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Russian attacks in that region during October 7-8, 1915, suffered the same fate. On the latter day the Germans made an attack in force south of Ilukst, ten miles to the northwest of Dvinsk, and took the village of Garbunovka, capturing over 1,000 Russians and some machine guns.
During the night repeated Russian attacks to the north of the Jacobstadt-Mitau railroad a surprise attack southwest of Dvinsk and violent attacks along the Dvinsk-Vidzy sector suffered the same fate, although in some instances the Russian troops succeeded in coming right up to the German barbed-wire obstacles.
Only one other event of importance occurred on the east front during the winter of 1915-16. General Russky, commanding the Russian forces fighting before Riga and Dvinsk and in the Dvina-Vilia sector, was forced by illness to retire from his command.
They must have been severe, however. The net result of all the fighting in the region before Dvinsk, which had then been in progress practically for fifty days, therefore, was next to nothing for the Germans and hardly more for the Russians. Neither had been able to gain any definite success over the other.
Feeding into this great north and south artery are the branch lines from Petrograd to Dvinsk; from Moscow to the junction at Baranovitschi; from Kiev to Sarny. Aside from these three important branch lines, there are a few other single-track offshoots, but from a military point of view they are of no importance.
Northwest of Lutsk and on the East Galician front operations carried out by Austro-German forces brought about an increase in artillery activity and resulted in the capture of numerous prisoners. The artillery activity south of Dvinsk and Smorgon, which had been lively for some days, continued. During the next few days fighting everywhere became more violent.
During the balance of September, 1916, comparatively little of importance occurred along the northern half of the eastern front between Riga and the Styr. On September 6, 1916, the Russians crossed to the western bank of the Dvina, north of Dvinsk, drove the Germans out of their trenches along a short stretch and captured these positions.
Roads and rails for the most part crossed it at Dvinsk, and the southern approaches to Dvinsk itself lay through land and water as intricately mixed as in the Masurian mazes of East Prussia. But on Dvinsk the German attack was concentrated, and after a preliminary failure on 25 September a week's bombardment and assault began on 3 October.
For, of course, no matter how brilliant the gunnery, how wonderful the cannon, how devastating the shells, if the target at which they are aimed is sufficiently far away and sufficiently small, the result will be disappointing; and the Russians at Dvinsk saw to it that the Germans experienced a long series of costly and heartbreaking disappointments of that nature.
But both the numbers of men employed as well as the intensity of their effort steadily increased. Before Dvinsk and just south of the fortress artillery fire formed the chief event on March 28, 1916. But south of Lake Narotch the Russians still kept up their attacks.
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