REORGANISATION

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 97, 25 April 1916, Page 7

REORGANISATION

RUSSIA'S GIGANTIC EFFORT,

A LESSON IN INDUSTRY.

Interviewed by a special correspondent of the Journal at Petrograd, Goneral Polivanog, Russian Minister of War, declared that the munitions crisis which had made itself felt at the end of 1914, reached an acute stage early in 1915. In December, 1914, the Minister said, he became convinced that this penury was already extremely harassing. In May and June, 1915, the position was tragic. The Russian Army was absolutely 'forced to retreat solely from lack of shells. The position was the more poignant because, from the point of view both of the bravery of the men and the /methods of fighting, everything was in favour of the Russians, winning. "The lack of munitions paralysed us," continued the Minister, "and obliged us to yield ground to the enemy; but we did not cede victory, and beating slow retreat we only gained time to prepare ourselves for fresh decisive efforts. Today I tell you categorically that the munitions crisis no longer exists. It is a thing of thk past, a sinister memory, but only a memory. "In September, 1915, the first results of our labours became evident* Our batteries b ( egan to make their action felt by the enemy, who had been accustomed to take no notice of them. Immense efforts and rigorous and inflexible measures were required. Almost everything had to be . created,. for we were used to receiving much from abroad, particularly from Germany. We got there. It had been an absolute revolution ; an absolute transformation of our industrial activity, and almost of our customs." The Minister displayed diagrams, showing the prodigious development of industrial establishments working for the national defence, and added : "With the national production and with the enormous markets abroad dispensed with, we can, as regards munitions, look to the future with confidence. Many things were lacking, but now the graver gaps are filled. The moral of the troops is excellent. Thanks to the mobilisation of the great mass of men ordered some months ago, and the doubling of the number of our depots, we have now a permanent reserve of a million and a-half of young recruits, which will permit us to feed the various units without sending to the front men with insufficient military training. It is a matter of capital importance to maintain the units absolutely complete. Of that we are now assured. "In a. word, as the war is prolonged so the Allied forces increase, and so those of the Central Powers decrease. Behind the four Allies there are the natural resources of the whole universe. Behind the army of tho Centra! Powers are eskauitsen. aiul.iliakinejw."