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Updated: May 8, 2025
On the same day that saw the fall of Brest-Litovsk the Russians lost Bialystok, and on the next day, August 16, 1915, they evacuated the fortress of Olita on the Niemen, about halfway between Kovno and Grodno; the latter, the last of Russia's proud string of western fortresses of the first line, of course was now not only seriously threatened but had become practically untenable.
That river protected the Russian front by the deviation which it makes from Grodno to Kowno; for it was only in the interval between these two cities, that the Niemen, running toward the north, intersected the line of our attack, and served as a frontier to Lithuania. Before reaching Grodno, and on quitting Kowno, it flows westward.
The king of Westphalia then went along the Niemen at Grodno, with a view to repass it at Bielitza, to overpower the right of Bagration, put it to the rout, and pursue it. This Saxon, Westphalian, and Polish army had in front of it a general and a country both difficult to conquer.
The unexpectedly rapid fall of Kovno and Grodno had enabled the Germans to threaten the envelopment of Ewarts' army both on the south and the north, on the Niemen towards Mosty and Lida and farther north towards Vilna. The struggle for Vilna was decided at Meiszagola, a village about fifteen miles north-west of the old Lithuanian capital.
They virtually remained in their strongly fortified positions along the Narew, the Bobr, and the Niemen, except for the sending out of occasional attacking columns against the German lines lying opposite to them. These forward thrusts were made especially from the fortresses Grodno and Kovno, and the fortified place Olita.
In what follows will be described a typical offensive movement in this district undertaken by the Russians, and the way it was met by the Germans. A new Russian Tenth Army had been organized by the end of February, 1915, with Grodno for its base. The ranks of the remaining corps that had suffered in the "winter battle" had been filled up with fresh recruits.
Berlin, through Rasputin, piped the tune to which the Imperial Court was dancing the Dance of Death! One night, after Rasputin had dined with Madame Vyrubova and myself, General Soukhomlinoff, Minister of War, entered, swaggering in the uniform of the Grodno Hussars.
And remember that Dmitri Sazonoff is your friend, and will believe always that you are a true friend of Russia. Good-bye! You go to Grodno. There, unless there has been a change, are the headquarters of the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholavitch, who is in supreme command of all our armies. You will be tried there by court-martial. I wish it meant more but count upon me for all that I can do."
The King of Westphalia was delayed a few days at Grodno by bad weather and other difficulties; thus Bagration, who had been ordered by the Czar to retire, was able to escape the meshes closing around him by a speedy retreat to Bobruisk, whence he moved northwards.
Between these two wings, the grand army marched to the Niemen, in three separate masses. The king of Westphalia, with 80,000 men, moved upon Grodno; the viceroy of Italy, with 75,000 men, upon Pilony; Napoleon, with 220,000 men, upon Nogaraiski, a farm situated three leagues beyond Kowno. The 23d of June, before daylight, the imperial column reached the Niemen, but without seeing it.
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