IN THE EAST

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1915, Page 5

IN THE EAST

WARSAW STILL QUIET. RUSSIANS CONCENTRATING. Received August 4, 0.5 p.m. Pctvograd, August 3. Civil life in 'Warsaw continues, and the people continue to frequent cafes and parks. The hotels are empty, and visitors have departed to their liome9. The narrowing process on the Russian Polish front continues according to plan and with the utmost success. General von llindenberg, with new troops from the western front, is straining every effort to bridge the obstacles over the Ojsh river, in order to make a thrust against the branch line connecting the Warsaw-Petrograd railway with Ostrolenka. There were the bloodiest battles on Friday and Saturday twenty miles distant from Ivangorod. The Cossacks annihilated a company of Hermans who were building' a footbridge across the Veprz. They were disguised in the uniforms of dead Russians, but the Cossacks had overheard the plan. AUSTRIAN REPORT. RUSSIANS STITX RETREATING. Received August 4, 9.40 p.m. Amsterdam, August 4. An Austrian official communique says: Fighting continues with unabated violence between the Vistula and the Bug. The Russians, west of Ivangorod, withdrew from the greater part of the line towards the fortress.

GERMAN REPORT. MINOR FIGHTING AT WARSAW. Received August 4, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, July 4, A German communique states: —The enemy, east of Poneewiczs, retreated in an easterly direction. Our troops .crossed the Wobolniki, on the Subocz a'oad, prisonering 1250. We gained .ground at Lomza and captured 3000 .Russians. Minor fighting before Warsaw is favorable to us. In the southeastern theatre General von Woyrscli extended the bridgehead position on the east bank of the Vistula, prisonering 750. The gained a decisive success before the west front of Ivangorod, capturing 2300 and 32 cannon, including 21 heavy guns. General Jlaekensen, after resistance, broke the enemy's line east of Lcczna and north of Cliolm, where the Russians began to evacuate the greater part of tho front. They are still resisting at other points. Two thousand were taken prisoner.

CHANGE OF PLANS. GERMAN FORCES WEAKENING. Received August 4, 0.40 p.m. Zurich, August 4. Private information indicates that the Russian defensive necessitates a complete change of the German plan of campaign. A stream of troops from west to east began three weeks ago and continues undiminished. Their places are taken by men who have had only five weeks' training and consisting of previously untrained" Landsturmcrs between the ages of 3!) and 45, and recruits of 18 and 19. The stall' originally intended to have tfTese trained until September. The (.'erman reserves appear nearly exhausted, and trained Landsturmcrs to the age of 48 are already called up, also untrained country Landsturmcrs Only three classes of "untrained town Landstunners, aged from 43 to 45, remain.

HEAVY REINFORCEMENTS. HOW TO MEET THE ATTACK. Received August 4. 11.40 p.m. Petrograd, August 4. The Russians state that there are 35 German army corps between the Baltic and Bukovina, ten of which have come iro-in the west sinie May 1, and three since July 1, which were required to make good Generals Mackensen's and Hindenberg's serious losses. The Germans at Wyhskow include 131 active battalions, which are considered to he the best of Germany's remaining army. Russian officers who faced the German artillery drive are of the opinion that the best method of dealing with the drive is to attack without giving the enemy a chance of se'eeting a spot for a mass of artillery. Experience shows that an unsuccessful attack is less costly than an attempt to hold positions. Pv'.i«sia has already armed and equipped between six and seven million men, and lias the same number available.

THE PAUSE IN ADVANCE. A GERMAX EXCUSE. Received August 4, 11.40 p.m. Petrograd, August 4. The Cologne Cazette explains that the pause In the Warsaw operations is due to the length of communications. There must hp no lack cf reserve? and supplies of ammunition. The enemy's counterstrokes also create situations which must bt cleared up before the general advance continues. THE SWAY OF BATTLE. KUSSIAX OFFICIAL REPORT, Received August 4, 11.-10 p.m. Petrograd, August 4. Ofiicial: Our seaplanes drove a German gunboat a-horc at Windau and found a Zeppelin and two seaplanes, one of which they brought down. There was desperate fighting on Sunday and Monday east of Ponievsz, and hand-to-hand lighting at the Narew mouth. The Achkva trenches frequently changed hands. Desperate battles still rage on the left bank of the Narev, north-east of Rozani, where the enemy makes every step at a cost of enormous losses and prodigious efforts. After an extremely sanguinary action on Sunday the Germans who crossed the Vistula captured part of Mutzenvotsc forest and made further considerable progress. We repulsed (ho enemy near Kuroff and north of Lublin, and also on both sides of the Tranniki-Vlpodva road, inflicti/ig pre.it losses

ITALY'S OPINION. j RUSSIA INDOMITABLE, rt Received August 1, 5.0 p.m. Home, August 3. II Corriore Delia jera comments that Russia appears to be as indomitably 1 heroic i:i retreat aa ahe ia honorable in victory. She is now wearing out the. enemy, and will retake her territory to-morrow. FROM THE VISTULA. WITHDRAWAL A MASTERSTROKE. Received August 4, 0 p.m. The Daily Telegraph's Petrogracl correspondent says that the recent operations show that the withdrawal from the Vistula waa decided weeks ago, and will probably be revealed later as a masterstroke of generalship. The only reason for the Austro-German advance northward of the Lublin-Cholm railway on Sunday was that the ground was suitable for entangling the Russians in a general engagement, and hence the Russians preferred to fall back. ON THE FRONT. GERMANS LACKING SUPPLIES. (Times and Sydney Suti Services.) Received August 4, 8.40 p.m. London, August 4. Mr. Richard Washburn, the war correspondent, after covering the Vistula and Narew fronts, is rather optimistic. His general impression south of Warsaw seems good. On the Blonie line the position is not serious. The Germans seem to be lacking in sppplies for the first time, and the result of their drives is not continuous. Ten German divisions are dug in south-east of the Nareiv. The immediate fate of AVarsaw, he thinks, is probably dependent on the strength of the defending armies here. An authority told him, "As the conditions are, we cau stick, and probably save Warsaw." Mr. Washburn thinks that ten days will decide the fate of the city. Later reports indicate that the Germans have retired in the direction of Grojek, and optimism in Warsaw is slightly growing. SITUATION BETTER. RUSSIANS HOLDING THE ADVANCE. Received August 4, 11.20 p.m. Petrograd, August 4. War critics are coming to the conclusion that the centre of gravity on the Russian front is shifted definitely from south to north, and it now seems that the German attack on the Niemen and Dtt'iiiii was the real thing. The Germans reached Ponieviesz over a week ago, but have only since advanced one march, showing that ITie Russians were quite prepared to meet the movement. A hundred and fifty guns were recently concentrated at a single point in the advance against the Petrograd railway, and the Russians were obliged to retire, but they counter-attacked before the big guns were able to follow up the advance, forcing the Germans to fall back ten versts. REINFORCEMENTS BY SEA, Received August 4, 11.40 p.m. Petrograd, August 4. The submarined German transport carried reinforcements from Libeau for •von Bulow's hard pressed army. The importance of the feat lies les3 In the fact that a German regiment was sent to the bottom than that maritime reinforcements must cease or be carried out with extreme caution for the future. AUSTRIAN LOSSES. Received August 4, 5.5 p.m. Rome, August 3. Austrian casualty lists show that 55,000 were killed and wounded lip to July 1.