Thus, we shall find the German
advance on Riga was stopped before it could attain its object.
In studying the fighting in this part of the eastern front, it
will be seen why the Germans were more successful below Riga, and
why the Russians were compelled to evacuate Vilna. Here is a broad
rise, something like the back of a half-submerged submarine, which
seems to cross the country, where the land becomes more solid. The
armies must move, instead of through marshes, along innumerable
small lakes, most of the lakes being long and narrow and running
north and south, with a fairly thick growth of timber among them,
mostly pine and spruce and fir. In character this section is rather
similar to parts of Minnesota. There are two cities to be conquered
in this drier region, Dvinsk, and, further south, Vilna, once the
chief city or capital of the Lithuanians. We shall see the Russians
thrust back from Koenigsberg, and the heavy fighting shifted over
to this section; yet even here, where the huge guns of the Germans
could find footing, the terrain was not suited to trench warfare,
and every arrival of reenforcements on either side would swing
the lines back or forth.
In studying the military movements in a country of this character,
special attention must be paid to the railway lines. Railways, and
more especially those running parallel to the fronts, are absolutely
necessary to success.
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