THE CAMPAIGNS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16751, 5 January 1915, Page 6

THE CAMPAIGNS.

Drkn'chino rain is reported to hare .•hecked operations in France and Flanders, And the attacks which the Allies were developing hare been suspended until the conditions are more favourable. An earlier report showed that the development, was proceeding jatisfactorily at all points. The big jffort at Albert was producing results and in the Champagne country the Allies were steadily advancing, while the vigorous offensive movement in southern Alsace was keeping the enemy busy in that region. One of the correspondents hints very broadly that the scene of the Allies' main attack, when the time for the great assault arrives, will be La Bassee, south of Lille, where the enemy are established in an important and strong position. But this is obviously an inference drawn from a consideration of the map rather than from a close study of the actual military position. The facts of the position are not being communicated to the correspondents. General Joffre keeps his own confidences, and if he has planned a blow it will be delivered where the opportunity offers. That La Bassee would threaten the Allies' direct line of communication with the coast in the event of an advance north and south is perfectly clear, but it is slso clear that an Allied advance to the north would render the German position at La Bassee untenable. The struggle in Poland is said to have become less intense, and the Russians appear to be holding the enemy safely to the west of Warsaw. Unofficially there are various interesting suggestions that would be extremely illuminating if they were reliable, but we have learnt to be cautious in accepting the statements of Petrograd correspondents. The military correspondent of "The Times" lately quoted with approval an Italian estimate of

the strength of the Austro-German forces, apart from the East Prussian front, which gave von Hindenburg in Central Poland and Duke Albert of Wurtenburg in Southern Poland and Galicia command of armies aggregating between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000. The total Russian forces are estimated at about 3,500,000 men, a stupendous number, even though it includes tho armies protecting the northern frontier of Poland and the Suwalki frout. The Germans, of course, have the advantago in mobility, for behind their frontier they have a remarkable system of strategic railways, and it is only by a series of sudden moves that they can hope to keep the great Russian armies away from the border. But this process obviously cannot be extended indefinitely. Probably at this moment von Hindenburg, who has conducted his campaign with extraordinary vigour, is developing a new threat against tho Russian position, but in the meantime the Russian advance in Galicia, towards Cracow and tho Silesian frontier, continues steadily, and a new danger menaces the Teutonic Alliance on the eastern frontier of Austria. The truth concerning the Bnkowina campaign has still to bo revealed, but the panicstricken flight from the Hungarian border suggests that Hungary is now seriously threatened. A Russian invasion into tho Hungarian plains would speedily have its influence in Galicia and Poland, and von Hindenburg will need all his strategic genius to solve the new problem that seems likely to confront him even before tho end of the winter.