RUSSIA'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 June 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA'S TASK.

THE GREAT ADVANCE. ARTILLERY HAVOC. APPALLING GUNFIRE. Petrograd, Juno 11. The first Russian wounded men have reached Odessa. They speak with glowing enthusiasm of the artillery's havoc in the Austrian defences. The .Russians followed the onslaughts with masses of cavalry, which threw the retreating enemy into hopeless confusion. The enemy abandoned his wounded, and whole regiments surrendered. Tlie railways are blocked with trains conveying prisoners and trophies, including big guns and aeroplanes. The captured baggage trains are being used to convey the Austrian wounded. Several thousand prisoners have arrived at Kieff and 15.000 at Khotin, including German staff officers. The appalling Russian gunfire opened simultaneously on the entire battle front. Orders for the attack reached the trenches on June 3 and were hailed with unbounded joy. The artillery opened the same day and continued until midday on June 4. The infantry then attacked and found the first and second enemy lines in ruins and full of dead. The succeeding lines were defended by machine-guns, fire squirts, and mines, many of which were exploded under the Russians, but the Russians were irresistible. The Austrians mostly refused to face the bayonet and surrendered.

AUSTRIAN RESERVES FOR GALICIA London, June 9. (Delayed in transmission.) The Daily Telegraph's Rome correspondent states that four divisions of Austrian reserves in the Trentino have started foi Galicia. Italian aviators dropped manifestos informing the Austrians of the great Russian victories. AT CZERNOWITZ. Geneva, June 11. Civilians have been order to leave Czornowitz, which is now within range of Russian artillery. The inhabitants of other localities in Bukowina decline to leave as they are convinced the Russians will bring food. AUSTRIANS ROUTED. Petrograd, June 11. The Russians yesterday captured an additional 35,000 men and 400 officers, 30 guns, and an enormous amount of booty. General Lechusky's army, in the direction of Czernowitz, alone captured 18,000 men, effecting a complete debacle. MORE PRISONERS. Wellington, Yesterday. The High Commissioner reports under date London. June 11 (9.55 a.m.) : The Russians yesterday captured 35,000 prisoners. Of these' 18,000 were in the one sector of Czernikoff. The total Russian capture is: One general, 1649 oflicers r «and over 100,000 men, 124 guns, and 180 machine-guns.

THE RUSSIAN WAVE ROLLS ON. AN OVERWHELMING. AUSTRIAN FRONT BROKEN IN THREE PLACES. BARBED WIRE AND SPIKED PITS. Received June 12, 8.20 p.m. London, June 12. There is no longer any doubt that General Brussiloff, who lias hitherto been known as a brilliant cavalry leader, has struck one of the biggest blows of the war. Though the Vienna estimate is that he commands 1,500,000 men, this is doubtless an exaggeration. General Brussiloff selected a front of 340 miles, extending from Pinsk through the Pripet marshes and Volhynian swamps to Rumania. The result is that the offensive has made three*, great yawning breaches in the Austrian line, one of thirty miles deep in the Lutsk region threatening the important junction of Kovel.. A second breach is twenty miles deep, from Bnczacz to the junction of the Strypa and Drieister, a distance of thirteen miles, and threatening the town of Stnnislau. The Russians at the end of 1915 failed to cross the Strypa, but now they have not only taken their old fortifications, but those that were constructed at the rear, and have driven a .wedge between the armies of Generals Bothmer. and iPlanzer, which will make it difficult for General Planzer to hold Bukowina.

Tlie third breach is before Czernowitz, enabling General Lechitsky to occupy an important strategic railway and make important captures. Telegrams from Petrogract describe that the Russian bombardment was most intense on June 3. Some stretches of the trenches were transformed into a mush of crumbled concrete, burst sandbags, splintered beams, and mangled and mutilated corpses. Many of the' Russian regiments had never before been in action, yet they charged in tiger-like fashion after the Russian artillery had destroyed the barbed wire entanglements, -which were often as thick as the index finger, woven together for a depth of three hundred yards. Hidden pits that had spiked bottoms,, before the Austrian lines, -were similar to those used at Bannockburn, and hampered the advance.

ROUT OF THE ENEMY. COSSACKS AT WORK. ■Received June 12, 5.20 p.m. London, .lime 12. The Russians traversed the pits, using planks and laders. Thirty-two lines o! Russian infantry followed each other in rapid succession, in open formation. They sustained very heavy losses, but there was no faltering. They took the second and third Austrian defences in the lirst mad rush, and then divisions of Cossacks and Lancers, on their hardy ponies, swept through the breaches. The fleeing enemy were now utterly disorganised, and whole companies, even regiments, surrendered. The cavalry swept on, disorganising the transport and ammunition stores that were ten miles behind the front trenches, and the retreat developed into a panic-stricken flight, with enormous losses. The Russians covered twenty-two miles in two days in the direction of Kovel.

ENORMOUS CAPTURES. , OF MEN AND MUNITIONS. Received June 12, 6.50 p.m. London, .lime 11. A Russian communique says: We continued our advance in Volhy'nia, Gali-da. and Bukowina, and it resulted in fresh successes on Saturday, furious blows throwing into our. hands thousands and thousands of prisoners and masses of war material, an estimate of which is impossible. ■ , As an example, we captured in a single section two supply trains, forty-seven machine-gun trains, twenty-nine field kitchens, 480,0001b of barbed wire, one thousand concrete girders, seven million concrete cubes, stores, arms, and ammunition. Such enormous captures prove the opportuneness of the. blow. The total number of prisoners is 100,000 men, one general, 1649 officers together with 124 guns, .180 machineguns, and fifty-eight mortars. A WHIRLWIND ADVANCE. RUSSIAN GENERAL'S STRATEGY. TERRIFIC AUSTRIAN'. LOSSES. Received June 12, 10.50 p.m. London, June 12. The advance was so rapid that an Austrian division was surrounded and compelled to surrender before the Austrian staff were aware that the Russians had broken through both flanks. While the Austrians were building elaborate eartliworl;s,„Qeneral Brusiloff constructed miles of corduroy roads across the swamps behind the Russian lines, to enable the cavalry to quickly assemble, with whatever artillery he was able to send to the Austrian'front. After the cavalry came the transport wagons, artillery, and horses,' which enabled the whirlwind advance to continue. General Brusiloff's strategy was n magnificent success, and, if 100,000 Austrians have been captured, at least 200,000 others have been killed and wounded. When Dubiio fell a triangle of fortresses, including Lutsk and Eovno. passed into the Russians' hands. There was twenty hours of fierce fighting before Lutsk, and then the (light of the Austrians- was so precipitate that even railway stations and bridges were not destroyed.

THE CAPTURE OF LUTSK. INHABITANTS GREET THE RUSSIANS Archduke Friedrich iunched at Lutsk on the day of its capture. The inhabitants, principally Jews and Poles, enthusiastically greeted the Russians, who entered with bands playing and colors Hying. Men, women, and children embraced the soldiers, kissing their hands and their rifles. The Germans on the Styr, below Lutsk, attempted to assist the Austrian, but the Russian infantry drove them back, taking two thousand prisoners. FIGHTING AT OTHER POINTS. General Bolmiermolli continues to spiritedly dispute possesion of the heights north-west of Tarnopol, which have several times changed hands. The latest .Vienna communique admits that there is exceedingly violent fighting north-east of Bukowina, and that the pressure of superior hostile forces, applied with an unequalled prodigality of men, obliged the Austrians to withdraw; CAN THE AUSTRIANS HOLD?

RESERVES RUSHING UP. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received June 12, 5.6 p.m. London, June 11. ' Mr. Hamilton Fyfe says that the break in the Austrian front now covers one hundred miles. It would be rash to prophesy how far the Russians are able to develop their success, They have advanced, on an average, fifteen miles a day on nearly a hundred mile front, during five days. At Lutsk they are twenty-three miles from their old positions, and v the enemy certainly did not expect such a terrific bombardment. The enemy forces had been instructed to successively retire, but when Lutsk was endangered they were ordered not to fall ba«k at any cost. They obeyed and hid in shell-proof shelters until the guns ceased, when the infantry emerged and surrendered. All possible reserves are being rushed from Lemberg and Brest Litovsk, and much depends upon whether Germany is able to help her ally, either by reinforcing her or making a demonstration in the north. So far there is no sign of the latter.