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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 171, 25 August 1914, Page 4

If St. Petersburg reports are to be trusted, the Russian-advance through Eastern Prussia has thus far been attended with- some striking successes. The Grand Duke Nicholas has crossed the frontier with a full half million men, and if, as is stated, the German defence in front of the Vistula is three army corps, then the success of the Russians can be understood. Not only have they swept the enemy before them, but they have succeeded in securing strategic advantages which threaten the Prussian lines of communication. Though the immediate success of the Russian forces —if success it really be—will be gratifying to the Allies, and essentially dangerous to the cause of the Hohenzollern, it must be remembered that as yet the invaders from the East are only on the fringe of their greater trouble —there are the line of forts from Konigsberg to Posen, and the fortified bridge heads of the Vistula still to be accounted for. To force this line Avill tax the ingenuity of the Rus sian Military Department to the utmost. The fortifications on the Vistula bridges are not yet completed, but in the hands of stem artillerists, such as the Germans boast, they should prove a stiff hurdle in the Russian race for Berlin. It is not unlikely that, in the time occupied by the transmission of the message from the actual scene of operations to this part of the world, the Russians have made considerable headway in their onrush. On the Austrian frontier the Russians are still taking the offensive. An attacking force of Austrians is jiow said to be in headlong retreat in Galicia. If this information from the Russian frontiers is anywhere near the truth, Kaiser Willi elm will have to make haste with his little job be tween Verdun and Maubeuge, otherwise there is just the possibility of his receiving a warm Slav welcome on his return to Potsdam. However, it is the west ttiat matters most to-day. The German main force lias got to get through the Allies or be broken. The longer the issue is delryed the greater opportunit3 r is given Russia.