PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2359, 15 January 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Several messages to-day indicate that the Germans contemplate a supreme effort to reach Warsaw and so relieve the Russian pressure on. the Eastern front. Recently it was reported that' General- von Hindenberq was assembling a now Army of a million men to strengthen the German Eastei'n line. Now wo are told that the foreign attaches who have been accompanying the German Western Armies are making their way to the l Eastern front, the implication being, of course, that interesting developments are expected in that quarter. It is also stated that the whole of the ranwaYS have been commandeered for military purposes up to January 18.

Messages of this oharaeter, since thev must necessarily be directly or indirectly, of German origin, should bo received with a measure of caution. It is not- to. be expected that the Germans would precede a renewal of the offensive in Poland with an announcement of their intentions. On the other hand the information conveyed, in its broad aspects, is not improbable. As things have been developing the Germans must either carry their offensive in Poland to some decisive point or resign themselves to a retreat and a continuation of tho contest upon their own frontiers. ■ , * * * * For weeks' past the German Central Armies, striking at Warsaw, have been- held up along the line ofthe. Bzur-a and Rawka, a line running south from the Lower Vistula thirty miles west of Warsaw. Meantime the Russians have made some headway in the north, along the Lower. Vistula, and on the East Prussian frontier, and considerable progress in Southern Poland and Galicia towards Cracow. The Germans thus have every incentive to mass their strength and fight a bjg battle in Central Poland. Winning such a battle and capturing Warsaw they might possibly relieve their whole line and inflict a very serious check upon the Russians. They would almost certainly compel a Russian retirement from the -East Prussian frontier for the Russian forces about Mlawa. are- greatly dependent, upon a railway connecting that .place with Warsaw. The value of this line would of course depart if Warsaw fell into German hands.

That a defeat in Central Poland would compel the Russians to relinquish their advanco on Cracow not so certain for that advance is based not on Warsaw, but on Lcmberg, in Eastern Galicia, which is connected with Russian railways. A consciousness of their weakness in the south possibly accounts for the action of,the Germans in assuming complete control of the Austrian campaigns. . In any case', a victory in Central Poland, apart from its moral effect, would be of immense value to the Germans, and it is not at all unlikely that thoy may make desperate efforts to gain such a. victory during the remaining days of winter, in which it is reasonable to expect a continuance of the comparative deadlock which obtains in the Western theatre.

Even 'if the Germans deliver their stroke in Central Poland it does not by any means follow, of course, that it will serve its intended purpose. Slowly as their campaign lias developed the Russians have shown that they are well able to hold their own in the hardest fighting, and it is not at all likely that they will be overwhelmed by numbers. Hitherto their armies have enjoyed a numerical superiority, and they are at the present time busily organising reinforcement!!.

Few details of actual fighting in the Eastei'n theatre are given today, but the Russians have made some progress on the East Prussian frontier, to which they have clung ever since their bold advancc into the Masurian Lakes district was repelled. Russian detachments have captured some villages inside.the Prussian frontier in the region of Rosen, which is 70 milc3 north-cast

of Mlawa, and the north-western advance has also reached Radzanow, 18 miles south-feast of Mlawa. Some time ago the Germans recaptured Mlawa itself, but at last reports the Russians still held positions in the immediate neighbourhood.

Along the Aisne the Allies are still conducting a vigorous assault upon the southern spurs of plateau along which the German lines are placed. One point of attack is a spur north-west of Soissons, Here, tho Allies Btate, they are maintaining the attack on tho west slope, but have been compelled to give ground on the east.' Artillery fighting is continuous all along the line, though it is mentioned that persistent wet weather is interfering with operations. Damage has been inflicted on German batteries at various points between Soisons and Berry-au-bac, which lies 30 miles east of Soissons and twelve miles north of Reims.

Still another point at which the Allies are pressing hard upon the Germans is Beausejour, in the neighbourhood of Souam, some 20 miles east of Reims. At Beausejour the Allies retain the salient redoubt, which they recently captured, and their trenches are only a little over sixty yards away from those of the enemy. *»* . *

While evidence of Turkish demoralisation, and disaffection continues to accumulate, the Ottoman armies are by no iheans idle, and to-day's messages tell of their doings on the southern border of Trans-Caucasia, in Asia Minor, and in Northern Persia. .' * # * * A Petrograd message admits that the Russians sustained a check at Karaugan, but the details supplied suggest that the Turks, profited little by the encounter. _ Following upon their recent crushing defeat at Sarikamysh, they 'seem to have succeeded in bringing up a fresh army of 100,000 men, and it was this force which gave battle to the Russians at Karaugan, as they were about to enter Ottoman territory.' Karaugan is probably a border town south of. Sarikamysh. Though they are credited with checking the Russian advance, the Turks suffered _ heavy casualties and lost 1500 prisoners, and the Russians have captured a hill in Turkish territory and seized an artillery depot. - Unless the Turks succeed in altering the position, the Russians should now be able to advance into.Asia Minor

Meantime a section of the Turkish army has been devoting its attention to the Christian population in' Armenia, and seems to be waging a war of extermination against comparatively defenceless people. From the meagre details supplied,- it appears that large numbers of Armenian Christians have been murdered, and that thousands are seeking an asylum in Russian territory. It is mentioned that fifty, thousand refugees have reached the Caucasus, and many others, presumably driven from their homes by the fear of death at the hands of the marauding Turks and Kurds, are reported to have died of cold and hunger in Azerbijan and the Alashgherd Valley. Azerbijan is the northern province of Persia, lying immediately south of the Caucasus and extending from Kurdistan to the Caspian Sea, and Alashgherd is in Asia Minor, ten miles south of the Russian frontier and about 30 miles distant from Sarikamysh (where the Turks were defeated a few days.ago), which.lies north and a little west

While the Turks and Kurds seem to be largely engaged in murdering and ravaging ovet a wide area, their advance has also some military significance. They have made some headway in North Persia™ Their advance has taken them round both the northern and southern ends of Lake.Ui;umiah, which is situated in the eastern part of Azerbijan, and they have reached Maragha, east of the lake" at its southern end, and 110 miles Bouth of the Russian border and also Tabriz, the capital of the province which lies 50 miles from the Russian frontier.

Petrogbad reports state that the Turks have violated Persian neutrality in the hope of. finding vulnerable points on the Russian frontier. Evidently the Ottoman troops have profited by the instruction .of their German taskmasters. The invasion of Persia, though comparatively a minor affair, is marked by the same lack of principle as the invasion of Belgium. Happily it is likely to be visited with speedier retributaon than the greater crima of which it is a copy in miniature.

On at least one occasion recently the Turks had occasion to say, "Save us from,our friends." Not long as;o the Russians captured the port of Khopa, on the Black Sea, and it i 7. now explained that the capture was easily effected owing to a mistake on the part of the cruiser Breslau (the companion of the notorious Goelen), which shelled the pla'X while it was still 'in Turkish occupation,, and compelled the defenders to get out hurriedly. The Russians were quu;k to profit by the incident, and seized the port. Khopa lies close to the frontier of Trans-Caucasia, _ and is therefore, a placo of considerable strategic importance.

Another story comes to hand today of an abortive attack on Dover by German submarines. A similar raid on the same place was unofficially reported in some detail about a month ago* but no official statement on the subject lias ever been made. On the pi'esent occasion it is stated that the under-water craft worked in co-operation with airships, which "swept the sky" with searchlights. Why they should have done so is not mentioned, and it is obvious that airships, if they had actually been present, would have been more.likely to drop bombs than to betray thenpresence by- searchlight beams. As it stands, the story is not calculated to command belief.

Lord 'Cham,es Beuesford is vigorously criticising the Admiralty employing battleships of the formidable type and big cruisers, as patrol ships, in submarine-infested areas without providing them with a-protecting convoy of destroyers. As a naval officer of long experience Lord Ciiauies Bfresfoud -prcsumably knows what ho is talking about, and he is able to pointy to the fact that the ships employed in bombarding the Germans on the Belgian coast were efficiently guarded against under-water attack by destroyer flotillas. If' will bo '' c ' momberod also that the destroyers successfully performed a similar service for tlio, cruisers; engaged in the Ouxhavca raid.