PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

A day or two ago the Austrian!) declared that the fall of Przemy&l did not affect the general situation. Developments are now reported which show how very wide of the mark the assertion was. The Russians, it is stated, have, forwd their way through the mountains and fought a great battle on Hungarian soil where, apparently, they are still firmly established although the battle, after lasting for three days, is not yet over. Staroetyna," named as the scene of conflict in the 1 semi--' official message reporting, the battle, is possibly the village shown on some. maps as Sztarina, and situated on' the southern fringe of the Carpathians, about midway between the Uszok Pass, which.' penetrates • the mountains south of Przemysl, and the Lupkow Pass, forty miles further west. In, any, case the locality of the battle is itt Hungary south of the Carpathians} and between tho two passes named, v

Possibilities are thu6 opened up of very momentous developments on i this section of the Eastern theatre in the immediate future. The tide \ of battle in this theatre has'so fre- -' quently ebbed and flowed,' often unexpectedly, that it would.be a mis-' take to take it for granted on the authority of a single _ semi-official message that the effective invasion of Hungary, so often anticipated, is at length an accomplished fact, but the story as it is told, in _ view of attendant circumstances, is inherent-. ly probable. The story is that the ■ Russians brought up neavy forces ; and drove bacE the Austrians from Uszok, at the Hungarian end of the-' 1 pass of that name, so at a stroke \ penetrating the barrier- against, whioh they, have been hammering fof j months, the most obvious explanation of this dramatic development 1 " is that the Russian army, which has for months been investing Przemysl. was hurried south, on the fall of that fortress, to reinforce the Rus> I sums at the Uszok Pass, and make a bold offensive stroke possible. This ,in /all likelihood is what has oo- j I curred and the probability is heightened by the fact that Przemysl is, oonnected with the Uszok Pass by rail. If the measure of success at.:, tending the Russian advance has nofi been over-stated the whole aspect of the campaign along the Carpathians is likely to be transformed. * * * *

A Russian invasion of Hungary, on a, big scale should servo a valuable secondary purpose in helping to stiffen Italy's reported inclina—■ tion to join the Entente in the war.Her position is admittedly difficult, 1 menaced as she is by an Austrian, army on her weak north-eastern frontier, but the Russian invasion, if' it develops as it seems likely to do, will create a powerful diversion which should favourably modify; Italy's problems if she elects to en-, ter the war. As is pointed out by,' l General Ricoiatti Garibaldi, Italy's example would probably be followed t by Greece ana Rumania, which' would mean an aggregate addition of between two and three million men to the forces standing opposed to Austria and Germany.

There is still an absence of 3efinite news concerning the progress of the Russian army in Western Galicia, but a message from Venice 1 to-dja.y conveys the significant an- '■ nouncement that the authorities Cracow have ordered civilians t<S; leave forthwith. This implies, os/ course, that a siege is apprehended,/ and that it is intended to economise'food supplies by excluding combatants from the cityj out no, information has been given for weeki}-' past as to the actual position Of tht' contending armies in Western Galicia. Weeks ago the Russians were established at Tarnow, a railway junction about 45 miles east of Cracow, but at an earlier stage in the campaign they reached the. same front only to. be compelled to retreat. However, if the Venetian message is to be trusted, a Russian i advance and the investment of Cra- ■ cow are regarded as imminent. Like Przemysl, Cracow is a strong ringfortress, and should be able to offer a stout resistance, but if it were one®, reduced or effectually . masked the way would be open for an advanoa upon the German frontier province of Silesia. * * * » With enemies closing in upon it. on all sides the unfortunate Ottoman ' v Empire is now declared to be faoedf by new dangers from internal dissension. A very interesting dispatch from Mr. Martin Donohoe, •who is at present in Rumania, describes a tense and embittered struggle in Constantinople between j the pro-German war party and a', peace party which advocates capitu- ) lation. More than this, it is stated that only the threatsof General votf Sanders' prevented tho Turkish Gov-* ernment seeking to make terms with the Allied. Commander-in-Chief at the Dardanelles. The absence of any mention of Marshal von der Goltz in connection with these events lends colour to recent reports that he was cither assassinated by the Turks or met his death in the bombardment of Smyrna. It will bo remembered that Marshal von der Goltz was elevated to the post of Turkish War Minister in succession to Enver Pasha, and presumably be would in the ordinary course, had he been alive, have filled the arrogant part played by General von Sanders in coercing the perturbed Ottoman Government. While confusion and dissension reign in Constantinople the Allies are steadily pursuing their campaign by land and water in the Dardanelles, but no fresh developments of importance arc. reported to-day. From this distance the excursion of the German fleet of battleships

and destroyers which bombarded Polangen, a small Russian town on the Baltic, close to the northern extremity of East Prussia, looks like a,' somewhat bootless enterprise. Presumably the movement was inspired by a desire to impose a check npon the Russian forces which have recently been active on the northern frontier of i East Prussia-, but if the ships are to perform this service thoy will have to maintain their stations on the Baltic coast, exposed to dangers which the German fleet as a rule has shown a marked disposition to avoid. Chief amongst these dangers must be reckoned tho likelihood of attack by Russian submarines and possibly by British ooats as well.. British monitors and other ships braved a similar danger when they bombarded the Gorman positions oh the Belgian coast, but the operations on that occasion were on a scale of magnitude whioh justified the risk. The 6ame can hardly be said of the minor enterprise of the German ships on the Baltic coast, and in the circumstaiicos their vonturing out of harbour may be attributed to the necessity having arisen of pkicatirfg the pumio, who must be growing restless under the spectacle of an idle fleet rusting at its anchorage.