Eastern News

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 22, 24 September 1915, Page 5

Eastern News

RUSSIA NARMY AT VILNA SAFE. i i ~ GERMANS LOSE 250,000. United, Press Association. (.Received U.o a.m.) Petrograd, September 23. It is announced that the withdrawal of the Russians from the Vilna position ■ has been completed. The Germans lost a quarter of a million tneq. , BEFORE NOVO GEORGIEVSK. Petrograd, September 23. The Rusky Islovoe prints the.first detailed account of the capture, of Novo ' Georgievsk. The Germans expected 'the defenders to.retire, and when the ! Kaiser heard, they had resolved to fight 'to the last shell, and that the thousand 'defenders in the garrison would make [the Germans pay the heaviest price for 'success, he was seized with an ungovernable fury*, .and asked why the troops had not, killed the Russian wounded. Captured Germans said they were ordered not to leave i\ single living Russian, and the Kaiser had given instructions that tlie garrison a.t Novo Georgievsk must' be 'buried under the walls of the fortresS! ; The Germans always assaulted in. close formation, although within a mile of the guns of the fortress. Our shells were pumped into the middle of this mass of '-humanity, converting whole companies into mere fragments of flesh, and bone. Russian observers likened the battlefield,to a vast moth-eaten fur being beaten with a stick. With each explosion a cloud.,,of. ..human remain's rose in the -air! and even the iron-dis-ciplined Germans Shrank from the ordeal of attacking such, a hurricane of fire.' ' ~ ~,,.- '.-. .. .

.The attackers were made-'drunk before they were ordered forward. Not a single German who was captured during the assault was found to be sober. The Germans attacked one group or fortifications incessantly for twentyfour hours. The Russian gunners fainted from fatigue, 1 and their guns came red-hot and exploded under their own shots. Some- of, the enemy who succee'ded in getting close hurled thenrifles, .with ..bayonets fixed, into the. Russian ranks. They then clenched their fists-and .cried wildly!: "Give us Novo Georgievsk!'''; • •') -' ■ ' »j»' , The Russians at dawn overlooked the .battlefield, a: track of land sev.en,, vovsts broad arid - £wo long, covered with a thick Jayer, of dead men. Mate, Where the Germans .rushed,, .upon, the machine ,gunp<4»#j.their, bodies, choked the attacks that followed drunken Germans , WW pt oyer, in S™"P*< falliug upQU,4e idefenders like mad,Mn an,d,bifc>afnd chewed the faces of the' !lu's«iau soldiery: The Germans paid, the full pAce.and, hence the cap,tme,of Novo! paused no joy iniGefmany., , j , ( ., , t . , ( .,_. ... RUSSIAN 'PROGRESS; REPOIjIT.

i,.,' ! PetrogradV'Septemher'23'.' A>communique states:—After desperate action west of Dvinsk we> occupied a village; west 'of' Molodetohno with the bayonet, capturing enemy machine guns: ,'We similarly capttVi'ed Smrongno.,' and the Germans are 1 fleeing in disorder. The'retreat from Vilna was one of the most brilliant exploits of the war. The enemy 'had almost encircled the city, and then, throwing off the bilge masses of cavalry, followed by light infantry; they pierced the communications: General Hindenburg hoped to compel the Vilna. army to fight or retreat southwards, which would have confused eveify other army. The Vilna army.'iowevei', attacked the enveloping tfotumns, turned their backs upon'!Vi|na, and fought on two fronts, in order to clear the line of retreat. It is now evident that they successfully countered and have driven off, the columns. , j VARIOUS EXPERT OPINION.

London, September 23. The correspondent at Petrograd says ihati the Russian stand on the Vilna line has been of great 'tactical importance in checking the enemy and securing the retreat from Vilna region by'road after the rupture of the Vilna-Molridachna railway. The possession of Vilna affords the enemy a base for a further offensive, it being the junction of the roads to Dvinsk, Minsk, Lida, Daranovick, and Rovno. The enemy is unlikely to initiate operations until he line obtained and secured a tenure of the Vilna-Molodaehna-Lida lines, and while we retain positions on these lines the Germans ' are . apprehensive of the safety of their rear columns. Mr Stanley Washburn reports that .after spending, two weeks in the northern army group, and motoring twelve hundred miles, he thinks a • serious German advance against Petrograd i« utterly out of the question this season. He believes the next German move will he a concentration of sufficient strength to enable them to take the Riga-Dvina-Dvinsk line, regardless of cost; hut even if this is successful the Germans cannot reach Pskoff inside of three months. Even, also, if. that were carried out. the difficulties of a further advance are insurmountable. ! Peasants prophesy i long and severe winter, and there 1 .vill probably be a similar position urther south. Gorman prisoners

and deserters indicate that the German army dreads the spectre of a .Russian winter. Colonel Repington says that from the moment the Grand Duke left the front, which appeared to be his wish, the strategy has not been completely favorable. The Russians fighting at Skidel hung on much longer than seemed wise, and now were partially enveloped near Czue/.in. The troops at Vilna also stood last, although the Germans were on the VilnaDvinsk railway, and the presence of la part of General Mackensen's army 'on the Dwina had been detected. Colonel Repington expected to hear of the continuation of the orderly retreat which had been the despair of |the German headquarters since the 'grand operations in the east began, but the Russian front remained unchanged and General Hiridenburg was given [a chance which he boldly availed himself of. .The reason the German cavalry wetf permitted to traverse the difficult lake district between Dvinsk and Vilna was unknown, as this district favored a defensive war. A few divisions might easily hold up four times their number, but from the moment the German cavalry advanced from the Sventa until they swooped upon the Russian main.lines of commnnition at Vilna thev seemed to have encountered little resistance.