On June 22 the city of Lemberg, capital of the Austrian province of Galicia, was recaptured from the Russians, who had held it for nearly ten months, by combined German-Austrian forces, under General Mackensen.  This marked the culmination of a successful Teuton campaign in Galicia, including the recapture of the strong fortress of Przemysl, as well as Lemberg, and the driving of the Russian invaders back to their own borders.

The eastern battle front in June extended for 680 miles north and south, and while the German drive through Galicia was entirely successful, the Russians gained some victories in the north.  They were sorely handicapped by the lack of supplies and ammunition for their forces, and at the end of June the Russian authorities were organizing every possible industry for the production of ammunition.

The fiercest fighting of the war, as far as the Baltic provinces of Russia are concerned, occurred in a battle for the mastery of the Dubysa River early in June.  The river changed hands five times in one day, and at nightfall the stream was completely choked with the bodies of thousands of dead, so that a plank roadway for artillery was laid by the Russians across a solid bridge of bodies.

HEROIC FEAT OF A CANADIAN

A thrilling and unprecedented feat was performed by Lieut.  R. A. J. Warneford, a Canadian aviator, when alone in an aeroplane, he destroyed a Zeppelin airship with its crew of twenty-eight men in Belgium.  He received the Victoria Cross for his exploit, but a few days later was killed while testing a new aeroplane near Paris.  He was buried with naval honors in London, June 23.

On July 3, 1915, when the twelfth month of the Great War began, it was conservatively estimated that the total losses on all sides, including killed, wounded and missing, had exceeded six millions of men.  Over vessels had been destroyed, including 120 ships of war.

DEADLOCK IN THE WEST

During July and August there were no general engagements of importance in the Western theatre of war.  The deadlock continued.  The troops along the Western battle lines were, however, subjected almost daily to violent artillery bombardment.

By August 22 the British line in northern France and Flanders had been lengthened from 40 miles to over 100 miles, with over 800,000 troops on the firing line.  German submarines were very active in the war zone during the month of August, over 170 merchant steamships of more than 500 tons displacement and nearly 2,000 noncombatant lives being the awful toll to date of this new method of warfare.

The British transport Royal Edward was torpedoed and sunk August 14 by a German submarine in the Aegean Sea.  Nearly 1,000 lives were lost.  The transport had on board a force of 32 officers and 1,350 men, in addition to the ship’s crew of 220 officers and men.  The troops consisted mainly of reinforcements for the 29th Division and details of the Royal Army Medical Corps.