GALICIAN CRISIS DANGER TO RUSSIAN CENTRE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 125, 28 May 1915, Page 7

GALICIAN CRISIS DANGER TO RUSSIAN CENTRE

THE GREAT RETREAT TO THE . SAN. ■ LONDON, 27th May. Th« military correspondent of The Times cays that thirty-four Austro-Ger-man Army Corps axe acting on tho offensive between Poland and Bukowina. The -wings have hitherto been checked, but there is danger in the centra, where the Germans claim to have penetrated seven miles east of the San at an estimated cost of 50 per centum of their strength. They are now fighting for space to deploy on the right bank of the river. Perhaps an even more critical attack ie developing between Przemysl and the Dniester marshes, where seventeen Austro-German Army Corps are engaged. The Times correspondent at Ivangorod, after a motor ride of 190 miles along the rear of the Russian line, states that the Russians are optimistic regarding the present position. When the Russians learned of the German movement they strengthened their reserve live, hoping to hold the Donajec, but they were prepared to retire if necessary. The German attack on the Donajec was unparalleled. Their batteries were massed in tiers — first the field funs, then the howitzers, and then th« eaviest mobile guns. A torrent of uninterrupted shell fire destroyed the Russian centre, through which the Germans poured, hoping to destroy both wings at leisure. The Russians, however, were not demoralised and closed the gap with the reserve which reached the San. Their retreat was comparable with that of the British from Mons. The Russians obeyed tho order tc retire with great reluctance. In one place a Russian corps attacked the enemy with such, fury that it practically .destroyed the 46th Company of the Landsturm and mauled two supporting divisions, taking six thousand prisoners. Many Russians expect a sudden cessation of the Galician attack and a fresh German concentration against the Bzura or Warsaw. If the Germans continue to suppoijt the Austrians in Galicia the Russians are likely to alter their objective and launch an attack in Silesia.