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But on October 20, 1915, a new Russian attack near Novo Alexinez, a small border village, resulted in a slight gain, which, however, could not be enlarged in spite of heroic efforts. An attack east of Zaloshe on the Sereth was likewise without success. Both of these were repeated on October 21-22, 1915, without better results.
Especially was this true in the neighborhood of Novo Alexinez, where, in very hilly country, the Russians launched attack after attack against the Austro-German forces, without, however, being able to dislodge them from their very strong positions.
Austrian troops under General Boehm-Ermolli took it by storm, while other detachments advanced to the Upper Ikwa and beyond the town of Novo Alexinez. This was as serious a loss to the Russians as it was a great gain for their enemies. For Dubno commanded not only the valley of the Ikwa, but it also blocked the very important railway and road that run from Lemberg to Rovno.
Crossing then the Lemberg-Rovno railroad, the line ran along both banks of the Sokal River to Ikva and crossed the Galician border near Novo Alexinez. A short distance south of the border, about twenty miles, it crossed the Lemberg-Tarnopol railroad, at Jesierne, a little town about sixty miles east of Lemberg and less than twenty miles west of Tarnopol.
The battle raged furiously on September 25, 1915, when some Russian detachments succeeded in advancing a few miles to the southwest of Novo Alexinez into the vicinity of Zaloshe. However, the Austrian resistance was so strong that the Russians lost about 5,000 men.
To the north, along the Ikwa from Dubno to the border, reenforcements were also brought up by the Russians and succeeded in holding up any further advance on the part of the Austrian troops. Especially hard fighting took place in the neighborhood of Novo Alexinez, a little village just across the border in Volhynia.
The most bitter struggle developed at Okna, northwest of Tarnopol, at Koklow, at Novo Alexinez, along the entire Ikva, at Sanor, around Olyka and from there north to Dolki. No matter how strong the natural defenses, no matter how skillful the artificial obstacles, on and on rolled the thousands and thousands of Russians.
At that time this front extended as follows: Starting at Tchartorysk on the Styr, a few miles south of the Kovel-Gomel railroad, it ran almost straight south through Tsuman, crossed the Brest-Litovsk railroad a mile or two north of Olyka, passed about fifteen miles west of Rovno to the Rovno-Lemberg railroad, which it crossed a few miles east of Dubno, then followed more or less the course of the Ikwa and passed through Novo Alexinez.
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