PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2802, 21 June 1916, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Some of the London newspapers, wo are told, are issuing notes of warning that it is undesirable for the Russians to advance too fast. This is not exactly war news, perhaps, and it may be intended chiefly as an antidote to sensationalism, but the question raised is full of interest. There is a distinction to be drawn between-the periodic slackening in the efforts of an army engaged in an offensive movement—a slackening necessary in order that supplies may be accumulated and matters otherwise put in train for further effort—and a longer bait made with the idea of awaiting a more favourable time and more favourable conditions for tho resumption of tho offensive. .Every modem army is limited in attacking movements by tho factor of transport and th" impossibility of maintainng

supplies for a continuous onslaught. These facts have.been fully in evidence at Verdun, although there tho Germans are attacking on a narrow and almost stationary front, supported by a-compact and very highly organised transport system. Factors of supply, of course, assume increased importance where greater distances have to be traversed, and a greater length of front provided tor. Tho necessity they, are under of accumulating supplies and generally making ready for renewed efforts will fully account for whatever slackening is at the moment visible _in the Russian ' offensive fi, ?> ls - no reason to suppose that the .Russian southern armies are about to settle down for any length of time on the. line to which they have advanced. On the contrary, it is patent that they are in tho full tide of a movement which must be pressed vigorously and with a minimum of delay in order that the full reward of the exertions they have already put forth may be realised. Any doubt on the point is practically resolved by General Brtjsiloffs statement to an interviewer which is published to-day. The Rus-' sian commander hopes to press the war against the Austrians increasingly, and he looks to the capture ul Kovel as the next great step in the offensive.

As much was to be inferred from the, visible facts of the campaign. At the point they hav6 now reached on tho immediate approach' to Kovel, at a distance of twenty miles from that place, the Eussians are between forty and fifty miles west of the line on which they assumed the offensive. But at this stage the enemy has a positive advantage which he will enjoy as long as Kovel remains in his hands. Conveniently placed behind the enemy's present front, Kovel is fed by a far greater and more extensive railway system tlmn tho Russians have at their backs. Prosecuting their attack they are practically dependent upon a single railway, while the enemy has a whole network,. With Kovel as an outlet through which troops_ and supplies may be poured to assist in stemming the immediate Russian advance and to strengthen adjacent sections of the fighting front. . If the Russians reach Kovel these conditions will be largely reversed. Intercommunication between the German Eastern armies and the Austrians will be severed on the present front, and railways at present out of action will become available and useful to the Russians. Dislodged from Kovel, the enemy will have to continue the struggle at a disadvantage as pronounced as his present advantage, or make a retreat which will have to be extended in order to restore equality in regard to communications or turn matters in this respect agaiji to this advantage. Choice of the latter , alternative would probably involve tho early 'resignation of Lemberg and a considerable additional area of Galicia. Indeed, we have General Brusilofp's opinion that if the Russians are able to. take Kovel the enemy will have to retire his whole line in tho Eastern • theatre.

This at the moment is going a little ahead of events. The Kussians for the time are at a halt or nearly so on the direct approach to Kovel, though they are still making headway in the country to the Bouth. The Austrians had a fleeting' success in this region, at Lokatchi, 37 m'iles/south-of Kovel,-but only to be ultimately routed by K'usBian reinforcements. It .is noteworthy that Lokatchi is nearly ten miles west of the. point the Russians reported some days ago reaching on this particular line of advance, towards Vladimir Volynski. A. case, probably typical, thus appears in which an extensive gain of ground is, only reported incidentally. A German report that the battle north-west of Lusk, that is to say, on the direct approach to Kovel, "is proceeding in our favour," is evidently false except to the extent that' the Russians are marking time in the interval between one effort and another. Already there is a later enemy report stating that General von Linsingen "partly repulsed" Russian attacks in tho self-same locality and further north-east, Even-on Ger-, man showing the Russians are making headway, though not at the moment rapidly. The best guarantee that General Brusiloff's hopes of taking Kovel will be _ realised is supplied in the sweeping successes his armies have already won. Accumulating reports are making it evident that these a-rmies are now equipped in a manner > worthy of the courage of the Russian soldiers and the ability and enterprise of fchoir commanders.. A late example is the report that the Russians madefree and effective use of poison gas in opening their offensive. This is not a weapon to which they would have resorted on their own volition, but justice must applaud its use against the Powers branded with tho infamy of having- first used it in modern war.

In Bukowina, opposite the Rumanian frontier, the Russians are building rapidly' upon their success at Czernowitz. The Austrians' are retreating in haste, some of them west along the main railway, and others south-west and south upon the Carpathians. The latter section of the enemy forces is cut off from the main body, and in its disorganised condition is in serious danger of catastrophe, as its lines of retreat narrow at the mountains,

Badly as they are faring in conflict with the Russians, the Austrians are still hurling columns of assault against the Italians on the Trentino front, and since they are meeting with no success, these assaults are coming more and more to bear the appearance of misdirected effort, indicative of plans that have fallen into disarray. Faced as she is bv defeat upon a colossal scale in Galicia, and with no visible prospect of mending her fortunes in \ Italy, Austria's prospects are dark. In considering her present case, it is necessary to remember that she was in all likelihood saved from collapse last year by the colossal effort that Germany put forth in the Eastern theatre. It is as certain as any'thing can be in war that Austria will not again be saved in a similar fashion.

Reviewing events at Verdun, Mr. Warner Allen is able to declare that the Germans have failed in all the aims with which they opened the assault. The Germans, he says, have failed to capture the fortress, to paralyse France, or interfere with the Allied offensive. There is nothing in detail news and information at present available to conflict with this statement of the position,

and it receives material support from a semi-official report that the German losses at Verdun to the end of May reached the enormous total of 415,000. On the facts visible we are justified in believing that in the Verdun adventure the Germans nave suffered their greatest disaster of the war since the Battle of the Marne, which made- an end of their hopes of a speedy decision against France.

Reports in hand tell of no event of outstanding importance on the British front, but it will be noticed that while the Germans report tho destruction of two British biplanes, a dispatch from Sik Douglas Haio shows that these, losses were incurred in a series of combats in which five enemy machines were brought down by British airmen. Tho Germans resort very freely to falsehood and the suppression of facts when matters are going badly with them, and they seem to be industriously circulating misleading reports at present in regard to events in both mam theatres.

A British naval armoured oar detachment, which has been warmly welcomed in Russia, may not represent a very formidable accession of strength to the armies of tho Tsar, but its appearance in tho Eastern theatre emphasises the spirit of coordination and mutual help which dominates the war plans of the Allies. Nothing tends more to brighten the outlook than the multiplying evidences of the increasingly close and friendly relations which subsist between members of ihe Entente, and of their full and free recognition of their mutual dependence • one upon another. General Brusiloff, commander of the Russian armies now thrown forward in a victorious offensive, is quoted today as stating that the general situation is greatly improved by the British naval_ victory in the North Sea. It.is improved also, by the fact that the commanders and lead 1 ers of the Allies are able to appreciate and value what each one is doing in the common,task with a common end in view. _ This spirit affords a-, sure foundation for united" policy and co-ordinated effort by the Allies in which their aggregate power will tell with maximum effect.