Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

STRUGGLE FOR DVINSK AND RIGA. g1

culties, which the map will reveal. The river above the city is broad and studded with “ matted rushy isles.” Numerous small streams strain through the marshes, and enter it on the left bank. As if this was not enough, the considerable river Aa, with its tributaries the Eckau and the Misse, sweeps in a half-moon to the westward, and curls round along the coast till it reaches the Dvina delta, enclosing in its loop the Babit Lake with its reedy shores and three great areas of bogland. Through the middle of the half-moon runs the road and line from Mitau to Riga, and the line from Mitau to Dvinsk gave the attack a lateral railway. But this configuration limited the assault to certain well-defined routes. Riga could only be approached along the coast or by the Mitau line, which made possible an attack upon the river position where Dahlen island cuts the channel in two. Dvinsk must be attacked by one of the three roads leading from Illukst, from Novo Alexandrovsk, or through the lakes from Widsy. The narrowness of these approaches greatly simplified the problem of the defenders. They knew the route of the enemy. They could not be outflanked. The situation was now totally different from that of August or September. Ruzsky’s Army of the North had to face a direct frontal assault along certain known and definite avenues. Von Below in August had tried to turn Riga and Dvinsk by cutting the Dvina line at Friedrichstadt. Von Eichhorn in September had hoped by swinging to the rear of Vilna to make Dvinsk the apex of a salient. Both plans had been foiled. The Russian front in the north was now straightened, and there was no alternative for von Hindenburg but to attack in front