They took Dvinsk with little opposition. It was late afternoon in a snow-clad village beyond the Dvinsk lines not far from the point at which, in November, the infantry had ordered the Russian gunners to stop firing. Word had come that the Germans were advancing. A shudder passed through the village. There was a hurried gathering. Some suggested fleeing, others counseled waiting. “It’s a mistake,” said a white-bearded peasant. “We are not at war. They are our brothers--we must go and tell them.” They appointed a committee, improvised a white flag, and set out on their errand. A short distance from the village they met the advancing Germans. They held their white flag bravely aloft, and a soldier spokesman began to explain: “It is all a mistake--Russia is not at war. We do not want to fight our German brothers--” The sentence was never finished. The committee did not come back. Instead, to the waiting women with frightened children clinging to their wide calico skirts, and with a terrible fear in their eyes, there came the Germans. Germany was marching over the prostrate and bewildered form of the country she had tricked and betrayed. Uncomprehension and despair settled upon Petrograd. The People’s Commissaries met in all-night session. Trotzky wanted to fight, even though effective resistance was impossible. Lenin opposed him. There was nothing to fight with. The army had reached the limit of disorganization. Economic chaos reigned behind the lines. There was neither an army at the front nor a nation behind capable of supporting an army. All night the Commissaries debated. Toward dawn Lenin’s will finally prevailed. A proclamation was issued protesting against the German advance, but stating: “The Council of People’s Commissaries regards itself as forced formally to declare its willingness to sign a peace upon the conditions dictated by the delegates of the Quadruple Alliance at Brest-Litovsk.” The information was sent by wireless to Germany. The Germans demanded written confirmation. It was despatched to Dvinsk by special messenger. Still the Germans’ advance continued. They occupied Esthonia, overran the Ukraine, and created a Turkish offensive in the Caucasus. They made no answer to the People’s Commissaries, and on February 22 the Bolsheviki called on the people to organize guerrilla warfare and resist the invaders. Again the Bolsheviki appealed to the German working classes.