“Then we entered the German trenches which had been captured.  Again we halted.  All this time our shells, German shells and rifle and machine gun bullets were shrieking overhead.

“Thank goodness, in an action like this you seem to lose your senses!  A kind of elevation above all ordinary feelings comes over you and you feel as though you were rushing through air.  There is so much to frighten you that you cease to be afraid.  Then your senses gradually come back.  That is why all infantry attacks should be carried through with one overwhelming rush.”

GERMAN ADVANCE IN POLAND

On March 12 two German armies were on the move in Poland, seeking to pierce the Russian lines.  One of these armies was advancing along the road to Przasnysz with the bank of the River Narew as its objective.  This was the main German attack and inaugurated one of the biggest battles of the war.

Farther south, on the Pilica, a German feint was in progress with the object of weakening the Russian defense in the north.  But while Petrograd seemed to be resigning itself to the idea of a second withdrawal from before Przasnysz, there was little doubt of the ultimate outcome of this German attempt to gain a firm footing on Russian soil.  The German troops were moved forward in close order and only in the daytime, and were entirely dependent on what natural cover they could find between the rushes, as the ground was frozen too hard to permit the use of intrenching tools.

These tactics naturally involved very heavy losses.  The German casualties are also understood to have been extremely severe around Simno, especially on their extreme left, where they lost the greater part of their transport.  It appeared certain that the Russians had fallen back before an onrush of forces of overwhelming numerical superiority, but it was equally certain that with every yard of the German advance from their railways the shock of their impact weakened while the Russian powers of resistance were enhanced.

BRITISH RELIEVE THE PRESSURE

Just as the French attacked the Germans in the western campaign when Field Marshal von Hindenburg made his rush from East Prussia in February, so the British army operating in Flanders undertook the task of relieving the pressure on its Russian ally when the Russians again were attacked in north Poland.  This was part of the general plan of the allied generals.  When one was attacked the other attacked, so as to compel the Germans and Austrians to keep strong forces at every point, and endeavor to prevent them from sending new troops where they could do the most good.

In March the Germans were occupied in an attempt to crush the Russians.  For this purpose they had an army estimated at nearly half a million men marching along the roads toward Przasnysz.  To prevent this army from being further strengthened the British began to thrust at the German line north of La Bassee, and besides reporting the capture of the village of Neuve Chapelle, they advanced beyond that town.