railways, was gathering a large army at Thorn. Large reinforcements were
sent him, some from the western front, giving him a total of about eight
hundred thousand men. In his retreat from Warsaw, while he had destroyed
all roads railways in the south and west, he had carefully preserved
those of the north already planning to use them in another movement. He
now was beginning an advance, once again, against Warsaw. On account of
the roads he perceived that it would be difficult for the Russians to
obtain reinforcements. Von Hindenburg had with him as Chief of Staff
General von Ludendorff, one of the cleverest staff officers in the
German army, and General von Mackensen, a commander of almost equal
repute.

The Russian army in the north had been pretty well scattered. The
Russian forces were now holding a front of nearly a thousand miles, with
about two million men. The Russian right center, which now protected
Warsaw from the new attack could hardly number more than two hundred
thousand men. Von Hindenburg's aim was Warsaw only, and did not affect
directly the Russian advance to Cracow, which was still going on.
Indeed, by the end of the first week in December, General Dmitrieff had
cavalry in the suburbs of Cracow, and his main force was on the line of
the River Rava about twelve miles away. Cracow had been strongly
fortified, and much entrenching had been done in a wide circle around
the city.

The German plan was to use its field army in Cracow's defense rather
than a garrison. Two separate forces were used; one moving southwest of
Cracow along the Carpathian hills, struck directly at Ivanov's left;
the other, operating from Hungary, threatened the Russian rear. These
two divisions struck at the same time and the Russians found it
necessary to fight rear actions as they moved forward. They were doing