WHAT THE GREAT RUSSIAN DRIVE MEANS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 211, 22 September 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHAT THE GREAT RUSSIAN DRIVE MEANS.

TWELVE MILLION MEN UNDER ARMS. (By MONTGOMERY SCHUYLER). To a war correspondent just returning from the " war zone" to the United States, as I did last night (July 9), the feeling of doubt as to the ultimate otucome of the war which still seems to prevail here to some extent is the most extraordinary shock. 1 did not suppose that there was anyone who still considered the victory of the Central Powers possible. For ; n Europe that possibility was finally dismissed a few weeks after the beginning of the Verdun attacks, just as soon as it was conclusively shown that the allied forces could withstand practically immovably the fiercest forward movements of the German forces.

The next feeling experienced is one of astonishment that the recent great advances of the Russian armies seem to have been unexpected in the United States. To anyone who has passed a considerable part of this last spring with the Russians in their trenches and on their first lines, the great advance was not only expected but had even been postponed after the Russian preparations had all ben completed, in order to have absolutely concerted action in conjunction with tho armies of the other countries.

Early in May 1 rece'ved permission to leave Petrograd for the headquarters of the Armies in the Northern Front, and after some time spent with General Kuropatkin, the Commander-in-Chief, whom 1 had known in Petrograd at the time of the Russo-Japan-ese War, when he was Minister of War, I was sent by him to the headquarters of the different armies of the front, and wk-le with each of the armies I spent much time on the actual firing lines and in their immediate rear for the purpose of judging, if pussible, what might be expected of the troops in tho event of any general conceited act : oa.

CONDITIONS ENTIRELY CHANGED.

I found the situation entirely changed since the time of my last visit to Russia, which was during the first year of the war, when I was sent to Potrograd on a special mission by our Government. At that time, as the result of the well-known ammunition scandals, which have since resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of General Sukhomlinoff, Minister for War for some Ciae previous to and for the first year of the war, the Russian armies had been gradually forced backwards, fighting bravely but fruitlessly with their bare hands against well-armed forces, never broken, but giving way to the force of circumstances until their retreat had assumed such proportions that it was w : dely heralded*; and no doubt believed by many, that Russia was hopelessly out of the war, and that thereafter she might bo disregarded as an act've factor in the military situation. 1 left Russia at tat time, just hefore the results of these retreats had become generally known, but enough had leaked out about corruption and treachery to dishearten any ordinary army. Rut, as a certain General said to a certa : n correspondent, "We have to kill 2,000,000 Germans before the end of this war, and if the pro-Ger-mans "in Petrograd care to consider themselves as Germans we can add them to the number."

Outside Petrograd, however, then was even at that time very little pessimism. In such' places as the Caucasus and Turkestan I had found a quiet confidence among the officers which contrasted favourably with the terrors of Petrograd, and which seemed to m dicato that if the corruption and treachery could be stopped and the troops be supplied ■with arms and ammunition again they would not fail to gira good accounts of themselves. On my return to Russia for the second tiiae during the war, now as correspondent of the New York "Tines," T found the pessimism entirely gone except n certain scattered groups in Petrograd, who represent anything rather than the true Russian spirt and the way in which that country : s taking the war. In all the time I have spent on the front during the last few months, I have met only one officer wiio seemed to have the slightest doubt about the successful termination of the war and the ability of the Russian armies to take up the offensive whenever they could get new arms and awmunition. MUNITIONS PILED UP. Immediately upon the removal of General Sukhoml : uoff and the appointment of the able and popular General Polivanoff to the post of Minister if War, the most active steps were taken to manufacture and purchase the enormous quantities of munitions needed to prepare adequately fori general advance along the whole front sit any time when the combined strategy of the All'ws should seem to make such action dosVablo. Nothing was allowed to interfere with the collection and despatch of these munitions and so well have these orders been carred out that now for the first time, 1 believe, the Russian armies have all the shells and other explosiv.es they can require Everv officer with whom I talked whih* at the front agreed that there was in abundance of ammunition and that nothing el-*e had ever been lacking. I was told that the cases of ammunition then being received at the front wer marked, " Use this ammunition freely; there : s plenty more when needed by you." Certainly there was plenty of firing going on day and night along the whole northern front, while i was there, and evidently # the fiamo satisfactory conditions prevail in the armies of General Brussdoff, >r they would not be to-day where they are] In fact, there was so much fir ng where I was that it seemed as if ammunition must be indeed plentful. I was told by any number of poop!--to know that at no time was the spirit of the Russian troops disturbed, and that thev had retreated, often feeling perfectly confident that while thev must go' back on account of the orders they had revived, they could have held their position- much longer ;f thev had only been told to do so. This Spring the split < f the troops, in my op : nion, could not he better. The..' leel that they haw plenty of anus and ammunition. A number of needed (hang".in high commands have i»een made, and the present chiefs have the confidence of both officer.- and men. The armies have simply been waiting for the general word of command to advance, and thev are eager to wipe nut the memories of their last retreats. Besides thes factors, the men have been encouraged by the eonstnnttv weakening minor attacks of the German forces along the I no, which thev told me wer- riailv becoming less vigo--ons and effective. The officer in command of the Cossack troops at f)v;ns< fold P'O that for some months it ha I i. ~n impr.-.siblr for his men to ent-co tin Herman cavalry (for whom th» Russians have, by the way, a greater ~V>nkm;i than for anv other army) m- •*= hafri Vlion unless they outnumbered tßfl Cokacks at least four to map. This W . IS not said in any boasting manner,

but quite siniply in answer to my question as to why there seemed to he so few engagements of cavalry in that region. Added to this again is the fact that less than 25 per cent, or" the German shells fired explode, according to the officers on guard in the front line of trenches. Whether this is due to the use of new substances for chemicals or to the lack of some necessary substance is not known.

ALLIED CO-OPERATION PERFKC"

Furthermore, for the first time since the beginning or. the war, the Russian commanders are aetng simultaneously and in full co-operation with tiic general plan of concerted strategy of tho other Allies. Owing to the distance and the difficulty of proper secret communicaton, the great and fatal weakness of the allied General Staffs had been a failure to keep m perfect touch with one another, and this fact had given the German " single-track" strategy a great advantage. For some time, however, tha Allied councils have been working together more closely tlian ever before, and Genera! Brussiloff stated not long ago that in the present campaign he was operating in complete accord with and under the general d : recticn or, General J off re. It this close accord can bo maintained, and there are several good reasons tor thinking that it can, one of the groat advantages of the Teutonic unity will have been discounted.

It ; s, I suppose, no secret that the Germans have never feared any widespread advance except from the Russian side. They apparently believed that their opponents on the .western front would be doing their best if they maintained their position in good order, but that for them to advance to any appreciable extent would b<s quite impossible. This was the reason for tho extraord : nary jubilation which prevailed in Germany when it was thought last autumn'that Russia had been permanently knocked out o£ the ww and was ready for -a si;(parate ]>eace and of the warning note of pessimism which is seen so clearly in tho present despatches from Berlin attempting to minim'se the recent Russian successes.

Official estimates place the number of men actually under arms in Russ:a at 12,000,000. TVs figure, including, of course, men who have been called to the colours and have been found unfit for the active work with the first armies; but who are working as Labourers and teamste..; and in the Quartermaster's and other departments as clerks and in other minor capacities.

The movements in the Caucasus have been of late overshadowed by the importance of the other campaign*, but thosa great armies must not h.e forgotten. Suspiciously little has been given out of late by the offic'al Russian communiques, a fact which has bene found in the past to indicate important developments shortly to be forthcoming. The Grand Duke Nicholas is not given to long reports at any tune, and still less so when he is work, ing hard. There is yet to be estimated the importance or the future results of the expedition of some 12,000 British troops which recently landed at Archangel en route to 'Finis, the headquarters of the Caucasian armies. They were nb'.l suppled with tank motor-cars for supplying water in largo quantities and the object of the expedit : on is reported to be it dash from Tiflis across the sandy wastes with a view to effecting a junction with the Brit'sh columns now operating in Mesopotamia.