PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2429, 7 April 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Russian reports to-day tell of a, series of successes in North Poland (opposite the East- Prussian fronin the Carpathians, and in Galicia. . It seems to be now beyond doubt that the German offensive from East Prussia has been definitely stemmed arid turned back, for the Russians. not only report continued fighting in their favour west of the Nicmen (that is to say on an extended front opposite the eastern frontier of East Prussia), but claim that their mounted troops have defeated those of the. enemy in the neighbourhood of Ruda,. a village only eight miles distant from East Prussia, at the south-eastern corner of that province, and about midway between the frontier and the fortress of Ossowiec, which quite recently was heavily bombarded by the Germans. NeWs is lacking regarding developments along the southern frontier of East Prussia, but the last reports received showed .the Russians _ closing in upon the German frontier along this front also.

There is nothing in the later messages to indicate that the Russians are advancing upon the East Prussian frontier in strong force. Indeed, most of the advanced movements seem to have been made by cavalry thrown forward in front of the main array, but if these cavalry movements have been correctly represented it is none the less established that the Germans are in retreat towards their own frontier. Assuming that this is the position, the Russians are left in .undisturbed possession of their fortified line along the Memen, free ttf harass the German retreat but not necessarily inclined to attempt a serious counter-stroke to the German offensive.

The circumstances which would make a Russian counter-stroke in this region difficult are precisely those which have militated against the success of the German offensive. Enforced as it was, the retreat of the Russians from East Prussia a couple of months.ago was well-timed. The fifty-mile strip of Poland which lies between the East Prussian frontier and the Russian fortress line along the Niemen is a region of marsh and forest with few and indifferent means of communication. When the Russians advanced, the country was still hard-held in .the grip of winter, and the roads, though not good, were frost-bound; aiid so served Reasonably well for purposes of military transport. When the Germans launched their offensive these conditions were. departing. . If. the Russians had tried to. retain their foothold in East Prussia they would ere. lone have been fighting with. a wide .celt of sodden marshland in rear, through which a speedy retreat would have been, absolutely, .impossible. Wisely, therefore,, they retreated to their fortress line, which is fairly well served with railway communications, and left it to their enemies to struggle through the 'marshy wastes between the Prussian frontier and the Niemfen. Some experts, reviewing this section of the caihpaign, have even declared that' the Russian Qommahdei'-in-Chief (the Grand Duke Nicholas) deliberately invited the German offensive and ordered the invasion of East, Prussia with, no other object than that of compelling a counter-stroke. The German stroke when it came was,, weighty, and in its early stages inflicted-ter-rible loss upon the .Russians, but there can be, no..doubt that it ..has now i expended its force, and that German hopes of parsing the Niemen ,line have absolutely disappeared. . **• * .* At the other extremity, of their line, _in south-eastern Galicia', the Russians arc apparently content to hold theiivown. They report to-day beating off Austrian, attacks in the region, of Zaleszitko.w, at.the. eastern end-of Galicia, souie distance noi'th of, Biikowina, . but no important change of position.seems to have resulted. An explanation of . the lack of enterprise thus indicated is perhaps to be..found in the fact that the .Russians find themselves free to pursue uninterruptedly their assaults upon the main passes of • the Carpathians. Just.as the fighting along the East Prussian frontier occupies Gorman forces which otherwise would be free to strengthen the armies west of Warsaw, the Austrian offensive in south-eastern. Galicia, while not seriously interfering with the. Russian plans, ijses. up.,forces which otherwise woiild be available for the defence of the passes, affording. ah entrance to Hungary, Although it is evident that some at least, of tlie more, important of these gateways have'not yet been,won, the Russians appear to be steadily gaining ground in the mountains. Further heavy fighting leading to the capture of some, thousands of Austrians is reported to : day along a seventy-mile mountain-front,, from the Uszok Pass to a point, westward of the Dukla Pass, but the actual measure of progress) made is not clearly indicated.

Indirect testimony to the success with which the Russians are prosecuting their campaign along the Carpathians is furnished, in a report from Switzerland, which states that a German army corps has left Flanders to assist the Austrians in maintaining the passes and tliat the latter have also, been compelled to draw reinforcements from the troops which were recently massed in the Tyrol, adjacent to the northern frontier of Italy. If this information can lie accepter! as reliable, the plight of the Austriaiij; in the. Carpathians inijst,, clesperalfiv, for. in .face .of the ileadily-srowing itrensth oi tbe

Allies in the Western theatre the Germans cannot afford on any slight consideration to weaken their forces in that region, and from what is known about Austro-Italian relations the Austrians must be equally unwilling to reduce the army which they havo stationed in the tfy'rol in the hope of restraining Italy. Tho Swiss report, however, is not incredible. In the oaso of the Germans, especially, operations in the two main theatres arc- interdependent. A collapse of the Austrian armies defending Hungary would pave the way for a llussian invasion of Silesia, arid this is a contingency which Germany is bound to stave off by every means in her power.

In the absence of any more definite indication; a hint of German preparation for some great move in the Western theatre may be found in the fact that American observers with the German array have been recalled by the United States, War Department, supposedly at German instigation. This may easily mean that Germany .is planning a surprise attack, and is taking all possible precautions to cloak her designs in secrecy. Prepared as the Allies are, Germany's prospects of sucoese in such an enterprise are presumably very meagre. Writing at the end of February, the military correspon-. dent of the Morning Post expressed the opinion that the Germans laboured under an absolute necessity of taking the offensive at the earliest possible moment in France, where the Allies were daily gaining strength and making progress which might at any moment be accelerated (as, in fact, it has been). He added that if his theory was correct the Germans would aim at gaining a defensive line in the Eastern theatre, capable of being held against the Kussiaris with diminished forces, and assemble all their available forces in France to endeavour to overwhelm the Allied army.

That the correspondent quoted has correctly indicated thp main trend of German strategy is highly probable, for while the Germans nave repeatedly defeated and driven back the Russians, it has been amply demonstrated thafc a decisive German success in the Eastern theatre is only to be gained, if at all, at the cost of a long and wearing war. As matters have developed; however, it is vary doubtful whether the Germans can afford to seriously diminish their forces in! the Eastern theatre. German strategy has beaten itself threadbare against the dogged tactics of the Russians, and the armies of tho Tsar are a far more potent menace to-day than they were at the beginning of the war. Apart from the threatened Austrian collapse in the Carpathians, the Russians are in a position to keep considerable force's iu play along the East Prussian frontier, arid there have been indications of weakening also in tho German line in Central and Southern Poland, notably in the recent report that the Germans are preparing to evacuate Lodz, in Central Poland; south-west of Warsaw. . In these, circumstances stable defensive lino in the Eastern theatre, capable of being held by comparatively limited forces, seems to. be a somewhat impossible aspiration, aid any heavy transfer of troops for purposes of a massed offensive in the West might easily be the prelude to disaster on the opposite frontier. - . * * # * Further French progress is reported to-day in the Woe.™ s district, between the Meuse, south of Verdun, and the border of Lorraine, where they are bearing down the opposition of a German force based on' Metz. In addition to capturing trenches southcast of St. Mihiel, on the Meuse,' they have gained a footing iu tho enemy's works north-east of the village of Regnieville (eight miles west of the Lorraine border), the capture of which was reported yesterday.

A statement, coming from Copenhagen, that "large German Dreadnoughts are active in the Baltic" must be. taken with a grain of salt. The Germans would serve no very obvious purpose by exposing any parfco'f their High Seas Fleet in the Baltic, unless, indeed, the ships have been compelled to make a brief parade in deference' to increasing public resentment at their continued idleness in harbour. It is rather more likely that a few cruisers have again ventured'out, as. some, of them did recently, to bombard Russian coasttowns, and with the flotilla of submarines they have at command t.ho Russians should be able to impose very strict limitations upon fugitive enterprises of this kind.