The Alaska daily empire., 1915-08-17

and a large portion ot Poland had been a thorn in the flesh Of the Russian military authorities. They showed this by their desperate. and. at times. sue cessful attempts to straighten their fighting front. Before they could ad- vance at the center and move west from Warsaw the wings must bel brought up so as Go prevent success ul flanking movements.
 Simultaneously in East Prussia on the north and in Galicia on the south. the Russian armies began to push for ward. Twice in East Prussia they were swept back. but before last win ter had set in they had succeeded in pressing their way through Gaicia and were nearer Cracow. which is al- most directly on a line south of the Polish capital
 In the spring. however, after Prz emsyl had fallen into their hands and the victorious Russian armies were threading the German border and an invasion of Hungary. came the organ ized Austro-German movement which recaptured the great Austrian fortress and swept the Russian lines back fur ther east in some regions than they had been early in the war. The War saw salient. thus exposed hazardous ly from the south. was additionally threatened by the German advance inI Baltic provinces. which acted not only as a supporting movement Go the flank attack on Warsaw. but threatened to cut off the retreat of the Russian armies
 The first determined drive against Warsaw from the west occurred last October. Within short time the German advance guards penetrated to within 19 miles of the city. over which German aeropianes and Zeppe- lins flew. The Russians moved their troops hastily from Galcia. where they had been pressing the Austrians back and Warsaw slipped from the hands Of the Germans in the face Of a vigorous Russian counter offensive. which swept them back to their bor- ders.
 Shortly afterward a second attempt was launched from the same direction and gathered force until great bat. tie developed along ther rivers War ta and Vistula The Germans at first were reported victorious. but the fighting turned in favor of the Rus. sians. They cut off and apparently surrounded two German corps. who bravely managed to fight their way out. Later pitched battles were fought around Lodz. which the Ger mans captured on December 6. and be- fore long the two armies found them selves entrenched along the old famous Bzura-Rawka front After that the fighting on this front assumed the form of trench warfare. as 1t had in the west.
 Another attempt at Warsaw occurr- ed in February after the Russians had. at one time been driven out of East Prussia. This time the attack came from the north and Field Marshal von Hindenberd's forces reached and cap. tured Przasnysz. with 10000 prisoners on February 25. Three days later. however. the Russians recaptured it and put the Germans on the defensive. ] Hammering along this line and at oth. l CT sections south and west from the East Prussian frontier continued for months. but not until the inception of the present campaign was there anywhere a serious break in the Rus sian defenses.
 The city which the Teutonic forces have taken lies on the Vistula. 625 miles southeast Of Petrograd and s2o miles east of Berlin. It is an import. ant industrial center and its popula- ion is estimated at not far from 100000. Wars for the possession of Warsaw occurred in the middle ages md in the early part of the seven eenth century it supplanted Cracow he ancient capital. as the seat of Polish government Prussia held it liter that from 1795 to 1906. and for ] even years after that it was in the possession Of one of Napoleon's vas- ls. The Russians entered it in 1913. 7hen it became the capital of the new