WARS IN RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 130, 4 June 1919, Page 6

WARS IN RUSSIA

Tho newß of the occupation of Potrograd, if true, reveals Bolshevik, military weakness, but . docs not .necessarily, shorten the Bolshevik regime at Moscow. Militarily, the Germans, in tho later stages of the war, could have captured Petrograd had it been worth while; and their forcing of the Riga front, combined with their landing in Finland, probably had the Russian capital as an objective. But meanwhile the Germans wore bleeding to death in the West—a malady from which Petrograd could not possibly save them. To-day the Bolshevik position on the Finnish and Esthonian fronts is again militarily weak, but a general fear of Pyrrhic victories in Russia will prevent tho Western peoples from feeling any great excitement over the fate of Petrograd and its Bolshevik levies. News also comes of the arrival of a British relief force in North Russia. Whether its purpose is an offensive campaign, or the mere extrication of advanced units, is not clear. Bub if any British troops remain to keep contact between Koltchak and Archangel, and to hold the ice-free port at Kola, thoy are, it seems, to be volunteers only. If the Allies intend to withdraw, it is more than ever necessary to secure' the withdrawal from the Russian Borderland States of the German units; the Entente has issued an ultimatum to that effect. A secret document," attributed to Erzberger, reveals that Germany still seeks military rehabilitation \n Russia, whereby she hopes to crush the new Poland and to reopen the road to Paris.