But although such important points as Lodz and Radomsk were occupied during the last days of August and the first days of September, the German advance into South Poland quickly collapsed. In the meantime the Russians had successfully invaded Galicia, and by September 3, 1914, the Austro-Hungarians evacuated Lemberg. In the north, too, the Russian forces had resumed the offensive and once more were invading East Prussia. But they were again beaten back by Von Hindenburg on September 10-11, 1914, and, four days later, on September 15, 1914, suffered another serious defeat in the Mazurian Lakes. The Galician invasion, however, was meeting with great success. By September 16, 1914, the important Austrian fortress of Przemysl--sixty miles west of Lemberg--had been reached and its siege begun. By September 26, 1914, the Russians had reached the Carpathian Mountains and were flooding the fertile plains of the Bukowina, threatening an imminent invasion of Hungary itself.
The first week of October, 1914, brought a third invasion of East Prussia which, however, did not extend as far as the two preceding it, and which was partly repulsed before October was ended. In the meantime Austria had called upon Germany for immediate help in Galicia, and by October 2, 1914, strong German-Austrian forces had entered Poland in order to reduce the Russian pressure on Galicia, reaching the Upper Vistula on October 11, 1914, and advancing against Poland's capital, Warsaw. On the same day the siege of Przemysl was lifted, after a Russian attempt to take it by storm had been successfully beaten off a few days earlier. Throughout the balance of October, 1914, the heaviest kind of fighting took place in Galicia and the Bukowina. In the latter district the Austro-Hungarian troops were successful, and on October 22, 1914, reoccupied Czernovitz in the northeastern part of the province.
By November 7, 1914, the Russians were back again in East Prussia, but encountered determined resistance and suffered a series of defeats. However, although they were repulsed in many places, they succeeded in retaining a foothold in many others. At the same time very strong Russian forces had advanced from Novo Georgievsk across the Vistula toward the Prussian provinces of Posen and Silesia. In the face of these the Austro-Hungarian-German forces immediately gave up their attempted advance against Warsaw and retreated beyond their own borders into Upper Silesia and West Galicia. By the middle of November an extensive Russian offensive was under way along the entire front. Nowhere, however, did it meet with anything but passing success. In East Prussia and in North Poland the Germans won battle after battle and steadily advanced against Lodz. About November 22, 1914, it looked as if the tide was going to turn in favor of the Russian arms. One German army group seemed completely surrounded to the northeast of Lodz. But, although losing a large part of its effectiveness, it managed to break through the Russian ring and to connect again with the other German forces by November 26, 1914. At the same time heavy fighting occurred around Cracow and in the Bukowina where the Russians again occupied Czernovitz on November 27, 1914.