PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2505, 5 July 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OP THE WAR

Operations are in progress in the Eastern' theatre which quite overshadow the struggle still in progress in Galicia. In that' province the Germans continue to make slow head-' way east and south-east'of Eemberg, but from the information supplied it is a reasonable inference • that both sides are continuing the Galieian battles with weakened forces. Developments under way further north must now be reckoned much more important. Setting aside for the moment a report 1 from P.etrograd that 400,000 German troops have neen concentrated in the Libau district (north of East Prussia), the Germans are undoubtedly . making a strong effort to reach Warsaw and capture the Russian main railways from tho south. They have already advanced from Galicia on both banks of the Vistula where it runs north from Galicia towards Warsaw. Tho movement in the area east of the Vistula is under the direction of General von Mackensen himself, in itself an indication that very largo German forces are being employed. The broad presumption from the news in hand isthat the clearance of Eastern Galicia is now a secondary object with tho Germans, and that the main body has swung north, its objective being Warsaw— the objective at which the Germans have aimed ever since the war began. « * * *

Already the opposing armies are in contact on a wide front eastward from the Vistula, and on an average more than twenty miles north of tho Galician frontier, which follows an irregular line. Zamosk is north-west of Lemberg, and about 23 miles north of the frontier, and from tho llussian report it appears to be in the hands of the enemy. ICrasnik, which the Germans state they have captured, is 50 mility west and a little north of Zamosk, arid 16 miles cast of the Vistula. The Russians, _ besides being driven out of Galicia, have thus lost a wido strip of their southern territory. There is nothing to indicate that t-hoy made any particular effort , to retain it, though mention of a stubborn rearguard action northward of Zamosk suggests that they do not intend to retire indefinitely. It is quite reasonable to suppose, however, that they relinquished portion of their southern territory without an effort in order to take up an advantageous position as compared with the enemy. So far as the area cast of the Vistula (whero it runs north from Galicia) is concerned, advantage of position is chicily a matter of transport. Up to tho Galiciau frontier the enemy arc fairly well served by railways. North of'tbe frontier there is a strip (if country from forty to fifty miles jvide* oxtca(Jw* about

150 miles east of tho Vistula, which is without railways. On the northern edge of Jihis raillcss tract a railway runs from west to cast (after following the Vistula south from Warsaw by way of Ivangorod), and it is entered at several points by other lilies from tho north. As matters stand, the Russians east of the Vistula arc fighting 'with what is probably ono of the best railway systems ill Russia at their backs, the lateral line mentioned being twenty to thirty miles in rear of their front, while the Germans have already ad-vanced-through twenty miles or more of country through which their transport must bo wholly by road., The roads are probably anything but good. Always admitting the uncertainty of war, the latest German advance seems to afford no particular ground for uneasiness, but it will not be surprising if the Russians retreat even further north before attempting to stay the invasion of their territwy. Doing so they would lighten their own transport difficulties and increase those of the enemy, and they will still have a thirty-mile belt of country south of the Ivangorod railway to come and go upon.

While General von Mackensen's army is advancing in the area- east of the Vistula, other German forces are advancing on the .west of the great river. Here also some headway has been made. Some days ago the enemy reported the capture of Ostrowiec, 45 miles south-west 'of Ivangorod and 20 miles west of the Vistula, and by their own account they aro now about ten miles north of Ostrowiec and' so much nearer Ivangorod, which is the great southern outpost of Warsaw, and like Warsaw a _ railway junction. On present indications, however, it is on the eastern side of the Vistula that tine Germans have launched their main attack towards Ivangorod, and it has yet to be shown that they can develop the attack effectively through a country barren of railways. Even if they reached Ivangorod, Warsaw, sixty miles further on along the Vistula, would be a difficult goal to attain.

m * * * * The reported concentration 'of 400,000 German troops in the Libau district may be either a mere rumour or those preparatory announcements sometimes issued from Petrograd when matters have taken an untoward turn. Until its character has been definitely established it will be wise to regard it with reserve.- If the Germans were able to operate on the scale indicated in the Eastern theatre in spite of. the mounting strength, of the Western Allies, ideas as to. the leading facts Of the war would have to be radically revised. On available evidence such an enterprise as Germany is said to be planning in the Eastern theatre is far beyond her remaining powers and resources. The theory of a great enveloping movement receives little support from General von Mackensen's activities in Southern Poland, for ho. would probably have preferred to attack elsewhere but for the imperative necessity which arose of relieving Austria by expelling the Russians from Galicia.

The little that has bcon Heard about the Baltic for some time past has suggested that a considerable part of its area is ' commanded by the German fleet. It seems to be generally agreed that Russia is obtaining few, supplies by way of the Baltic, and the occupation of Libauand invasion of the southern part of tho Russian Baltic provinoes, north of East Prussia, have also pointed to German domination of portion of Russia's Baltic sea-board. Reports to-day of a minor naval engagement place the position in a somewhat different light, and' indicate that the Germans arc not inclined to risk strong_ naval squadrons very far north in the Baltic. The aetion was an affair of light cruisers and destroyers. How many on each side were engaged is not made clear, but reports from Copenhagen and Stockholm as well a Petrograd communique ajjree in stating, that the German ship Albatross was compelled to run ashore on the Swedish' island of Gotland. According to the Swedish account, the Russians retired before a reinforced German squadron, while the Russians themselves state-that the enemy .retreated south, but no report mentions any ship being lost by the Russians, and in their official communique they state that their damage was insignificant. The Albatross was a special mine-laying ship of 2200 tons, armed with eight 3.5-inch guns and with a capacity for 400 mines. As the Germans no doubt rely very largely upon minefields in hampering traffic in the Baltic, they may count the loss of, the Albatross more serious than that of an ordinary light cruisor.

From official reports no material ohange appears to have occurred on the Western front. The Germans lay claim to a victory in the Argonne Forest, where they have lately been trying to pierce the Allied line in order to encirclo Verdun, but Paris reports state that all German attacks in this region have been beaten off. A Dutch report states that the enemy are massing hundreds of guns against the left of the Allied line ii) Flanders (near Yprcs and further south), the implication being that another assault in this region is contemplated. The Italians arc still making good headway in advance of their frontiers, particularly in the direction of Tarvis, which covers one of tho main avenues of 6ntry into Austria, At the Dardanelles heavy Turkish attacks, aiming at tho recovery of the positions lately won by the British forces, have been repelled with slaughter, _ and the French have gained additional ground on the right of the southern line. *** * , ■

Incidents arc reported in the United States which may do more to arouse public opinion in regard to the war than even the sinking of the Lusitania: _ One wing of the Capitol at Washington has been wrecked by an explosion, the .origin of which is not explained at time of writing. Little is to bo gathered from the fact that the outrage was foretold in a letter to a newspaper, signed "R. Pearce." This particular outrage may or may not have been a German exploit, but no such doubt .attaches to the murderous attack upon J. P. Morgan by a. German tutor at the Cornell University. In this_ ease the would-be murderer, Holt, is in custody, and has confessed. that ho was anxious to kill Morgan becauso his firm was exporting war munitions. A great deal depends upon tho result of the searching investigation which will 110 doubt he made into the outrage at the Capitol. The wrecking of tho Senate wing of tho Capitol may not be on a par with the sinking of the Maine, but if tho people of the ,United States fiud that they arc being mudo a target of German out- > rascca.. the respJt is to bo an

outburst of indignation and warfever'which will sweep away like thistle-down the well-meant but rather fatuous diplomatic assiduities of President Wilson and his adviser's.

Since he went to America as German Ambassador, Count Bernstorff has figured in many roles. He has played the part not so much of an Ambassador as of special pleader on behalf of Germany, and not long ago he was sharply rebuked _ by United States newspapers, but incurred no worse penalty, for publishing fcho contents of an official memorandum from Berlin to Washington—practically taking this means of lecturing the American nation on the alleged iniquities of its own Government. Now a graver charge is laid against this too-enterprising Ambassador. He is said to have used the channels of wireless communication by which American and other neutral countries are in touch with Germany to convey to Berlin information as to the movements of British and French transatlantic shipping. In other words it is alleged that Count Bernstorff, under the cloak of his Ambassadorship, has played the part of a spy, transmitting his reports through an American wireless station and deceiving the United States Government by using a false code and by other shady devices. ■ Britain and Franco may be expected to take a .very close interest in the steps which the American Government ■ is taking with a view to putting an end to these practices. It is perhaps only in the United States that an iAmbassador of Count Bernstorff's character and reputation would be tolerated for a day. * * » «

Further details of th!e_ sinking of tKo Triumph and the Majestic in the Aegean Sea, allegedly supplied by the commander of the attacking subcertainly suggest that the battlesnips were taken unawares ■in such circumstances that they presented easy targets. Both ships, it is' stated, had torpedo nets down, but if the story of the submarine officcr is true, _no other precautions worth mentioning were taken. Nets are a poor protection against modern torpedoes, and, in • the latest British capital ships they aro dispensed with. /These vessels rely upon their speed and small armament, and upon attendant destroyers, to repel torpedo attack. The latest warships aro supposed to be capable of remaining afloat after being struck by a torpedo unless it finds a.magazine.