PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2500, 29 June 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Except for a further Russian retreat in Galicia no material change is reported in the main theatres at time of writing. A comparative lull appears to obtain in the Western theatre. Near Souchez, in Northern France, the Germanß have recovered a couple of hundred yards of trenches, a small portion of the ground lately won by the French in this region. Elsewhere enemy attacks have been beaten oif, but no conspicuous success by the Allies is reported. All unofficial report states that the Italians have captured Gorozia, the principal Austrian stronghold on the lsonzo River. This must await confirmation. As yet no new developments are reported at the Dardanelles, but stories of Turkish prisoners who have been taken to Cairo throw some light upon the condition of tho Turkish Army in Gallipoli.

The situation in Galicia is still a long way from being cleared up and the news as it stands at time of writing affords any amount of scope for speculation and theorising, but presents few definite facts to proceed upon. Until the battles east of Lemberg and South and south-cast of the city, along the lliver Dniester, have been fought to a decisive point, speculation is quite useless. All that can be said meantime is that the Russians arc gravely handicapped by bad and_ inconvenient lines of communication, while the enemy enjoy all the advantages that reasonably good and convenient communications confer. Since there is no reason to suppose that the Russians have yet been able to make good tho inferiority in artillery whicti has cost them the greater part of Galicia, it would be running counter to visible probabilities to expect 1 hem to hold 011 to as much of the province as they still occupy.

As regards actual lighting in Galicia the principal news in hand relates to a battle north of the Dniester and south-south-cast of Lembcrg. I roin this locality the enemy is striving to advance north-east'on a line wtich would ultimately cut the communications of a portion of the Russian Army which is stemming the attack of the Austro-German main force, cast of Lembcrg. The advance would also endanger the retacat of the Russian Armies arrayed along the Dniester, towards the eastern end of Galicia. A Petrograd report states that attacks on this line have been repulsed. A Berlin communique, dated at London on the same day, but 'arriving here later, asserts that they have .succeeded. The enemy claim that they have reached a point midway between Zaravno and Itohatyn. This would place them within 25 miles of the Lemberg-Brzczany railway, which runs south-cast from Lembcrg. A continuation of the enemy advance on its present line would bring them to this railway about 40 miles southeast of Lemberg and therefore well in rear of the position which the Russian Army east of the city is understood at present to occupy, there arc other railwavs running east and north-east from Lemberg which would assist a Russian retreat, but any forces astride the Lemberg-Brzczany railway and depending upon railwav transport are already out of touch with these other lines since the .junction is at Lemberg. It is not to be supposed that the Russians will wait to have their communications cut, but the general suggestion of the news is that the enemy has halted his attack east from Lemberg, meantime in order to develop an outflanking movement on the south. If his owii account can be trusted he is making some headway in this latter enterprise. On the news of battle, meagre as it is, a further Russian retreat is as likely as ever. Only one prominent detail of the position as regards railways has been touched upon, but as matters now stand the whole position in Galicia, whero railways are concerned, is definitely unfavourable to the Russians.

A LATE Austrian message declares that the Russians are in retreat east of Lemberg and on the front extending north-west from a point about ton miles north of the city. It is suggested that the Russians are giving ground before the driving force of a heavy attack, but a good reason for the retirement is no doubt supplied in the enemy attack on the railways to the south and east * » * * In attempting to form an estimate of the general position—nothing more exact is possible at the moment— a sharp distinction must be drawn between a development of the Austro-Gcrman success in Galicia and any serious crippling of the Russian armies in the Eastern theatre. If Germany is hoping to reduce the Russians to helplessness by a continuation of her present offensive she is obviously proceeding by a very roundabout road. But it' is fairly evident that the Galician offensive is in a different category to the earlier attempts made to rcach Warsaw from the west and from the north. In these attacks the aim was to strike at the hcart-of the Russian communications and make any coun-ter-stroke impossible. Because it offered no such decisivo advantage the Galician offensive involved from the start a sacrifice which cannot vet be measured with confidence, but was certainly great. It was undertaken because of the imperative necessity of affording relief to Austria, a necessity _ all the greater because the possibility of a rupture with Italy must have been foreseen and because a conflict with Rumania may yet be added to the war-burdeus of the- Dual Alliance. Only the impelling motive thus provided will account for the fact that the Galician offensive was undertaken at all.

I - r has made the fact perfectly clear that Russia is not yet able to make headway against a strong German concentration in a region where railways and roads arc reasonably good, but Russia is not. exposed to vital attack through any region of this character, by way of Galicia or by any other route. Whatever line n'f HrTwon'fi they nia.V flee) in lake the Gejwafc must waiter the diffi-

011] ties of a tract of country iu which communications arc hopelessly bad before they can hope to master Russia. An offensive from Galicia into Russian territory would possibly select- tile worst route of all. There is thus 110 reason to question l'etrograd reports that the defeat 111 Galicia leaves the Russian armies with lighting powers unimpaired, and that they retain perfect freedom in manoeuvring, in addition the Germans have expended their resources in Galicia with a prodigality which must seriously hamper any future efforts on other sections of tho front which may seem to offer better prospects of decisive advantage. One recent Russian report declares that the Germans lost half a million men in a vain endeavour to force a decisive battle. Taking this as relating to the eight weeks of battle since the Russians were first heavily attacked in Western Galicia, the estimate is big, but by no means impossible, considering the character of the lighting. At all events the German outlay in men and material has been lavish out of all proportion to the advantages gained or in sight. In order to recover Galicia the Germans probably had to weaken their forces in the Western theatre where now- they are under the necessity of building them up. To hold Galicia.. will be a burdensome task. It is difficult to imagine that in facc of theso gathering obligations Germany can now hope to strike any paralysing blow at Russia on any section of the Eastern front. Very probably the mighty outpouring of strength in Galicia will come to be regarded as a milestone on the road leading to Gorman defeat.

A day or two ago the Germans reported officially that for some days their airmen, in the Western theatre, had been obviously getting the advantage, A general statement of this kind carries little weight in any case, but there is no need to resort to negative objections in considering the German claim. It is satisfactorily discounted by the continued successful activities of Allied airmen in enterprises which would be almost impossible if the German airforces were upon anything like an equality with those of Fiance and Britain. Hardly a week goes by without a number of successful raids upon enemy depots and lines of communication being reported. Late examples are the bombardment by British airmen of an enemy ammunition depot in Flanders, and the raid by a small party of French aviators who threw twenty bombs on Douai and on neighbouring stations. Douai station, it is stated, was seriously damaged. The magnificent feat of the late Lieutenant Warnetord, in destroying a Zeppelin, may have diverted attention to some extent from the less spectacular work of the aviators wlio periodically attack the enemy's i communications, but these raids arc in themselves of very great importance. Douai, for example, is a railway junction behind the front in Northern France against which the principal weight of the Allied offensive has so far been hurled. It is thus an important depot in the complicated system of supply upon wliich the German front is dependent for its resisting power. Serious damage to the railway equipment of such a even though it is temporary damage and capable of being repaired, is calculated to greatly increase the strain upon the German forces west of Douai by delaying and hindering their supplies. If the Germans had the power they would certainly attempt to defeat such raids by attacking the Allied squadrons in tho air. As it is reports show that French and British aviators are continually raiding over the enemy's lines and far to the rear and returning unscathed, or with slight loss. Pretty conclusive proof is thus supplied that the German air service is very greatly inferior.

The nature of the communications sent out from time to time in the name of that anonymous personage, " a neutral observer" (to-day he is styled "a neutral author") would justify searching inquiry as to their actual origin. The latest contribution from this alleged neutral is an unbalanced glorification of Germany and depreciation of her enemies which could hardly have been bettered by the Wolff Bureau. He assorts in effect that Germany practically cannot be beaten, . that' her methods and resources are alike superior, and that she is always bringing out mechanical ancl chcmical surprises. The counter-efforts of the Allies, he suggests, and particularly those of the British, are inane by comparison. There is a 'distinctly German touch in this, and it is difficult to associate it with the character of a dispassionate neutral, far less with the character of a neutral who has the cause of the Allies at heart. Probably no great harm is done by painting exaggerated pictures of German strength, but it would be rather a pity if the British Press allowed itself to be used as a medium for scattering German fairy tales throughout the world. Whatever the origin of the "neutral observer" reports may be they are evidently written with an incurable bias and it is also a ground of suspicion that they deal with matters which no neutral observer can be expected to know very much about. The latest contribution pretends to intimate knowledge of the movements of both German and British troops behind the battle-lines, and such information is no doubt as difficult .to come by on the German side as it certainly is on the British.