RUSSIA'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 June 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA'S TASK.

FALL OF CZERNOWITZ. OFFICIALLY REPORTED. i Pctrograd. June 18. 'Honlev.states that it is officially notified that Czernowitz lias been captured. AUSTRIAN RIvTOET. , s Received June 1!), 6.20 p.m. Amsterdam, June 19. An Austrian communique admits the evacimtion of Czernowitz, in the face of superior enemy forces. It states: Our artillery foiled the Russian attacks west of Wismowezyk, on the Strypa, and we gained ground at several points in Volhynia. A GERMAN ACCOUNT. INHABITANTS FLEE PANICSTRICKEN. A GREAT BATTLE. i Amsterdam, .Tune 18. The Tage'blatt gives a graphic description of the situation on June 14. after four days' hot battle around Czernowitz.

Tile withdrawal of the Central Powers oil the Dneister and Pruth front entailed the temporary evacuation'of positions north-westward of Czcrnowitz, and the troops thence proceeded to the Pnith valley. A police proclamation, resembling the motif of a thrilling- tragedy. warned the population on Whit Sunday that C'zernowitz would be under (ire on that day.

Then tho flight began, and a heartrending panic seized Christian, Jew, German, Roumanian, Pole, and Lutheran, all .believing it necessary to leave their beloved town. They wandered through streets already echoing to the thunder of the guns. Shells landed mostly in the lower quarters and in the-vicinity of the railway station. Occasionally a shell liit an inhabited house. Our artillery replied, and this ghastly symphony lasted all day long. There was a similar spectacle on Whit Monday, when incendiary shells struck small farms and station buildings and severely damged tliem, and a timber yard was ablaze. The Russians made a night surprise attack on the northeastern end of the town. The intensity of the bombardment, which opened at midnight, made us shudder, and the flashes of the shells on the horizon were like a thunderstorm. The defenders in the trenches began an annihilating fire against the storming columns, whose losses were heavy. The Russians were unable to cross the Pruth.

On:' guns on Tuesday did terrible destruction among their moving columns. The attack on the bridgehead was repeatedly renewed until on the 14th it was like a thousand craters counting lire on the town. Our guns replied with the same intensity. The Russians later advanced in sixteen waves, but were mown down, and the stormers were forced back beyond Sadagora. PURSUIT CONTINUES. GREAT BAG W PRISONERS AND BOOTY.

Received June 10, 8.20 p.m. iPetrograd, June' 19,

A communique announces: We are pursuing the enemy, who are retreating towards the Carpathians. We captured one thousand prisoners at Czernowitz. and captured some guns in the town. We are repulsing desperate counterattacks on the Styr, the enemy troops including Germans who were brought from the French front.

We repulsed a furious German attack at Suidinki, on the north bank of the Stockhod. A Cossack regiment, by a flanking charge, captured many and sabred a great number, and put the rest to disorderly flight. General Kaledine, between June 5 and 17, captured 13G9 officers, 70,000 soldiers, 83 guns, 230 machine-guns, and an mous amount of war material. We checked an offensive on the right or the Strypa, north of Buczaez. INEFFECTIVE BATTERING RAM. Petrograd, June 16. ! A wounded Russian officer relates that Hie Germans in attempting to cheek General Brusiloff's advance employed their favorite battering-ram stroke, and threw forward three divisions, which the Russian artillery smashed successively. FIGHT FOR THE BRIDGE-HEADS. Received June 19,. 5.5 p.m. iPetrograd, June 18. . A communique says: 'Despite the enemy's resistance, which was marked by many counter-attacks, all of which were successfully repulsed, we are closely pressing the enemy in various directions. Genera) Letchitsky, on Saturday afternoon, carried by asault the Czernowitz bridge-head, on the left bank of the Pruth, after desperate fight at the river fords, the enemy having blown up the bridges. We have occupied Czernowitz. A GERMAN REPORT. London. June 18. A German communique says: General Linsingen repulsed attacks on both sides of Kolki. AVe captured 3500 Russians in the sector Kovel-Lutsk. Russian attacks northward of Przeuloda collapsed with heavy losses under our curtain of fire.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE THRUSTV TO COME TO GRIPS. I AXD PREVENT TRANSFER OF FORCES, Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received June ifl, 5..1 p.m. London, June 18. Intense fighting on all fronts, almost unparalleled since the earliest months of the war, still' marks the situation. The German tactics are obviously intended to keep the Allies busy, in the hope of preventing general offensive.-. The Russians' substantial progress has already relieved the, Italians, who are securely situated on a strong defensive line, and successfully counter-attacking. The fear of an Austv'an entry to the Venetian plain has been dissipated. The mohientuni of the Russian march is undiminished, although if, Marcel llutin, who is specially well informed on Rusian matters, suggests in L'Kelto de Paris that Russia's objective is not for a strategic success, but for a reduction of the enemy's effectives,, which has been achieved. The strategic situation remains intensely interesting It is known that'the Austrians are attempting to effect a junction with General Linsingcn. General Bothmer, with large German reinforcements, is hoping to stop the Russians north of Baranovitcli. French military writers emphasi-e tW fact that the plan in connection with the Russian offensive requires the Allies to come to grips with the enemy in all theatres, thus preventing a transfer of forces to the vital zones.