river, it again turned south and so on down east of the Pripet Marshes,
it followed an almost straight line to the southern frontier. Its two
strongest points were Riga, on the Gulf of Riga, which lay under the
protection of the guns of the fleet, and Dvinsk, through which ran the
great Petrograd Railway line. Against these two points von Hindenburg
directed his attack. And now, for the first time in many months, he met
with complete failure. The German fleet attempted to assist him on the
Gulf of Riga, but was defeated by the Russian Baltic fleet with heavy
losses. A bombardment turned out a failure and the German armies were
compelled to retire.

A more serious effort was made against Dvinsk but was equally
unsuccessful and the German losses were immense. Again and again the
attempt was made to cross the Dvina River, but without success; the
German invasion was definitely stopped. By the end of October there was
complete stagnation in the northern sector of the battle line, and
though in November there were a number of battles, nothing happened of
great importance.

Further south, however, Russia become active. An army had been organized
at her Black Sea bases, and for political reasons it was necessary that
that army should move. At this time the great question was, what was
Roumania about to do? To prevent her from being forced to join the
Central Powers she must have encouragement. It was determined therefore
that an offensive should be made in the direction of Czernowitz. This
town was the railway center of a wide region, and lay close to
Roumania's northern frontier.

[Illustration: THE GERMAN ATTACK ON THE ROAD TO PETROGRAD]