IN THE HUG OF THE BEAR.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 239, 23 September 1914, Page 3

IN THE HUG OF THE BEAR.

Al-STRIA FIRST AND "HEX GERMA XY(By J.B. in the Sydney "Herald.") Amid the gloom and the lug of the great conflict there seems to he at least one thing cleat. As was to have been expected. Russia has practically accounted for Att.-tria at an early stage of the war. by what seems to have been a really decisive battle. Significant as is the defeat of the army of the Dual Monarchy, the tremendous number of prisoners taken by the Russians, and the great loss of life amongst the Austrian ofhrus. are more significant still. They of all proportion to the number engaged. That such should have been the case is by no means surprising to those who know AustriaHungary from the inside. The Slav regiments have evidently seized the first available opportunity of surrendering. The huge number of casualties among the officers is to Ke attributed To quite other causes than to RUSSIAN FIRE OR RUSSIAN BAYONETS.

Many were probably killed by their own men either during the battle 01 prior to surrendering. It is also by no means improbable that mutiny occurred during the course of the action, or. rather, series of actions. This great victory of Lemberg seems to prove that morale in the Austrian army is conspicuous by its absence. In 1908. during the crisis following the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when troops were sent to the frontiers, it was deemed advisable to surround regiments by other regiments of a different nationality until saiely entrained. Troops were even sent away secretly in the night, without the men being allowed to take a farewell of their friends. Austrian officers, great friends of the writer, have candidly admitted that they could not trust their men sufficiently to lead them into action tor fear of being

SLOT DOWN FROM BEHIND, and such fears seem to have been but too well rounded. I rider such circumstances then the crushing detent of the Austrian army need excite no surprise’. Austria as a serious factor 'll the war mav be said no longer to exist. Both the Russians and the Servians have settled her pretensions, let us hope for ever, to be a great military power and a menace to the peat..' of the world. Austria now finds herself in the powerful hug of the Russian Bear, ami it will probably not he long ere that embrace starts to make itself felt in terrible earnest on the German Empire. AFTER LEMBERG. WHAT?

With ail eyes turned in tile direction of Paris ana Henin, the onjecnvo oi the Russian army invading .-uistii.i seem to have been temporarily uhgotten, 'there can be litt>e dou»t that itussia aims at capturing \ ienua quae as much as she does Berlin, the Victory ot Lemberg will no doubt enormously facilitate the plans ot Russia in this latter directum. Part pi the Czar’s forces are said to have occupied Halicz, a town to tlie souta-ea.-t of Lemberg, and apparently away from the central Austrian objective. A short distance to the south-east ot this town is Stanislaw, which is in direct railway communication with wealthy and populous districts ot Southern Russia, and the occupation <-t this town may le shortly expected. Once in possession o; this town Russia will be enabled to tap her southern provinces both tor reinforcements and supplies without th< - danger of her communications being cut by the Germans from the southeastern provinces or that Empire. Once in the possession ot Stanislau. Galicia will be firmly

UNDER THE HEEL OF RUSSIA, without the possibility of her occupation being seriously menaced either by the Germans or the Austrians. Ih.e wav will then be dear tor an advance into Hungary. The main Russian armies will probably advance into Hungary through the ’ passes immediately south of Lemberg, while the right wing will advance through a route somewhat f urther west. Once the (. arpat.iiuii • have been crossed the most diilicuit part of the route will have bem atcoinpii'hed. With the approach <>< winter it will he to Russia s advanttig.-’ to advance as rapidly as po-siba through the Carpathians. Once sou. i of these mountains, the path oi h< r armies will I*’ comparatively , tho route followed would probably be along the banks of the Rive.' T'hejss and be. tributaries, across the fertile plains a. Northern Hungary, so tamcus tor tm wines oi Tokay. Should Ait'-t’ia able to muster sufficient forces she aid probably try to arre-t the Russian aovance at Stiwa ami Samlaw ami possibly again at Debt ew m. 'should she fail at this latt”r mentiomd town t'.rj route will Le open to the capital ot Hungary. Exasperated by th.- ’■-■purl' of German cruelty in e*t.’rq .Litt <»;»■*. , and bearing but little love tor t.ie Magyars, the beautiful city ot BEDA-PESTH WILL NOT BE SPARED.

The Russians understand the meaning of “the necessities of the military situation,” suite as much as do the Germans: they are not slow to leain Once at Buda-Pesth the destination of the Russian force becomes much more problematical. It is quit.- possible that it will advance along the banks ot the Danube to Vienna, and so strike at the verv heart of Austria. \ lenna v.i l prove a much easier prey to an invading arniv than any of the other great capitals.’ for in addition to the. German element, there is a very great Slav element, who will render a pinlonged defence a matter of impossibili”v ’’.lnch will depend upon the success’of the Russian army striking from the north-west towards Cracow, should the central

RUSSIAN ARMIES INVADING GERMANY

bo snC f *’ sst ’ 111 - T - 1P task of th, 'i. grP: j T force w ill be immensely facilitated. Should these central armtes tail m their object anr mlvanee by way of Ciaeoa would be’inih lydangerous. it not disastrous. With Cracow m the hands «.t

Nearlv ovnrvone iff liable to uric acid trouble,’ and yet manf persist in disregarding the first sigjJs—pains and swellings in the joints, stiffness and soreness in the muscles. These symptoms show that the livar and kidney are not doing their work properly excess uric acid is accumulating in the blood. This uric arid may accumulate lor a k'Pg time without serious trouble. But as soon as you are run down or exposed to cold or damp, it pill surely assert itselL This excess acid mustbe removed, an» the one remedy tftat. mH do it is RHEUMO. Rheumo neutralises and eradicates the excess and leaves the blood tree and pure. Thousands have been cured by tul reniedv. Read how liHt.lMO cured Mr. Mat. CTannitch, the proprietor of th'* Temuka HoteL, weU known throughout Canterbury. * a long time I suffered from rheumatism. using 8 all kinds of r-unedies of RHEUMO. I tried it. I have not felt better for the P«t ywrs. and 1 can honestlv say that RHELM'J ».n my case has been a great Act now. Get a hottie nt RHEUMO to-night from your chemist i>c stoiekeeper. 2Z6 and 4 6.*

the Russians, th. to would be two. il not niGre. roini’x opvn to it. Tfier»; would be the possibility oi a direct advance on Vicuna down the vallev of the March to Lntidenberg. an important junction on the Dresden, Prague. Brunn (the capital oi Moravia), and the Vienna line. From Lundenberg the first objective would be Presshurg. w!: -re a junction could be made with the army whose fir t objective was Buda-Pe-th. prior to besieging Aieuti-i. Should the army which has just won sm-ii a brilliant victory at Lemberg be found sufficiently strong to CAPTURE VIEXXA —and it probably will Lu —the army whose present objective is Cracow would have the clio.ce of either adviutcing into Bohemia and capturing the capital, aided by the Czechs. wlic would welcome tne Russians as if thev were their own people, and thus help in entirely subduing tile northern part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, or of advancing along the Oder to Breslau. striking west to Dresden and Leipsic and the heart of Germany. Owing to the magnitude of the recent Russian victory, tile latter course will probabh lie followed. Its advantages far outweigh those of tiie former. During the coining winter months the occupation of Boliemia, much as it may be desired by the Russians. would practically lead into a cul-de-sac. The routes from Bohemia, difficult at any time for an advancing arniv, would become practically impossible, owing to the severity of the winter in the Erzgebirge and Bohmefwald Mountains, The Russians then may be expected to st l ike a paralysing blow

AT THE VEiIY I EART OI GERMAXY

by adopting the latter course. It would certainly he plating the Germans at their own game, as it would form part of a great ftaiiking movement,' and be far more dangerous than the advance of the armies of the centre. In addij tion to striking at the very heart of j Germany, it would render tiie despatch of reinforcements to help .’usirm out of the ipie.-tioli. even should it be found I possible to do so under the present cirI eumstances. hut would also prevent any possibility of the Germans artemptI itig to turn the left flank of the Rus- ' sian forces, on which so much depends. • Although somewhat similar to the pre i sent form of attack by the Germans i in rhe western theatre of the war. it j has this great difference, that, now | Austria is practically disposed of, the i Russians must he in much greater j strength than the Germans all along 'their line, ami it is very improbable ! that the Gormans would he able to hold 1 the Russian centre in cheek as their ■own centre Ims been held in France, i Important news, therefore, may be ox- | peered shortly of a very powerful atI tack on th" right flank of the German : army which w ill ho much more effective ! than anv advance made through the ; centre. Should this advance prove me 1 cessful the tierman army may meet with VIXE OF THE GREATEST DEFEATS

’•which it has ever experii'nceil. a dvi’-at ‘ which will bring the termination of the 'iwar appreciably nearer. There seems but <me way in which the Dual Alliance ■ can save their position in the east, now ■ that Au.-.tri:i i~ defeated, and that is the wholesale withdrawal of German ] forces from FiT-nce. Should this bap- ; pen the piyition of the German forces iin Franc-’ voukl become excnediDgiy : dangerous, and. with the present _ temper <>f the Allies, disastrous. Wbatover progress Germany has made m the , we t. there can be only one- conclilMon. j GERMANY ABSOLVTELY FAILED ' to gauge the real strength or v. enkness of -Austria, and relied upon what is i proving a broken reed to hold bark : Bussia while she crushed the . French and British. The decisive Russian vic- ■ to-v may Imve opened her eyes, and i she will now sen l or ally in the deadly ' hug of the Russian Bear, while its ' mighty ami deadly embrace will make its.-It more and more felt.