AUSTRALIANS ADMIT DEFEAT IN GALICIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 70, 22 March 1916, Page 5

AUSTRALIANS ADMIT DEFEAT IN GALICIA.

» ■ —I a - COMPELLED TO RETIRE FROM USCIECZKO. i GAKKISON CUTS ITS WAT OUT OF FOKTBESS. « (Received 10.30 a.m.) AMSTERDAM, March 21. Aa Austrian communique states that after six months' brave defence, we evacuated the ruined bridge and fortifications north-west of Uscieczko.on the Dniester, north-east of Koleina. Although the Russian mines made a great breach in the fortress the ! garrison, which was outnumbered eightfold, resisted for seven hours most I violent gun and infantry fire. Small detachments and wounded proceeded in boats to the southern bank of the Dniester, but owing to the enemy's concentrated fire such transport ■was soon abandoned. The garrison at night-time cut' its way through Uscieczko, which the enemy strongly held. The battles for the bridge and fortifications of L'scicckzo would remain for all time a glorious page in the army's annars. The Austrian acknowledgment of the defeat is very much belated, a fact which lends additional significance to the Russian success. It was early in February that the fortress finally fell into Muscovite hands, though it had been practically in their hands for some days. The stronghold occupied a high ridge between the Dniester and the Zurin, near the point of confluence. Thence the enemy was able to maintain a galling fire on the Russian positions. On the east bank the precipitous slopes of the ridge, covered with dense undergrowth, were converted by the enemy iuto a miniature Gibraltar. The Russians drove numerous saps, whence they assailed the enemy with hand grenades, while the batteries poured in a hail of high explosives and shrapnel with unerring precision. The first Russian success was achieved at the end of January, but heavy reinforcements of the enemy kept the Russians at bay for a week. Then the Russiansiwon a position enabling their heavy guns to bombard the reserves across the river, and finally, after four days and nights of desperate fighting, the Russians rushed the bridgehead on February 6, and crossed the Dniester, though the opposite bank was equally precipitous and strongly fortified. It is ' reported that the Austrian generals, Bohmer and yon Molli, were wounded during the heavy fighting. Uskieczko was the point of connection between General yon Bohmers armies operating north of the river, the armies of General Pflander and the Germans between the Dniester and the Pruth. The Russians thus thrust a wedge between two parts of the enemy armies.