The advance was slow on account of the damaged Polish roads. It was
preceded by a cavalry screen which moved with more speed. On November
10th, the vanguard crossed the Posen frontier and cut the railway on the
Cracow-Posen line. This reconnaissance convinced the Russian general
that the German army did not propose to make a general stand, and it
seemed to him that if he struck strongly with his center along the
Warta, he might destroy the left flank of the German southern army,
while his own left flank was assaulting Cracow. He believed that even if
his attack upon the Warta failed, the Russian center could at any rate
prevent the enemy from interfering with the attack further south upon
Cracow.
The movement therefore began, and by November 12th, the Russian cavalry
had taken Miechow on the German frontier, about twenty miles north of
Cracow. Its main forces were still eighty miles to the east. About this
time Grand Duke Nicholas perceived that von Hindenburg was preparing a
counter stroke. He had retreated north, and then, by means of his
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 and railways in the south and west, he had carefully preserved
those of the north already planning to use them in another movement.
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