What seems to have happened in this portion of the
eastern theatre is that when the German retreating force turned, and making use of their lateral railways went forward again in very large numbers, the Russians attempted to envelop them, and that the envelopment very nearly succeeded. We said that the Germans broke through, but perhaps it would be more accurate to say that by the violence and persistence of their offensive they prevented the trap, in which they found themselves, from working. They pressed so heavily upon the springs that it could not close. Though it is impossible to summarize accurately a position in which so many facts are necessarily unknown, we may hazard a guess that the local situation round Lodz is assuming characteristics some- thing like those in Flanders. The two armies are confront- ing each other at fairly close quarters, and neither is able to make progress.
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