Some points before being evacuated were taken and surrendered several times, and then retreat was only for a short distance, followed by just as determined resistance. The courage and determination of both armies was equally admirable. One position held by Austrians for hours was in a stubble field. It was necessary to hold this point while a better position was being dug a few hundred yards behind in a slight dip in the ground. The rain of shrapnel was so heavy about this place that later it was not possible to pick up a handful of dirt from it without finding therein pieces of lead. For a mile across the field where the Austrians had lain, bloody bandages and pieces of equipment were strewn thickly. Behind this line, two or three hundred yards, was another line just beyond a small ground swell, where the Austrians placed themselves in fairly deep trenches. The Russians took this trench, but being unable to advance farther, dug themselves in on their side. The next day they were driven out by the Austrians. Afterward the trench presented the strange appearance of a ridge of earth with a trench on each side--with Austrian relics on one side and Russian relics on the other. Day by day the Russians drove the Austrians back farther, until at last, the Austrians were holding a deep trench on the slope of the crest of the last ridge of hills defending the town itself. Immediately over the ridge the Austrian batteries were concentrated. The last trench was not more than four hundred yards in front of the Russian guns. Nevertheless, the Russians were unable to make any advance against this position until they brought up and put into position a considerable number of heavy howitzers. Then slowly they began to crumble the Austrian defenses. Notwithstanding this bombardment, the Austrians held on for more than a day. Then the Russians stormed the entire top of the hill and seized the few guns which they had not already put out of commission. The hill was taken at the point of the bayonet. This was the decisive moment in the whole conflict. From the center of the field where this action was taking place the Russian wedge extended to the north and south. The Austrian center was broken when night fell and the Russians were dropping shells into the outskirts of Rawa-Russka. Attacks by the Russians followed, making it impossible for the Austrians to hold the town and it was abandoned by the Austrian forces. In any event it soon would have been enveloped in the rear, considering the way events were shaping themselves on the southerly end of the line, and the defense would have been costly. CHAPTER LXVII RUSSIAN VICTORIES--BATTLES OF THE SAN