PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2531, 4 August 1915, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

On the surface news of events in the Eastern theatre may appear to present some surprising and unexpected features. For instance, the latest German communique available at time of writing states that the situation west of Warsaw is unchanged. Confirmation is thus supplied of recent Petrograd reports that the Russian defensive lines opposite the Vistula at . Warsaw are as yet unshaken. Warsaw has figured so prominently in the dispatches of late, and the point has been so often that the Polish capital, with its railway bridges, is the great prize for which the Germans arc contending, that a false impression may easily be created by the announcement that it still remains in Russian hands. It would be quite a mistake, however, to assume that the postponement of the Russian evacuation of Warsaw implies that the Austro-German enveloping movement has collapsed. Possibly news of events in Poland is lagging behind events themselves, but in any case it is ■ quite certain that a great Russian retreat is in progress whioh must inevitably entail tho early loss of Warsaw and of much of the territory beyond it, oast of the Vistula. As regards this essential fact news of battles and of the movement of armies is in strict accord with the numerous public statements and announcements whioh have been made with the idea of preparing the public mind for the Russian retreat. On the news in hand —assuming that essential information regarding certain details is not being withheld—the Russians are making an orderly and deliberate retirement, and the prospect remains open that the retreating armies may reach their new line unbroken and with communications intact. Any more optimistic expectation would be inconsistent with available information. On tho facts as disclosed it must be assumed that the Russian Foreign Minister was not so much stating a possibility as foreshadowing events soon to take shape when he said that the Russians might give up Warsaw, as their ancestors gave up Moscow in-order to defeat Napoleon.

The great question to be decided in the near future is not just how long the Russians cm contrive to hold on to Warsaw. The real question at. stake is whether they can so safeguard and maintain ' their vital communications as to present an unbroken lino during their retreat and on their new front. Matters have already auae Js-f that', bite retentiaii ef wwwv. is eftjy, ujpctajit a# a

factor bearing on the retreat. The Russians have not only .to fall back, hut to make it as difficult as possible for the enemy to follow, and the retention of , the lines west of Warsaw can only mean that this is one of the points at which it is convenient or necessary to maintain a covering force meantime on the original front, while armies elsewhere are falling back. Knowledge of the stage which the operations have reached depends partly on Russian and partly on enemy reports, but there is no reason to doubt that the latter are substantially accurate so far as detail movements are concerned. While the Russians are standing firm west of .Warsaw the enemy have forced the Vistula between Warsaw and Ivangorod, the fortress sixty miles to tho south-east. The Austrians are working round Ivangorod, but the place is not yet invested. The western bank of the Vistula between Warsaw and Ivangorod was probably lightly held by tho Russians. There are no permanent bridges in this intermediate area and a large force would have been left without means of . retreat. On the other hand the artillery superiority of the Austi'o-Germans would enable them to forco a crossing at any time. As yet no very important progress is claimed by the enemy ber yond the point of orossing, and transport difficulties are likely to hinder his advance. A railway follows the course of the river on the east bank, but the Russians are likely to have taken measures to prevent its use by the enemy.

Three other areas demand special attention for the reason that in them the enemy is developing his most dangerous attacks. Obviously it must be his aim rather to cut the Russian communications than to thrust back th'e forces defending Warsaw and force the river at that point by a frontal assault. The latter policy would at most result in nothing more than the defeat—possibly the overwhelming defeat—of a Russian rearguard, and perhaps a certain amount of transport would be captured. On the other hand, if tho principal railways upon which the Russians arc dependent were cut, the whole retirement would be cast iiito disarray and the retreating forces seriously endangered. Similar results on a somewhat smaller scale would be achieved if only a single trunk lino were cut at a vital point.' As yet the Russians appear to have been successful in either holding up or delaying German attacks aiming at their communication railways, but these attacks must be regarded;as much more important than anything that happens meantime in tho immediate neighbourhood of Warsaw or along the Vistula, between Warsaw and Ivangorod. The principal operations coming under this 'head _ are developing, as has been mentioned, in three distinct areas. An army which is making slow headway, as yet, in the Baltic Provinces, may be employed in an attempt to cut the Petrograd-War-saw railway and so imperil the Russian northern armies. Another attack intended to break a road to the same railway further south.is being made in tho angle of the Rivers Narew and Bug, about forty miles north of Warsaw. A strong force under General von Mackensen is advancing north through Southern Poland in the direction of Brest Litowsk, a fortress 120 miles east of .Warsaw which stands on the railway from Moscow and not only guards the communications of the Russian armies in Central Poland, but those of forces in Poland and Galicia further south. The latest news, at time of writing, regarding these various operations is contained in a Berlin communique, and it goes to show that the Russian communications are not immediately imperilled. No progress is claimed in the angle of the Narew and the Bug, where the enemy is only 24 miles away from the Petrograd-Warsaw railway and the last received Petrograd accounts indicated that the Russians, favoured by the difficult nature of the country, were holding up tho enemy in this region. General von Mackensen is reported to have made considerable progress in Southern Poland, but is still a long way short of his objective. As to the offensive in the Baltic Provinces the Germans in that region seem as yet to be extending their foothold .to tho north rather than attempting to strike eastward towards the Petrograd-AVarsaw railway.

Concerning the last-named opeiw tions it is stated that General von Bttlow, who commands the Germans in the Baltic Provinces, has occupied Mitau, a town about 25 miles south of Riga. In this area the Germans arc still about 100 miles away from the Petrograd railway, and it may bo their immediate object to occupy Riga. On the other hand the northward extension of their line may be merely preliminary to the eastward advance on the railway which has been threatened.

It is in Southern Poland that the most pronounced success is claimed by the enemy. The communique mentions fighting at Kurow and a pursuit of tho Russians north-east of Cholm. Kurow, 10 miles east of the Vistula, is midway between Ivangor'od and Lublin and a few miles north of the railway connccting these places, and Cholm, 60 miles east of Kurow, is a junction of the railway across Southern Poland with another running north to Brest Litowsk, 70 miles away. Accepting.this as an accurate presentation of facts the enemy are pressing in 'determinedly on tho Russian communiear tions, but apart from actual resistance the Russians can do much to hamper their advance by destroying railways and bridges as they go. * # * * A late Petrograd message indicates that the Germans are still held in check north-west and south of Warsaw, but that the enemy is extending his footing on the Narew, some distance north, however, of the point at which the Petrograd-War-saw railway is most imminently I threatened. * * * . * A story is transmitted to-day that Enver Pasha and his colleagues of the Turkish Ministry are seriously at issue and that their disagreements may even culminate in civil waiybut many such stories in the past have proved to be ill-founded. One item of news from the Dardanelles relates to the exploits of a British submarine whioh has made some additions to the list, of Turkish transports and supply ships destroyed in the Sea of Marmora and given a really splendid demonstration of what can be accomplished by a submarine operating in an enclosed enemy sea. Besides attacking steamers and other Vessels, some of them lying alongside the arsenal at Constantinople, the submarine pjayed the part of a surface cruiser by bombarding a powder mill, and a, troop train passing gvsi' b. lists skirting Mjb of atoof

could be given of tho reign of terror which British submarines have established in the Sea of Marmora than that such bombardments are possible. i » * * The Russians for somo time past havo been lending useful aid to the Allies at the Dardanelles by destroying Turkish coal depots on the Asia Minor coast, and coal transports in the Black Sea. Another- successful raid of this character is reported in which quite a fleet of sailing craft and other vessels were destroyed, besides .considerable damage being done ashore. * * * * Quite a number of achievements by British, submarines are reported to-day. One, operating on the. German coast, has sunk 'a German destroyer, believed to bo G196, a boat of 650 tons, completed in 1911, and with a nominal speed of over 32 knots. Tho destruction of a speedy modern destroyer of this type by a submarine is a very notable feat. From Petrograd comes a report that a British submarine has sunk a German transport in the Baltic, while a Mifcylene message states that submarines have blown up the GalataStamboul bridge over the Golden Horn—presumably by torpedoing its piers. * * * * An optimistic estimate of possibilities in the Austro-ltalian campaign is given by a Daily Chronicle correspondent at Rome. He suggests that the Austrian ..defence of the Isonzo front is in some danger of collapsing, but so far as tHe possible capture of Tarvis, at the eastern end of the Carnic Alps, is concerned, seems to make remarkable light of the tremendously strong natural obstacle by which the Italians are faced. The possibility is, of course, open that the Italians may soon break through the Austrian defence and invade I'stria, but any northern invasion is likely to be longer delayed. A late official message from Rome reports some further successes in the Carnic Alps, but it mentions also that Roveredo is being bombarded, which means that the Italians are still fighting on the southern outskirts of the Trentino. * # * * Only minor actions are reported in the Western theatre,. A small gain of ground by the Germans in tho Argonne is admitted by the French. The defenders of a trench were expelled by a discharge of burning liquid, but portion of tlio ground lost has already been recovered.