GERMANY INVADED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 13 January 1915, Page 3

GERMANY INVADED.

SWIFT MENACE OF RUSSIAN ARMIES. GRAND DUKE'S BRILLIANT STRATEGY. i he Russians have completed a wonderful series of victories in the cast, in, many at two points (wrote the London correspondent of the Age on 13th November). Russia began a succession of remarkable victories by driving back the Germans from Niemen into East 1 Prussia, indicting 011 them heavy losses. Then the Rsusian army fell back upon :he flank of the German army advanc- ; ng upon Warsaw, and bro. • it up. i Xext, the main German an.... s were driven back from the line of 1 Vistula in headlong flight. Russia in grappled with the stubborn lAustriai. ..-sistance on the San, fought the Austrians hard for three whole weeks, and ultimately compelled them to retreat in disorder. The latter victory, described by the Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander-in-Chief of the Rsusian armies, as the most important in the eastern theatre since tlie beginning of the war, was followed, in turn, but the Russian invasion of the German Empire at two points, l'osen [ lias been invaded, and the rich German province of Silesia is threatened. | These Russian successes mark the end of Germany's great plan of wintering 011 the Vistula and the San, and holding herself free from invasion while des- I patching all the troops she could to northern France to crush the allied armies lighting on French soil. Germany hoped to be able, to hold that very strong - defensive line till next spring, while using the jlowcr of her troops to destroy France and strike, a vital blow at England. The clever Russian strategy, which brought up unexpected fre.-h troops at Warsaw, upset that plan. It compelled the German army in front of the Polish capital to beat a preeipi- ■ tate retreat; and the German retreat in the north compelled the whole Aus-tro-Gernian line, right down to Przemysl forrtess in Galicia, to fall back as well. That withdrawal was delayed because of the slowness with which strategy develops itself in the huge battles of this war: hut it was none the less inevitable, and after some stubborn fighting, the, Russian commander-in-chief was able to announce a complete Russian victory on an unprecedented scale. Now the German Empire is, for the first time since the war liegan. ' seriously threatened with invasion on its own soil—on the Silesian frontier. 1' urtlier, the retreat of the German armies in the north means that the East Prussian frontier of the Empire is threatened, and this time there will be no fear of Russia drawing back again. ! Erom these facts it is clear that" the German plan of invading Russian Poland has ended in ignominious failure, and the new military situation which, has' arisen should soon react to the advantage of the Allies in the western tliea- ■ tie of war. Had the German plan of holding up the Russian armies proved successful, Russia would have been prevented for months front giving anv effective help to the Allies. Her armies would have been held up till the spring. To achieve victory, Russian strategy took many risks. Important positions of strategical strength were given up to i the enemy after pretended resistance, j The Germans swept forward in what they believed to be a victorious march, . right up to the gates of Warsaw. The ( Asutrians crossed the San River, fondjly imagining that they were driving j the Russians before tiiem. The Ge°1 man and Austrian Emperors exchanged compliments and iron crosses 011 the ( brilliant successes ' of their armies. | | Then, as described in The Age, the Grand Duke Nicholas struck in front of | Warsaw and rolled the Germans back. , The defeat of the, Anstrians followed. No wonder the Russian coninnui h r in chief permitted himself to call attention to the importance of these successes, and that the Tsar and hi-. t:n,r-i joined in a solemn Te Deum in thanksgiving 011 the field of battle. "We owe | this victory to the inexhaustible good- ■ licss of God." the Grand Duke Nicholas I announced, ''Who has blessed the super - | human heroism of our warriors, of whom Russia has a right to be proud. This j victory will allow our troops to proceed to the realisation of fresh tasks which will inaugurate a new period of I hostilities."

Tile 'Russians followed up their advantage with remorseless activity. The enemy was expected, after this' defeat, to make a stand along a previously prepared defensive position behind the river AYarfa, hut (hev appear to have evacuated these positions, and to he seeking safety behind the line of fortresses of Oaudenz, Thorn. Posen, and Breslau. Tin; swiftness of Russia's invasion of Hernianv is a sure indication of the .magnitude of the defeat- on the Austrofierman troops. Tt is now manifest that Russia's brilliant successes against Germany and (Austria have been brought about by superior Russian strategy and fine fighting 011 the part of the. Russian troops. The military experts of fireat Britain and Europe have been greatly impressed by the wonderful e/Ticicncv and (dan displayed by the Russian armies in the western campaign. The f!erman military caste has contemptuously under-estimated the Russian soldier since the Russo-Japanese war. but Russia had laid the lesson of that war to her heart, as Cermany has now discovered t<> her bitter cost, and there is no better fighter on the battlefields of Europe (o-day than the Russian soWicr, and no better equipped and handled armies than those of Russia. The great Russian nation is absolutely.united in the determination to wage this war to a relentless conclusion, and the Russian soldiers and their officers, closely united in a bond of fellowship that is entirely lacking in the German army, are equally determined to carry tile n'ation- , "1 colors to final victory, regardless of ; '"Or-fc or losses. A special war correspondent. of the. Times, who witnessed i the whole of the Russo-Japanese cam- | pnign from the Japanese side, Imt is now

with the "Russian forces, has heen much impressed with the machine-like efficiency of tne vast- Russian armies now attacking flermany, and the "incredible rapidity" of their advance. The transport is admirable, and tie l troops are pushed forward so rapidly that it is difficult to keep pace with them. Military experts have been equally hnpros-ed by the brilliancy of the Rus- > :iit t-trategy. which has made tho "vaunted military machine" of Ormanv appear a verv cumbersome and crenky apparatus. The Russian strategy which rolled up the great. Austrian anrl liiiui armies along a front of one thousand miles, and drove them hark in headlong High I, has inspired the utmost re"I( for (he Russian military prestige. The Times cypresses the opinion (hat these successes mil ke the firnml fluke Yeledas. (he romtiinnder-in-fli'ef of (lie Russian armies, ''perhaps the <..: vat- ;- -t i'ldividiiiil I'gur" of the war.'' T'ds ii •' high praise. hut not. ton eon-id. riiiif the areaf feni he has successfully ;1 CCOmtllisll erl, Comprising COlU-pre!'eii-ive ~n uf simultaneous niiliforv opera ( ion° on a scale unparMlclod the hi-tory of warfare. After Ihree months' fchliiiL'. and the failure of tlie Herman otl'en-ive east, and west, tv.o salient facts are clearly revealed in the eastern theatre of war. Russian strategy is

better than German, and the Rsusian troops are better lighters than the Germans. Jt is not likely that Russia s rapid rate of advance can be continued. There are three districts within their own frontiers for which the Germans and Asutriana must fight, and fight hard The great fortified city < i Cracow v.il not be given up by the J. atrians without a severe struggle. N< . will the G u I mans admit the Russians nto the, bus) region of Upper -Silesia, i t' which the centre is Tarnowitz, witho.it the liercest opposition; and the great industrial and trading city of Breslau, the second in size in the German Empire, will be defended by the Germans to the extremity. It will be interesting to see how the Rsusian Commander-in-Chief will handle these t-lireo knotty problems. The general belief is that ins strategy and determination will prove equal to them.