PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2545, 20 August 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

An announcement that the Germans have taken the- great fortress of Kovno is a natural sequel to the news of yesterday, whioh told that they had gained a footing in the outer fortifications. The event is in keeping with the general experience of trie war that the strongest fortress can be defended against an enemy amply provided with heavy siege artillery only by maintaining strong outlying entrenchments. Verdun and other French fortresses which havo'so far defied the Germans are probably much stronger than Kovno, but they owe their continued security not to the strength of permanent fortifications, but_ to the defensive power of outlying works by which the permanent fortifications aie supplemented, and to a great extent superseded. The Germans were first to seize upon the faefi that heavy artillery is of moro value as a mobile force than in permanent fortifications, and practical experience in the war has time and again proved them right. The fate of Kovno demonstrates once more that in modern war a fortress is only secure so long as the enemy can bo kept away from it. The failure of the Russians to hold the outlying defences is accounted for by the same factors as havo compelled them to resort to a general retreat —a. marked inferiority in- artillery and an insufficient supply of munitions. Under this handicap they resisted heavy and sustained German assaults for more than a week, but when the outer-de-fences had been penetrated the end was in sight. As the reports show, the Germans gained a footing between some of the- western forts on Monday evening and about 24 hours later, on Tuesc!_y night, the whole fortress was in their hands.

The fall of Itovno must be regarded as a definite indication that tho German invasion of Eussia has not yet spent its force. At a cursory view it may even be regarded as disproving the contention that the pcrmans are conducting the invasion under great and increasing difficulties, more espeoially as the inability of the Eussians to arrest the invading forces at ICovno makes it likely that tho Germans will _ be able to considerably extend their foothold in the region east and north of East Prussia, whioh constitutes their northern area of invasion. It i 3 undoubtedly true that the defeat of the Eussians at ICovno paves the way—to an extent not yet to bo measured wifu any certainty—for a further extension of the German invasion. In this connection, however, it is necessary to take tho local circumstances into _ account. . The areas in which the invading armies are finding it most difficult to advance arc those in which they arc operating at a maximum distance from their own frontier, and in which they have few railways, and in some cases are compelled bv tho Eussian destruction of the railways to depend solely upon road transport. In Central Poland the Germans are operating under these con- 1 ilitluni inm'fl than aoo milss In sd[. vattca si fcosir awaffoujicr, liovno,

on tho other hand, formed the northern flank of a section of the Russian line which lies only about fifty miles away from the East Prussian border. It is one of a chain of fortresses intended to serve as a barrier against invasion—a purpose, as has ,becn remarked, which fortresses are no longer capable, of serving. Moreover Kovno is on a railway which runs from East Prussia eastward into Russia, and this railway almost to within gun-range of the' fortress was in German hands when the assault began. ' In a word conditions of accessibility existed at Ivovno, and still exist on a portion of tho Russian front to the south, and to a lesser extent to the north, which elsewhere in the theatre of war the Russians have profoundly modified to their advantage by their retreat. * a * * The fortress itself was not an important factor. But the fact that the Russians were unable to hold the enemy at Kovno probably means that they _ will be compelled to continue their eastward retreat for a considerable distance, and this will confer important strategical advantages upon the Germans in addition to the immediate gain of territory. It is largely a matter of railways. An advance of twenty' miles beyond Kovno will give the Germans possession of a railway running north into .tho Baltic Provinces, the northern section of which is already in their hands. The armies of. invasion in the Baltic Provinces will then for tho first time be in direct railway communication with their own country. Fifty miles cast of Kovno is Vilna, a junction on the PetrogradWarsaw railway, and reports from Vilna indicate that its evacuation is probable, if not imminent. .No doubt the Russians will as far as possible tear up and destroy the various railways as they leave them, but railways can be repaired though the difficulty of effecting repairs will of course increase as the invasion proceeds. The progress of the invasion in the immediate future must depend upon the power and resources the Germans are prepared to bring to bear upon its prosecution, and, any predictions on the' subject would be futile, but it remains as true as ever that .with every movo forward into Russian territory the margin of superiority which the enemy possesses over the Russians is diminished.

At a time when the hand of misfortune is heavy on-the Russians, it is just as_ well not to ignore the brighter side of the picture. It is true that the Germans are gaining an extended foothold on the western fringe of Russia, though at a cost in men and_ material that is likely to tell heavily against them in the future course of the war, but it is equally true that the Russian retreat has been a wonderful exhibition of valour, forethought, and strategic skill. In the opening phase of the present Austro-German offensive the Russians on their lines in Western Galicia were smitten as by a thunderbolt, and in a fortnight lost two-thirds of the great province they had invaded. During those two weeks there were elements of confusion in their retreat, and they no doubt lost very heavily, but from the date on which they turned on the enemy for a space on the River San the retreat has been continued with methodical deliberation and in a fashion which almost entitles_ it ■to be regarded as an aggressive campaign against the enemy. The retreat has witnessed dozens of battles, some of them lasting for days, which the Russians could easily have avoided by rapidly withdrawing their forces. The long defence ;of Kovno—a place which could liot possibly have been held in the present comparative state of Russian and German resources as regards artillery and munition's—is a late. and glorious example of the policy which the Russians have adopted. Tliev have consistently ;evaded anything'in the nature of a decisive battle which would be likely to determine the whole fate of the campaign, but it is also a fact that, as fa.r as is consistent with this ruling policy, they have chosen throughout to withdraw, not with a minimum, but with a maximum of fighting.

German reports, as well as those of friendly origin, ■ attest the fact that the Russian resistance increases in vigour and power with each backward step. Simultaneously with the announcement of the fall of Kovno there is news of a great Russian onslaught ■ upon the Austro-German forces in Northern Galicia and in Central Poland also, in the region of Brest Litowsk, a furious battle is raging, with what result is not made clear by reports in hand. Next to the stubborn and dogged fighting which marks the slow retreat of the armies of the Tsar and the wonderful skill with which they have been safely extricated from positions of peril, its most notable feature is perhaps the 'methodical care with whioh the count.'y evacuated is being stripped bare of all things useful to the enemy. In this connection German reports of the fall of Kovno contain one novel detail. It is al i leged tliafc "an enormous' quantity of war material, including over tour hundred guns," was captured in the fortress. There has been a remarkable absence of such claims from, the Gorman communiques in all the later phases of the Eastern offensive and there is, no reason to suppose that they have been made and excised by the censor, because similar enemy claims have been passed at other periods of the war. The true explanation to be that in addition to destroying railways and bridges, the Russians have made a particular poini of leaving nothing in the shape of war material behind them in their retreat. The claim that enormous quantities of war material were captured in Kovno was perhaps inserted for effect; it is almost ceitainly not true. No such claim was made in regard to Warsaw, and besides a great city Warsaw was a great military depot. Kovno on tue contrary was merely an exposed frontier fortress. In any case the Russians emptied Warsaw of war material before they left it, s,nd it is likely that they pursued the same policy at Kovno, and destroyed wliat they could not remove. Four hundred guns dealt with under slioh a policy might very well amount to so much old iron.

A dispatch from_ Sin lan Hamilton deals briefly with events on the Gallipoli Peninsula n;i to Sunday last, but much ma.y have happened in the intervening space of nearly a week. ' As the dispatch runs there has been no important ehango in the southern line, but in the western zone the Australians and New Zcalanders have successfully repulsed heavy Turkis'i attacks upon the right flank of their .lino, in - the neighbourhood of Gaba Tcpe, while the troops at' Suvla Bay, further nei'th, hitvf. lmpiwti .fcnsiv position a ad gained a» additional area of.

five hundred yards. It may be inferred that the Turks arc feeling anxious about the increased foothold the Allies have gained on the western side of the peninsula, and General Hamilton's report also lends some colour to the idea that new enterprises are contemplated in that region.

Tiik latest Zeppelin raid upon the eastern counties of England and the outskirts of London resulted in tho usual crop of civilian casualties, and presents no very novel feature. As in the last raid it is believed that one of inc airships was hit by a shell from an anti-aircraft gun. Ik is noteworthy that'the Zeppelins are apparently restricting their raids to periods of thick and foggy weather. They thus secure a certain amount of cover from land gun and aeroplane attacks, but also are reduced to more or less blindfold methods in their bomb-dropping. - The Zeppelin or any other airship is largely dependent upon landmarks for guidance, and until the German raiders venture to sally out in clear weather, when the measures taken for defence and counter-attack would be much more likely to achieve results, they are not likely to emerge from the condition, of murderous pests into that_ of an attacking force of military importance.