THE WAR IN POLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 152, 28 June 1915, Page 4

THE WAR IN POLAND.

To-day's new* from the front in (ialiii.i and I'oluihl in very Interretiu.a ami instructive. Tin-re beeme to i>c no doubt now that, aa we ventured to anticipate last week, vim Mackeneuu't! advance has horn clucked east ;'.!iil Houtlieaet of Lenrberg. A portion of iiis forces has lii-fii beverely handled, and driven back to the south hank of the Uneiter, where the Ruswiana i-laiui to have scored a decisive victory, l!ut. apart from this succp.ss, a mu.-t nat be forgotten that for an invading army to halt is practically an ajJmiebion o( defeat; and inn MucKi-iiwcn'e [Mfcitiun Iki*. br.-n from the very outset of his operations precarious in the extreme. It v always possible for iin army to force its way through any military obstacle if It ignores the lueses it t-ttuiiiis. Hut while yon Mackensen, at the expenditure of probably three quarters of a million "f men or more, has retaken Lumbers, the question of what he can ultimately do to defeat the Russians, or even to secure hin own retreat. remain* unanswered. A leading German newspaper expresses ast-onishinent that tin- liii;-.-ians are still fighting near Ijpmberjj. and even Major Moraht, one of the host known German military experts, ha.« ju.-t remarked that the capture of Abe U-ml.er- is not moiiKh — the Russian armies must he destroyed. It would seem, therefore, tiuit even tho (lennan experts have not vet realised that, far f r<mi being destrn ed Ihe Russian field force, are still "Hi being." practically a* .-Ir■ >ri;_r as ever, and wholly unbeaten and unbroken. The armies'"under Vn« Nlackertsen have forced t! 1 uir way with a. prodigious expenditure of life, into ea.siern flalicia: but already their front !s eherked by the steady banking up of the Uusxixn reserve*: and the question arises, what can they do next. IV: rograd advices claim that the Germans have been bnnVl by the "cold, ealciriatinff strategy" iif the Grand Duke and hi* colleagues, an.l ?ugge»t that yon Markensen'a troubles will hejjin as s,/r,n as he tries to extricate hiiiwclf from the position into which he luui plunged. There are rumours that tho Germans are preparing another d.-spcratc onslaught upon Warsaw from the north-west, alone the Bzu.-a'front, evidently with the intention of taking oIT the pressure from yon Mackenwn's llank. if he should bo forced to retire. Tiiis is ominotifl news for our enemy for it is from this point, whero the Russian lines are t-till intact, far to the west of Warsaw and Lemberg, that danger will naturally threaten the invading army if once its prosress is definitely stopped. Of course it the Russians are still short of ammunition, anything may happen: but so far as the available information snes. the outlook for the German armies now invading flalicin is as gloomy ad ever it was dnr* inj: their four previous futile att.-mpt.s to overwhelm Poland and force their way to Warsaw.