earth, arranged in
from two to three rows. Projecting bastions and thoroughly protected
observation posts gave these systems of trenches the character of