The official _communiqué_ upon the defence of the Vistula and the complete defeat of the invasion of Russian Poland closed with these impressive words: “We owe thanks for our victory to the unfailing grace which God has shown to the superhuman heroism of our warriors, of whom Russia may be justly proud. The victory which has been achieved makes it possible for our troops to set about the solution of fresh problems, the grappling with which commences a new period of the war.” At Radom--now in Russian hands again after a month’s occupation by the enemy, and where his invasion plan is supposed to have been perfected--the following proclamation to the Polish inhabitants was issued by the commander of a Russian army corps: “Poles! Our wounded officers and soldiers, and also our prisoners who had fallen into the hands of the enemy and had passed through the town and province of Radom, speak with deep gratitude of your cordial treatment of them. You have tended the wounded, fed the starving, and sheltered from the enemy those escaping from captivity. You have given them money, and guided them to our lines. Accept from me, and from all ranks of the army entrusted to me, warm and hearty thanks for all your kindness, for your Slavonic sympathy and goodness.” CHAPTER VI THE SIEGE OF PRZEMYSL--THE STRUGGLE ON THE SAN “When Przemysl falls,” wrote Mr. Granville Fortescue in the _Daily Telegraph_, “the name of Radko Dimitrieff will ring around the world.” It was not, however, the immediate object of General Dimitrieff and his coadjutors to bring about a hurried capitulation of this commanding fortress and its 30,000 defenders. The Russian headquarters in Galicia could well afford to play a waiting game and let the grim business of starvation do its work. In our second chapter we brought down the record of events on the Galician theatre of war to the important capture of Jaroslav by the Russians on September 21, after only three days’ investment. The Colonel Shumsky from whom I have already quoted points out the enormous significance of this capture when taken in conjunction with the all-round breakdown of the Austro-German conception. That plan assumed, he opines that Western Poland would have been cut off, and there would have been a last development of the Austro-German forces from Jaroslav over Ivangorod and East Prussia seawards. From “the Baltic to the Carpathians” was certainly the grandest of grand conceptions--instead of which, we have the well-nigh incredible estimate of _a million_ Austrian troops put out of action in less than two months of war, and the frank statement by one of their general officers that “the enemy is too much for us.”