the most
important from a strategical point of view, for it defends the
junction of three of the most valuable railroads, the railway leading
from Lemberg into Volhynia, that running south from Vilna into
Galicia, and the railroad which by way of Berticheff indirectly
connects Kieff with both Warsaw and Brest-Litovsk. The three
fortresses, therefore, acted as a wedge between the most southeastern
and the Polish zones of operations. They secured the connection of any
Russian forces in Poland with the interior of Russia, and made
possible the transfer of forces through the protection which they gave
to the various railroad lines necessary for such a transfer. On
account of the conditions of the surrounding territory it was
impossible for any attacking army to dispose of the fortresses by
investing them with part of their available forces while the balance
of them continued on their advance; for the only way to reach the
country in back of the three fortresses was by way of the fortresses
themselves, which meant, of course, that they would have to be taken
first before the advance could be continued. Furthermore, the
fortresses also acted as a barrier, protecting the approaches to
Kieff, enabling the undisturbed concentration of an army in that
protected zone while the enemy would be busily occupied in battering
his way through the fortress triangle. The latter were still more
strengthened by the Rivers Ikwa and Styr, which flow to the southwest
and north of them.

The fortifications of all these three points were not of particularly
recent origin, although they had been remodeled at various times since
their original creation. Lutsk, a city of some twenty thousand
inhabitants, is located on a small island of the Styr, and controls
the Kovel-Rovno section of the Brest-Litovsk-Berticheff railroad. Some
ten forts of various degrees of strength surrounded the central
fortifications, forming a girdle of forts with a circumference of
approximately ten miles. Dubno, southeast of Lutsk, a town of about
fifteen thousand inhabitants, is located in the valley of Ikwa on its
left bank, and protects the Brody-Zdolbitsa section of the
Lemberg-Rovno-Vilna railroad, with its branches to Kovel,
Brest-Litovsk, and to Kieff. The forts are not as numerous as at
Lutsk, but are more advantageously located and, therefore, proved more
difficult for the attacking Austro-Hungarian-German troops. Besides
the Styr and Ikwa Rivers this comparativel