Then their guns blew the bridges to pieces. Thereupon von
Hindenburg bombarded the Russian lines hoping to destroy the Russian
guns. On Friday, the 26th, his guns boomed all day; the Russians made no
reply. So on the morning of the 27th he built bridges again, and again
the Russians blew them to pieces. On the 28th he gave the order for
retreat.
He realized that the game wasn't worth the candle; he might easily be
kept fighting on the Niemen for months, while the main armies of the
Russians were crossing Austria. Von Hindenburg conducted the retreat
with a skill which came to him naturally from his knowledge of the
marshes.
Rennenkampf followed him closely, keeping up persistent attacks through
the woods and marshes. The path of the retreating army lay through the
forest of Augustovo, a country much like that around the Masurian Lakes,
and there the Germans suffered heavy losses. Von Hindenburg managed,
however, to get the bulk of his forces back across the frontier and
continued his retreat to the intrenchments on the Masurian Lakes.
The Germans lost 60,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners, and von
Hindenburg handed over the command of the German armies in East Prussia
to General von Schubert, and hastened south to direct the movement to
relieve the Austrians at Cracow.
But quite as important as the campaign in East Prussia was the struggle
in Galicia.
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