PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2479, 4 June 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

An increasing stir of battle is reported in the n.ain Eastern theatre of which even the main features have not so far been '/cry clearly defined. The later messages (some of them published yesterday) indicate tint no decision has yet been reached in the great battle which is being fought in Gaiicia, on the banks of the San and east and south of Przemysl. In addition there are meagre reports of a renewed outburst of lighting in Central Poland, west of Warsaw. Here the Germans have again taken the offensive, and the enterprise has of course a direct bearing upon events in Galicia. The news of the Galician battle is brief but important. The Germans have assaulted some of the Przemysl forts (the Russians say unsuccessfully). A big battle is being fought near Stryj, 60 miles east-south-east of Przemysl, of which the result, according to the Russians, is still undecided, while the Austrians report that they have dislodged the Russians from their positions, and that the latter (having lost nine thousand men, taken prisoner) are retreating towards the north. _ This must await confirmation. A similar Austrian claim made about a week ago was discredited by subsequent events. On the other hand, the Russians state that they have won further successes on the River Svica, which runs north from the Carpathians range, and passes about ten miles east of Stryj The Russian positions on the Svica, however, should be situated (according to rccent reports) near Dolina, a railway junction twenty miles south of Strvj, and connected with that place and with the Wyskoiv Pass to the south. The Austro-Ger-mans are in possession of another line to Stryj which leaves the mountains further west. Thev are thus in a position to concentrate forces against the Russians at Stryj, and the attack upon this place is hardly less important, if at all, than the attack on Przemysl from the west, north, and south.

The strong efforts that are being made to pierce the Russian line at Stryj bear out a recent statement, that General von Mackensen, commanding the Austro-German armies in Galicia, is bringing the same tactics to bear as ho employed against the Russians opposite Lodz in November last. On that occasion he kept up the attack all along the line, and at intervals concentrated troops to strike at one or more selected points, sometimes striking hard at both flanks while still keeping the Russians hotly engaged in the centre. In the present operations in Galicia attacks on Przeinysl, in the centre, have been accompanied by equally strenuous activities against the Russian armies along the San north of Przemysl and against, the long Eussian left wing, extended east and south from the fortress through Eastern Galicia_ towards Bukowina. Stryj is a vitally important point on the latter section of the Russian line. As has been said, the attacking armies have the advantage of advancing along a line of railway from the Carpathians which keeps them iu touih with the linei traversing Hungary. It should bo noted that Stryj is connected by rail with Lemberg. An advance north from Str;,'i would cut the Russian communications well to the east of Przemysl, and would enable the enemy to close, in upon Lemberg, which is the most important base and railway junction held by the Russians in Galicia. As matters stand, practically the whole of the Russian armies in Galicia are supplied by railways radiating from Lemberg. If Lemberg were once seriously threatened, a general Russian retreat in Galicia and from Bukowina would be imperative, but as yet there is only the unsupported assertion of an Austrian communique to indicate that any such desperate misfortuno is even in sight.

Like other details in tho Eastern campaign, tho German assault on the Przemysl forts is tie subject of conflicting messages. The German communique reports that Forts 10, 11, and 12 wero stormed and 1400 of the garrison and 18 heavy guns and five light guns capttircd. Tho Russians report that the western and north-western forts wero assaulted, and admit that Fort 7 wa-s entered, but add that the assault was repulsed with enormous loss, the force which entered Fort 7 being taken prisoner. There are nine main forts at Przemysl, and a, recent map shows Fort 7 as lying to the south-west of tha town, but the Russian statement that the western and north-western forts were attacked may l)e accepted. The extent to which the German attack succeeded should soon be made apparent. Meantime the measure of suecms admitted by the Russians is strong evidence that the fortress is deficient in the powerful artillery essential to it's defence. Assuming, as now seems likely, that the Austrian* methodically destroyed the I't,rt,i-ess artill'-ry before surrendering the piae:' to the Russians, I'r/.emysl must. now constitute merely a sec;l,,'n ~f the l!n.vsinn front, no li'ono,.]' and no weaker for being riominallv :1 fortress ll is unlikely that the Gorman front.al ap&auH coulri bave been uualied to the point.

of entering line or more forts if tlio rums of position had remained intact, and if the ordnance in some of the forts was destroyed by the Auscrians it is likely that it was destroyed in all. The deficiency of heavy artillery at Przemysl has both good and bad aspects from the Russian point of view. For the time being it means that their position on the San is very much weaker than it would have been had it been buttressed by a strong fortress fully armed. On the other hand, if Przemysl again falls into the hands of the enemy it is hardly possible that- they will be able to re-arm it so a,s hi offer any serious obstacle to lb' 1 ultimate Russian advance when the Austro-German offensive has expended its strength.

Generally, tho outlook in Galicia is less promising than it was a day or two ago, when news pointed to the probable early collapse of the Austro-German offensive, but unless the Austrian claim to a victory at Stryj is confirmed it need not be assumed that the situation lias materially altered for the worse. An additional factor is now introduced in the renewed German offensive west of Warsaw, of which only fragmentary accounts have so far been given. The Russians have been attacked on the sixty-mile front from the Pilica to the Vistula, the main weight of the attack falling on the northern hall of this front, along the Bzura and Rawka Rivers, thirty miles west of AYarsaw, as it did in tho desperately-contested battles of December a-nd January last. Beyond tho fact that attacks on the Rawka line, south-west of "Warsaw, were repulsed, the Russian accounts convey little more than that the Germans made extensive use of poisonous gas and pressed their attacks with extraordinary tenacity. This leaves matters somewhat open, and fuller reports should soon arrive. At present it seems likely that the renewed attack in Poland may be merely a feint intended to divert Russian reinforcements from the menaced line in Galicia, but it has to be remembered always that Warsaw is the grand objective of the Germans in tho Eastern campaign. It is the great railway _ junction which gathers in ihe Russian _ railways running west, to the Vistula arid from which the majority of the railways running from the Vistula towards the German frontier radiate. Holding Warsaw and its railway bridges, the Germans would to a great extent hold the Russian armies, and it cannot be assumed, simply because the Germans appear now to be very fully engaged in Galicia, that the renewed attack_ on the approaches to Warsaw is unimportant.

At the same time, though the extreme brevity of the Russian messages is a little disquieting, there is reason to hope that a renewed German attempt on Warsaw would be no more successful than attempts made in the past. Five months ago the main strength of the German Eastern armies was brought to bear upon an effort to smash the Russia® front on the Bzura and the Rawka, and the result was a disastrous failure, accompanied by an appalling death-roll. At the present moment, with enormous forces engaged in Galicia, at the end of long lines of communication, the Germans should be even less likely to succeed. They have one new factor in their favour —poisonous gas —but its use is no surprise to tho Russians. Tlfe Germans have been using it experimentally for some time past in intermittent attacks upon the Narew _ front, in Northern Poland. Profiting by the experience of their Allies in the West, the Russians should be able to make fairly adequate provision against poisonous gas, and this being granted, there should be little cause for fear on other grounds as to tho continued safety of Warsaw.

In view of. the critical situation upon the opposite front, the deliberation with which the attack upon the Germans in France is being developed may seem disappointing, but it was long since made evident that the grim strategy of Gexeh.il Joffre does not lencl itself to sucklen adjustments and spectacular results. Late details of the _ offensive in Northern France —telling of some further inroads which have been made into the German fortified chain upon which the Allies are maintaining a persistent attack—may seem petty in contrast with the terrible grapple of armies in Galicia. 'But the Western Allies are making their weight felt, though they are not concentrating wholly upon an) single point Their aim is not to burst a passage through the German line in 0110 tremendous stroke, but to bring such heavy and continuous pressure to bear upon it that it must break or be withdrawn to positions whero the German armies will have a shorter front to defend. The progress of the Allied offensive is to be measured meantime not in ground gained, but in the weakening of the German armies in relation to their own —in the progressive drain of men and guns and munitions, while the corresponding resources of the Allies are being increased. Apart from the statistics of wastage which go to show that the Allies are developing a successful offensive under these conditions, there have been of late several indications of growing German weakness. The most positive of all is that the Germans, while unable to hold their own on a strong section of their front now being gradually wrested from their grasp, nave failed to launch an effective counter-stroke at any other point. In Flanders, where they last made such an attempt, they are reported to be steadily losing ground. If this is the true position, taken in conjunction with their inactivity in other parts of the Western thc.iiio, it must be regarded as a positive indication of waning German strength. There is no promise of speedy victory in the slow-develop-ing Western campaign and its normal features appear almost tame in comparison with the rapid movement and continual impact of armies in the Eastern theatre, but it is nevertheless, a very grim and deadly struggle, and it promises results.

A report bv General Sir lan Hamilton shows that tho Australian and Mew Zealand Army Corps opposite Gaba Tope, and not the British force advancing from the southern end of the Gallipoli Peninsula, was engaged in the 1 ttle which arose a few days ago out of an unsuccessful attempt by the Turks in undermine the British posit ion. The Gknehal's report lays <;mphusis upon the importance of (lie victory. Jt is interesting also as showing that tli.' Australians and New Zealanders are still entrenched within a mile or so of their landing-point, and are pn>tv.ding by the same methods of sies;o warfare as have been adopted in the on Acbi from the

[ A message from tho Berne correspondent; of tho Moniini/ J'usl states (hiit a lhiiiKiiiian .Note to Austria has been cunsiiicrcd by the Austrian Ministry and German representatives, with tho result that its demands have been rejected. Although it is well known that Rumania has aspirations .where Transylvania (the eastern province of Hungary) is concerned, this is the first that has been heard of a Note to Austria, which would presumably formulate demands on the subject, li' the report proves to be reliable, Jiiiiiiaiiian intervention must be regarded as more likely than ever, hi a measuv, tho story of the Note is nuiiiniied by the reported speculations ol tho German Press. One paper is said to have expressed the view that Germany must act as an intermediary, and that there is no reason why Austria should not make just and equitable concessions to Jiuinania. In facc of the common determination of its friends and enemies to cut it u.p, the outlook for the Dual Monarchy cannot be regarded as l'fKV.

The most important news from Rome to-day is that the Italians have crossed the Isonzo .River, at a point about -10 miles north of the Adriatic, and are strongly posted on a ridge on the eastern bank. As yet, the Italians seem to have encountered little opposition in advancing from their frontiers, but the position, nevertheless, has its critical features, chiefly on account of the possibility that the Austro-Ger-mans may strike south from the Trentino.