NOTES ON THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17279, 21 September 1916, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

Correspondents in Petrograd are evidently short of information concerning the position in Galicia. It is clear that tho enCmy massed great bodies of troops between Drzczany and tho Dniester to meet the .Russian offensive, and all that otto can say positively is that an intense battle has been raging on this front for the past lew days. Both sides claim local and temporary advantages, hut obviously no decision lias boon reached. '["hough there is plenty of fighting north of Brzezany, tho important conflict is that on the sector between the. Zlota Lipa and the Gnila Lipa, aud if the Russians break through it will ho after heating th fi strongest force that the Germans and Austrians could mass. Tho Narajowka, which figures so frequently in the communiques, is a, left-hand tributary of tho Gnila Lipa, joining tho latter about five miles from tho Dniester. The enemy is using it as an advanced position, covering the Gnila Lipa, and probably much of tho fighting is a struggle for crossings. The Russians reported that they had forced tho passage at one point and they may have extended their hold on the west hank, hut so littlo information is cabled regarding the situation that the conditions cannot be precisely stated.

Tho Russian left, it will he remembered, forced the passage of the ZlotaLipa near tho confluence with tho Dniester, and, debouching west of tho river, they advanced to the Narajowka. But as far as is known the enemy still holds both hanks of the Zlota Lipa abovo Rylniiki, which is six or seven miles south of Brzezany, and as tho intense phase of the battle has developed between Rybniki and the Dniester it is probable that tho extent of front) affected is about twenty miles. It is quito possible, however, that after compelling the enemy to rush all available reserves to tho Narajowka, the Russians may open a new thrust towards Brzezany, with the object of obtaining a wider front for their attacks west of the Zlota. They aro beut on breaking through, but hitherto Brussiloff, whenever lie has been held up on ono sector, has had an offensive ready on another, and thero is no reason why this policy of alternating attacks—tho policy used by tho Allies in France—should not ho continued. The present Russian offensive followed immediately on an effort to break down tho defences of Halicz, and no doubt in tho course of a few days thero will again ho uews of attacks south of tho Dniester.

To-day’s reports are concerned chiefly with tho results of tho enemy’s counter-attacks, and it goes without saying that if von Ilindenburg has been able to lend von Bothmer the men and guns tho Austro-Gennans will not leavo nil the attacking to tho Russians. But if Brussiloff’s supplies of munitions are as copious as they are claimed to ho the heavy massing of the enemy forces towards the Dniester will produce conditions highly favourable to the major tactics in which hs is a master. He has already shown sinco the beginning of-June that he has no lack of reserves, but even having the men, he still needs guns and shells for a thrust. Assuming that the Russians are well supplied in this respect, it- would he reasonable to expect a new effort to solve the problem in Galicia—either a rush westward by a force south of the Dniester or by a direct drive towards Lemberg.

The talk of a gigantic Allied turning movement in Macedonia seems to be a little premature. The indications are that the Bulgarians tried to turn tho Allied position in tho first place by driving south from Monastir. There was a second purpose in this movement, because the Greek Government had decided, nuder pressure, to hold tho general elections, and it was part of tho enemy’s policy to prevent an appeal to tho constituencies. Tho intervention of Rumania changed the whole situation and tho Bulgarians probably camo to the conclusion that they would hare to shorten their front. They wero already retiring in the Ostrovo region when the Serbs attacked them, but, of course, their retreat has now become a good deal more hasty than they intended. If the Allies havo a strong army on this wing a- turning movement would be within the hounds of possibility, but it is certainly too early to say whether or not such a movement is being attempted.

It is interesting to know, what the enemy is thinking, and when lie is thinking of the struggle in tho Somme district it is doubly interesting to know. Rather more than a month ago a responsible German critic declared that the crisis in this struggle had passed. The statement occurred in the course of a dispatch to tho “ Cologne Gazette ” from Professor Wegener, and is dated from the German headquarters. He says that ho had had ample opportunities for discussion of the situation with everybody from tho Commander-iu-Chief and his Chief of Staff to tho simple soldier, that ho had been permitted to attend numerous staff consultations and that ho had been permitted to inspect tho position for himself from the ruins of Estrces to- those of La Maisonette. He was impressed by the' perfect security and order of the whole German organisation and came to tho conclusion that it was tho French who wero chiefly suffering on this sector—tho Sommo fighting “bleeding the flower of this unhappy country in a battle that has no prospect of success.”

Tho professor’s account of the position is worth quoting, because it shows what tho German military authorities wanted tho German public to believo in August. Certainly there is no reference to tho strugglo north of the Somme, whero British -and French have sinco been co-operating in some impressive fighting, but even in regard to the front south of the river the anticipations aro far from having been fulfilled. “ I will here state as my

general impression of all that I havo seen and hoard only one thing,” he writes, “ because it is the most important and the thing that matters: things aro well on the Somme. Tho battle is tho most immense and the most terrible that has yet been experienced. But the real crisis lias passed. That is the unanimous certainty oF the German troops without exception, from tho supreme leader to tho simplest soldier. Tho purpose of tho great Anglo-French decisive offensive has not been achieved.

“What is still being effected by the constant throwing of new enemy masses into the hatt-lo is only a mad, purposeless, sacrificing of tho flower of their people. A breaking through of our position here is definitely out of the question. The struggle is breaking up into individual fights, which, however gigantic their measure still remains, have resumed the character of the ordinary position battles. Moreover, tho bulging outwards of the enemy front to tho east, which our enemies obtained opposite Peronno as a result of tho successful first days of July, is becoming their destruction ; for, as in the case of Verdun, the bulge is forming an inner half-circle which is surrounded by our positions, and upon which wo can concentrate our fire with our heavy artillery ’which commands the whole range of the semicircle. Naturally this involves far greater losses for tho enemy than he, firing outwards, can cause to us.”