been thrown up by the
Russians between the forts and which had been supplied by them with
very strong artillery. The latter did its best to keep up with the
efforts of the besieging army. Day by day the Russian guns began
firing against the German lines almost as soon as the German lines had
opened their fire and the combination swelled the noise to a terrible
height.

"Exactly at seven o'clock in the evening the German guns paused for a
while in order to permit their infantry to advance. This was an
almost daily occurrence and day by day the German lines drew nearer to
the Russian forts.

"Hardly had the fire of the German guns stopped when a furious
crackling of rifle fire would begin. The German lines had left their
trenches and were advancing against the Russian position from which
they received heavy fire. Machine guns, too, joined the uproar. It was
impossible to follow the infantry attack in detail, but its success
could be gleaned from the fact that the German gun fire, which
gradually was taken up again, had to be advanced in the direction of
the fortress."

This fortress of Kovno, for which the Germans were making such a
tremendous drive and which the Russians tried to hold with all the
resources at their command, occupies in respect to the Niemen line the
same position which the fortress of Lomza occupies in respect to the
Nareff line, only in a much greater measure. And, indeed, the city is
specially adapted by its entire location to act as protector of this
important river. Between steep banks, which rise as high as 200 feet,
the stream rushes along here, surrounding the city picturesquely with
its heights and protecting it at the same time from attack. There
Kovno is situated where the Vilia joins the Niemen, and only a short
distance down the latter the Nieviaza adds its waters, so that Kovno
forms a natural center of a number of extensive valleys which join
here. It is upon these natural conditions of its situation that the
unusual importance rests which Kovno has occupied for centuries in a
historical, economical, and military respect in the history of
Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.

Founded in the eleventh century, it belonged from 1384 to 1398 to the
Order of the German Knights, who made a military point of the first
order out of it. In 1400 the Grand Duke of Lithuania attacked and
captured the town. The height of its career was reached in 1581, when
it was raised to the center of the export tra