Warsaw, Oct. 18 The main line of the German attack came from the south and the main line of the German advance came, as I have already explained, from the west. This is the first swoop of the German eagle on the Russian bear and, though, up to the present, it has failed, there can be no denying its Napoleonic vigour and unexpectedness. The Russians expected an attack from every part of the compass except from the south, and it was from the south that the enemy came.
It seemed certain that the Prussian blow would come due cast from East Prussian or else duc south from East Prussia, down, like a sledge-hammer, on Warsaw. The splendid system of strategic railways which makes a railway map of East Prussia look like a chessboard was all designed for two such attacks. And the Russians were it not for the kindly, interminable rains which made Von had made elaborate preparations to! Morgen's march from Kalisch and meet these long-expected blows.
Where the Blow Fell.
They had collected a great army under Rennenkampf at Grodno and another huge army at Vilna. They had strengthened the fortress of Novogeorgievsk on the la north Warsaw, the only fortress, the way, which stands between Warsaw and a foreign invasion, In front of that fortress they had assembled a large army. They perfectly sure that the Germans would come south from Mlawa, or east from Koenigsberg and Stoluponnen. They never imagined that they would come north from the Austrian town of Cracow, especially as in that case—the: would have to pass through vast [tracts of country poorly provided ith railways and traversed by the worst constructed and muddiest roads in Europe. For the famous heavy artillery and heavy-laden motors of the Germans, these roads might well be regarded by the Russians as impossible.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.