THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1915, Page 7

THE WAR.

IN THE EAST

GERMAN PRESS QUIET. THE NEXT SCENE OF EVENTS. Amsterdam, August 1, The tone of German newspapers is restrained, and they are apparently preparing the public for disappointment at the non-fulfilinent of the predicted Russian degrade. Colonel Morah comments: Grand Duke Nicholas has done more than we exjected, but his trial will be too hard. The next events in the main theatre will be at Ivangorod, Cholm and probably the fortress of Brestlitovski, and will exercise a magnetic attraction on the Russians. CULLING THE PUBLIC. ' GERMANIC METHODS. Rotterdam, August 2. of the German papers are allowed to state that Warsaw is being evacuated, and the headquarters staff is deliberately working the press to conceal the fact that the victory is a hollow one. All correspondents and official reports continue to suggest that desperate fighting is likely to end in Warsaw being gti-Hn'cdy 'and that''this will be followed pv the Kaiser's siatti ontrv.' : ' GERMANS' HEAVY LOSSES, Loudon, August 2. Casualties published in Berlin of the Prussian Guards during May and June show the costliness of General Mackcnsen's methods. In thirty-live battalions there were 14,191 casualties, whereof one quarter were killed. Hundreds of others are missing. The casualties of the Seeand Foot Guards are 741, of the Fourth 999, and of three battalions of the Fusilier Guards 2576. The figures do not include the losses of reserves. COTTON AND METALS. Amsterdam, August 2. Textile factories in Westphalia will tomorrow be placed under Government control. This is part of an arrangement to ensure equal distribution of available cotton among German factories. Inhabitants of Prussia have been ordered to declare possession of copper, brass, nickel, and even the minutest articles with a view to confiscation. The penalty for not disclosing is a fine of ten thousand marks or six months imprisonment. AUSTRIAN BRUTALITY. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, August 1. A Russian soldier testifies that during the Galieian retreat he saw Auhtrians cover abandoned Russian wounded in sheafs of grain, ignite the sheaf, and burned the men to death. It is quite impossible for the Germans to conquer Russia (writes Lieut.'Colonel Grace in the Auckland Herald). The Emperor William should know that full well. This vigorous offensive of his in the East Ims merely for its object, not tile conquest of Russia, but the tiring of Russia, the inducing of Russia to accept terms of peace. He has called out his last reserves, elderly men of the Landstunii. and youths, and when ho has made them food for powder there is nothing left for him but to. submit to the invasion of his territory. In his desperation, seeing that all his attempts to conquer France have failed, he now turns all his available force against Russia, in the hope that some seemingly important success in that direction will hearten up his subjects and enliven his cause. But, as a matter of fact, he can only win the war by conquering France, while he holds Russia at bay, whereas he would appear to be hoping to conquer Russia while he holds France at bay. It would seem that the Kaiser William is using his efforts very much in the wrong direction, not merely because then? is little possibility of his achieving much which is material against Russia, but because the further he advances into Russia the further his main force is from the point where the issue of the war will be decided, and the more clearly he lays his country open to tlie blow which the armies of Britain, numbering probably three millions, will certainly strike in conjunction with the armies of France and Italy. For it must not be forgotten that the strength of the Allies is not in the East but in tile West. Russia can put six million troops into tlu> field, 'but the Allies of the West have a total of ten million troops at their disposal; whereas, the Teutons are outnumbered 'by two to one. In the matters of resources, finances, and the supply of munitions, it is evident to the poorest intellect that the Germans are at such a disadvantage as to render their abominable cause quite hopeless. The German energy is very great. The greater it is the sooner it "will be used u)i. To invade Russia may he spectacularly wonderful, but for the Germans.such strategy can only hasten the end. _ I think it is safe to say that but for his fatal invasion of Russia Napoleon would have had no. Waterloo. For the Emperor William'to'attack Russia with apparently all the force at'his command augurs well for the.fulfilment of the prayer which all civilised nations olfer for his speedy downfall. ' Defeats may be sustained by the Russians, whose armies may be forced to retreat- eastward, but such successes as the Germans may have east of the Vistula, will in reality hasten their final defeat, for with every such success they: niust. become'weaker and less able to nieet the terrible blow which inevitably, will, fall on them from the West, when they are too exhausted to resist it with success.