PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3128, 5 July 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

All the news of the Russian offonsivo in hand at time of writing is good, and visible events in Galicia already lend colour to the statement of a French military writer that General Brusiloff is preparing to resume the great concentric manoeuvre against Lemberg which was interruptedby the advent of winter and tho revolution. Yesterday the Russians were shown to. have heavily penetrated the enemy defences north-east and south-west of Brzezany. In these area-s the Russians are fighting to open a route of approach to Lemberg from tho South-east., Continued progress is reported to-day on cither side of Brzezany, but tho .Russians have also made important headway and, captured thousands of prisoners in tho area duo east of Lemberg. It is hero that they are advancing towards Zloozoff, a railway town and road junction ( about a dozen miles behind the front on which the offensivo oponed. The termination of active operations last year left tho Russians at a distance of about fifty miles from Lemberg on the east, and' at about the same distance on tho north-east, wliere they hold tho Galician railway town of Brody. Another vital point' on the approaches to, Lemberg is Halicz, on the Dniester. Tho Russians are in closo touch with Halicz, which stands sixty mile's south-east of Lemberg, -but tho enemy meantime holds both banks of the Dniester at tho point where it is sparined by an important road-bridge.

■ Wheke the main blow of the Russian offensive will fall is still a matter_ of open conjecture. An attack aiming at the occupation of Lemberg- would not necessarily be 'confined to- Galicia. The de-: cisive struggle may quito conceivably take shapq in Southorn| Russia, where Vladimir Volynsk, about twenty miles north of the Galiciau border, constitutes a vital link between Lemberg and Kovel, the most import-ant railway junction backing the enemy's present front in Southern Russia. In the later days of last year's campaign it was in the space between Lemberg and Kovel that the enomy concentrated his most formidable forces, and ample evidence was afforded that he regarded his defences in the Vladimir Volynsk region as the keystone of his southern line in the Eastern theatre. An early renewal of active operations in this quarter is therefore probable. > « * * * An interesting account of the defensive works erected by the Germans on the Russian southern front and of the Russian methods of attack, which was given by an English correspondent inPctrograd at the end of last year, throws some light upon the conditions in which the Russians are now developing their offensive. ' The enemy defences, tho ( correspondent stated, exceeded anything hitherto met in Russia, and had necessitated changes in the-; customary Russian methods of atFack. "Speaking generally," he continued, "the object of the German works is to keep the Russians at distance of artillery ranges, and at all costs to avoid personal encounters. This is recommonded to the German mind by the doublysufficient reason that they cannot afford to lose men so freely as formerly, and that the results of tho personal encounters of the Gorman and Russian .infantry have invariably been the utter discomfiture of the German. To this end the Germans lay down their wire entanglements by tho acre, covering with wire an immense depth in front of \their lines. Tho Russians have now evolved the following method .of dealing with these conditions: The artillery first drive practicable paths —so-called 'corridors'—through the German fields of wire by concentrating their fire upon a narrow front. . Up these corridors advance armoured motors, whose business it is to clear as wide an extent of the trenches of tho defonders as possible, and after tho armoured motors goes tho infantry, to complete and secure the operation. The .intervening fields of wire between the corridors to victory are then cleared. This is a complicated and tedious process compared with that dash,, which earlier in the war carried Russian infantry, and occasionally even Russian light, horse, successfully into the enemy's trenches.

As might havo been expected, the opening of the offensive has deeply stirred the patriotism of ; the Russian people, and seems likely to undo much of tho evil accomplished by anarchists and other dangerous aeitators. It was on July 1 that tho Russian infantry advanced to the attack, and no better way could have beou found of commemorating the day on which tho Western Allies began their offensive on the Sommc last year, and of indicating that although Russia has been thrown out of the running for a time she has not abandoned the croat cause to which, in common with her Allies, she is pledged. No doubt the day %f action was selected of design by the leaders who have laboured untiringly to .revive throughout the nation the spirit ol loyalty to tho Allies of which Russia has given suoh striking proots in tho past. Loyal and resolute supjport by tho nation is essential

if the llussian armies are to do their part, and present indications are that it will not be withheld.

Mhmbeus of the llussian Mission in America are credited with the statement that the llussian armies are' plentifully supplied with ammunition for tho continuance of tho present offensive. This is no doubt well within the facts. A long period of inactivity has given Russia time to accumulate supplies, and though tho disorders of the revolution have occasioned some interruption of industry and waste of material it may bo assumed that she has great reserves in hand. Of tho factor of transport it is impossible to speak as definitely, But though the transport problem is, and is likely to remain, a serious one in Russia, it certainly cannot be a-ssumeff' that it defies solution. By her own efforts Russia has dpno a great deal, to improve her internal communications, and tho routes by which she is in touch with her Allies. The construction of the Murman railway,, connecting Pctrograd with an ■ice-free port on the Arctic Coast, is a conspicuous example. It is to be remembered also that America is in a position to render Russia most valuable aid in solving her transport problems. Discussing this matter recently, the New Statesman remarked :

The kind of help in material which might bo given to Russia "by the United States may bo illustrated by a single example Scarcely any handicap affects llussiiL in more varied \v,ays than the utter insufficiency of her railway rollingstock. The United States, over its vast, railway mileage, has incomparably more rolling-stock than any other country in the world. A very slight uso indeed of the "comb" which has been so drastically applied to the British, and French railways would enable .enough rollingstock to be sent via Vladivostock to give inestimable relief to the Russian transport problem. If tho personnel and material for railway repair-shops were sent at the same time, the relief could be put on a permanent basis. ... If the Russian Government could be persuaded at the same time to accept the services of some export traffic managers, tho use of rolling-stock in Russia might be considerably speeded up. '

It is tho principal duty of the American Mission which is now ' in Russia to devise means of rendering effcotive aid to that country, and no doubt the United States is materially assisting Russia on the lines suggested by tho New Statesman, in in other ways, to solve her transport problem. * * # * Late news of the offensive is in keeping with what has gone before. Even tho Germans admit that the Russians have made pronounced headway in Galicia, and they report fighting also in Southern Russia, on tho southernmost of the two railways leading to Kovel. Detail returns of prisoners captured by tho Russians possibly overlap to some extent, but the total recorded at time of writing appears to be at least something over. 16,000.