Russia

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 31, 11 May 1916, Page 8

Russia

(ARMY EXCELLENTLY EQUIPPED I [United .association.! Petrograd, May 9. It is semi-officially stated that the present Russian Army is excellent. It is wholly armed with Russian rifles of the new model, and every regiment is well supplied with the newest machine-guns. The supply of munitions is adequate, and two million men are now training in the interior. MOBILISATION OF EVERY ENERGY. London, winy 9. The Vice-President of the Duma, M. Alexander Protopopofl, interviewoil by the Sunday Times, expressed Russia’s limitless confidence and determination. Throughout Russia tho 'mobilisation of every energy proceeds steadily. Only thirty-throe per cent, of the men of military age have been recruited.,

Giving an instance of tho reorganisation of works, M. ProtopopofF said ■that sixty million roubles had been spent on new workshops at Yaldivostock for the output of rolling stock and munition trains. Three hundred textile factories have been taken over by the War Office and 68 of the biggest metallurgical works turned into into munition factories. PROSPECTS OF GERMAN OFFENSIVE. SKIRMISHES AMD POSSIBILITIES London, May 9. ‘he prospects of a German offensive on tho Russian front are the dominating interest in the military situation. General llindenburg has .massed artillery and ammunition on the Dvinsk and Riga fronts and is bringing up supplies by rail and sea to Memel and liibau. Guns from fortresses, including Konigsberg, have been transferred Skirmishes are proceeding at many points, hindering Russia from ascertaining where the chief attempt is likely to he made. A great German effort to roll up Kuropatkiu’s army, capture Petrograd, possibly cut connections between Moscow and Archangel. . and attempts to draw Sweden into the war, appears possible. Another possibility is that under the mask of these operations the Germans intend to attack Erussilolf’s armies in the southern gone, securing Austrian and Bulgarian help in enveloping Roumania and diverting the Russian armies from Asia Minor. Mr T. L. Garvin, writing in tho Observer points out that if the Russian armies are driven hack the struggle will certainly he prolonged beyond 1917, but it is impossible to state the real strength of the''Germans on othe East 'front.