Russia

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 57, 12 February 1916, Page 5

Russia

SUCCESS AT USCIUZKO. ENEMY STRONGLY ENTRENCHED IMPORTANT RUSSIAN OPERATIONS. SUPERIORITY OVER GERMAN GUNNERY. Cnttkd Press Association. (Received 8.5 a.m.) Petrograd, February 11. Fuller reports emphasise the importance of the success at Usciuzko, which was a stronghold on the high ridge between the Dneister and the Zurin, near the point of confluence; thence the enemy were able to concentrate a galling fire upon the Russian position from the east bank of precipitous slopes of a ridge covered with dense undergrowth, and which had been converted into a miniature Gibraltar. The Russians drove numerous saps, whence they assailed the enemy with hand grenades, and the batteries poured in high explosives and shrapnel with unerring precision. The first Russian success was at the end of January, but heavy reinforcements of the enemy kept the Russian;at bay for a week; then the Russians won the position, enabling heavy guns to bombard the reserves across the river. Finally, alter four days and nights,of desperate fighting, the Russians rushed the bridgehead, and on Tuesday crossed the Dneister, though the opposite bank was equally precipitous and strongly fortified. It is reported that Generals Bohmer and Molli were wounded in the heavy fighting. Usciuzko was the point of connec■tion between General Bothmer's arm ies operating on the north of the rive and the armies of General Pflander an the Germans between the Dneister am' the Pruth. The Russians thus thrus; a wedge between two parts of tlv enemv armies.

The Russians are also threatening the Czernowitz plateau, north-east n' Cssernowitz, which is the scene o< strenuous fighting, but there Has no! yet been a decision, as it is not mentioned in official bulletins. The successes illustrate the importance of recent reconstruction of the Russian artillery. Formerly the German artillery overwhelmed the Russian, but now the German tire h beaten down. The Russians have provided ample shells and guns oi the pattern of the French seventy-five's. These do not require a concrete plat form, whereas the Germans are forced to work their guns in two or three positions connected latterly by rails. which the Russian gunners readily pick out. INCREASED ACTIVITY IN CALICIA. FIGHTING NEAR TARNOPOL. Amsterdam, February 11. A Vienna communique says there if increased activity in eastern Galicia and fighting is particularly fiera north-west of Tarnopol. ,