PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 105, 5 May 1915, Page 7

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

I BERLIN'S TALES OF VICTORY THE BATTLES IN GALICIA. A STORY ABOUT THE BRITISH. Germany's highly coloured story about a great victory on that section of the Russian front between the Carpathians and the Vistula, that is, roughly, on the Dukla. Pass Gorlice - Tarnow - Donajec River line, is not borne out by Russian messages, or even by Austrian. The Berlin claim, on the strength of which the city was put en fete, was that the Russian, lino had been completely penetrated and forced back everywhere, that the flying armiee were being pursued, and that the captured trophies | could not even be estimated. Th© weakness of the account is its indefmiteness; iit does not show what happened ; and "everywhere " on a front of seventy milcß is too big a generalisation to swallow. Austria i'r not nearly so confident of victory. She claims' the fepnlse of the Russians between the Dukla Pare and Gromnik. a town on the Biala River. 15 miles south of Tarnow ; the seizure of a crossing over the Donajec between Tarnow and the Vistula, into which the Donajec flows; and the capture of 8000 prisoners. In a supplementary message tho Germans report capturing 21,500 prisoners, with 62 guns, on this front. The Russian messages tell of very desperate fighting, but give no indication that the result is anything in the nature of what the Germans report. According to the messages received so far, the struggle is. only ir its early stages, and is marked by severe isolated engagements. The Russians, whose offensive is now concentrated in the Carpathians with the object of invading Hungary, are now attacked on both flanks of this front. Their marked success in advancing south of the Dukla Pass, on their extreme right, was very quickly stopped by an Austro-Cevman, attack in the upper valley of the River Stryj, close to the Vereczke Pass. That attack was. however, held in its own ground, and the Russians applied themselves with vigour to attacking Uszok Pass, twenty-five miles to tho westward. The struggle has been bitter and progress very slow. Now the enemy has delivered another blow, this time on the Russian right flank. Success m this effort would jeopardise the safety of the Russian armies in the neighbourhood of the Dukla Pass, though not perhaps for &ome time. The value of the attempt is rather that it may compel the Russians to detach troops from the mountain front to reinforce the barrier of men which stretches to the frontier. The German blow has probably been made possible by the ar« rival of new armies in the field ; and the method which Russia adopts to meet it will depend a good deal upon her possession of forces not already occupied in important work elsewhere. The enemy has been active but unsuccessful on the River Dneister. near Zaleszczyki, a town about thirty miles north-north-west of Czernowitz. This is in the neighbourhood of the extreme east of the Russian line, far away from the Carpathian front ; and the report indicates that matters have not moved much in this area lately. In the northern area, fighting has continued on the upper part of the River Szeszupe. which flows from north of the town of Suwalki through Kalvarya and Marjampol, and round to the west into Prussia. The locality of the fighting is probably again rjear Kalvarya. In this legion the Russians have recovered a large part o? the ground lost during the last East Prussian offensive, and though recovery has generally been extremely slow, there has been no evidence of reverses. . ANOTHER GERMAN CLAIM Germany claims a great success at Zonnebeke. Unfortunately, the Allies' messages are dumb regarding the local, ity. Zonnebeke ia five miles east-north-eaet of Ypres; and after the Germans' successful attack on the ranal north of Ypres, it was left the most distant point "of the Ypres salient, occupying jumost the corner of a right angle whorft the Allies' lines turned from north and south to east and west. The latest Ger- :. man report is thnt Zonnebeke has been captured, as well as Zemenco and Westhock, and boric neighbouring woods which have been hotly contested for months. This claim, unlike the one relating to Western Qalicia, lias the ring of truth, especially ns it nails down the locality exnctU' ; though it remains to be seen whether the enemy has gained a success anything like what is claimed. Zemencote and Wcnthock are not phown on the best map at present available : but Veldhock, possibly the wme or near the same place as Wcsthock, lies a couple of miles south of Zonnebeke ; and between it and Zonnebeko nre a group of woods along the east side of which the lines liave run for a lr>ng period. According to a Dunkirk message, tho enemy has been making preparations for another great attack in Flanders ; and curiously enough, the report mentions cavalry in the troops being concentrated.' Cavalry has prn,cticallv disappeared from the * scene «ince the war of the trenches became thoroughly estab* lished. Cavalry does not promise to be us°ful in the present class of campaign unless the enemy is retreating from his lines; and if the Germans are seriously gathering cavalry in Flanders their confidence is being expressed in a rather remarkable way Dunkirk's friend, the big gun, has not earned its salt yet. After throwing a few tons of enormous shells into that distant city, it seems to hava retired into silence. It is to bo hoped that its disturbing voice will be Heard no more, and that the enemy will find that he has wasted time and money on a complete fiasco. SUBMARINES AGAIN. More ve&sels have been sunk by Gorman submarines. A few flays ago, the tcrroriseis of the' sea awoke from a period of comparative inaction, and they have lately created a good deal of stir. There are no rcaliy frenb features about <

their work, which is still directed at craft of minor importance, and affects neutrals as well as belligerents, without making any invidious distinctions, though the neutrals seem lately to have been very unlucky. The United States, | through its newspapers, is making a vigorous protest. A large section of the American public and press have been strongly hostile to the German blocka- ! ders. and in the early stages the most serious consequences were promised if a single American life was taken. But the official attitude of the United States Government has been long-suffering in the extreme. Even the death of an American in the Falaba tragedy has passed over. America has been, branded by Germany as an object of hate because the Allies can get supplies from her, and Germany cannot — a complete injustice to America, since it is the British Navy that Germany ought to blame ; but it is suffered in the mildest way. Some influential voices in the United States are now saying that the attack on the Gulflight off the Scilly Isles is most serious ; one newspaper even asks whether America must not go to war. On the Gulflight incident, however, the State Department thinks that it was probably accidental. ■ POISONOUS GASES. An authoritative report is to hand regarding the enemy's use of asphyxiating gases. Sir John French states that they were distributed by pipee and by shells; that the Germans wear protective respirators ; and that since the f gases w«re fiwfc used, they have been regularly employ, cd. The intention k to use them as a .regular part of the equipment; and pro tests will be of no avail. His descrip' tion of the mercilecs nature of thb effects produced by the gases explains how greatly the enemy was assisted by them. If the enemy was going to uee chlorine and similai* poisons regularly, a reply, either offensive or defensive, has to be found. The House of Commons ha* been informed that the Government is con» eidering whether it shall do likewise.