the north was the Eighth Army, commanded by Otto von Below, and to the south was the Twelfth Army, commanded by Max von Fabeck. Ragoza organized his army into three groups, with the northern group led by Mikhail Pleshkov, consisted of the I and XXVI Corps, with the I Siberian Corps. The central group, led by Leonid Sirelius, consisted of the XXXIV and IV Siberian Corps. The southern group, led by Pyotr Baluyev. Battle On the morning of 18 March, the Russian heavy artillery bombardment commenced in the northern and southern sectors. However, the bombardment proved ineffective. Russian assault columns found the German defenses mostly intact, and suffered terrible flanking fire. The Russian Second Army suffered 15,000 casualties in that first day, with no gain. On the 19th, the Russian bombardment continued, but the Russian assault again faltered, resulting in an additional 5600 casualties. On 21 March, the Russian assault continued with the I, XXVII and I Siberian Corps, and were able to capture the German front line. On 22 March the Russians were able to add somewhat to their modest gains. On 24 March, the Russian V Corps and III Siberian Corps attacked on the southern sector, but with little gain. On 26 March, further attack by the Russian northern sector were also ineffective. On 29 March, Alexeyev ordered an end to the Russian assault. Results The whole operation turned out to be an utter failure, as it abated the Russians' morale without providing any help to the French, and has become a shining example of the use of a widely known World War I method of war, the human wave attack. Huge masses of people were continuously sent into the battle over and over again in the same place of the enemy front. Eventually, the attack on the German positions was brought to a halt because, as General Evert noted in his order issued on 30 March, it had not led to "decisive results" and "the onset of warm weather and abundant rains" had turned much of the area into swamps. Literature Holstein, Günther. Nacht am Narocz [Night at Lake Narach] text set to music by Siegfried Wagner for tenor and piano in 1919. Keegan, J. (2001). Der erste Weltkrieg. Eine europäische Tragödie [The First World War. A European Tragedy]. (in German) Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg, Podorozhniy N. E. (1938). Narochskaya operatsiya v marte 1916 g. na russkom