On the eastern front of the stupendous battle line in March the most
sanguinary fighting of the war occurred. Losses on both sides were
appalling, while the gains in territorial acquisition amounted to little
or nothing.
Describing the enormous losses on both sides in Poland, a neutral
observer, Mr. Stanley Washburn, said in the American Review of Reviews:
"The German program contemplated taking both Warsaw and Ivangorod and
the holding for the winter of the line between the two formed by the
Vistula. The Russians took the offensive from Ivangorod, crossed the
river, and after hideous fighting fairly drove Austrians and Germans
from positions of great strength around the quaint little Polish town of
Kozienice. From this town for perhaps ten miles west, and I know not how
far north and south there is a belt of forest of fir and spruce. Near
Kozienice the Russian infantry, attacking in flank and front, fairly
wrested the enemy's position and drove him back into this jungle. The
Russians simply sent their troops in after them.
"The fight was now over a front of perhaps twenty kilometers; there
was no strategy. It was all very simple. In this belt were Germans and
Austrians. They were to be driven out if it took a month. Then began the
carnage. Day after day the Russians fed troops in on their side of
the wood. Companies, battalions, regiments, and even brigades, were
absolutely cut off from all communication. None knew what was going on
anywhere but a few feet in front. All knew that the only thing required
of them was to keep advancing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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