THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 28 May 1915, Page 5

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.

DESPERATE FIGHTING ON THE .SAN, -.-

HURRICANE OF ARTILLERY FIRE.

RUSSIAN DEFENCE UNBROKEN

RECENT OPERATIONS DESCRIBED

A TREMENDOUS GERMAN

THRUST.

HUGE CONCENTRATION OF

ARTILLERY.

RUSSIANS RETIRE WITHOUT

DEMORALISATION

PETROGRAD, May 27. Official.—The desperate battle on the banks of the San continues. The enemy is still bringing up important forces, and developed a perfect hurricane of artillery between Przemysl and the Dneister marshes. All the attacks were repulsed.

After forty-eight hours' recuperation, the Germans renewed the onslaught on Opatow in an endeavor to drive back the Russian right. The Russians repulsed the attacks with heavy losses, following up the success with a series of counter-attacks. In the meantime the Russians hold both banks of the San between Jaroslav and Przemysl threatening the flanks. The battering ram of German attacks south-east of Przemysl has not yet broken the Russian defence after weeks of fighting.

LONDON, May 27. The military correspondent of the Times says the thirty-four Austro-Ger-man army corps on the offensive between the Poland and Bukovina wings have been checked, but offer a danger in the centre, where the Germans claim to have penetrated seven miles east of fi.j San at an estimated cost of 50 per cent, of their strength, and are now f-ghting for space to deploy on the right bank. Perhaps ah even more critical attack .is developing between Przemysl and the Dneister marshes, where seventeen Austro-German army corps are engaged.

The Times' correspondent at Ivangorod, after a 190 miles motor ride in the rear of the Russian line, states that the Russians are optimistic regarding the present position. * When the Russians learned the German movement, they strengthened the reserve line, hoping to hold the Dunajec, but were prepared to retire if necessary. The German attack at the Dunajec was unparalleled. Batteries were massed in tiers, first field-guns, then howitzers, then the heaviest mobile guns, and 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 reserves, which reached the San. The retreat was comparable to that of the British at Mons. The Russians obeyed the order to retire with great reluctance.

In one place the Russian corps attacked with such fury that they practically destroyed the forty-sixth Landsturm and mauled two supporting divisions, taking prisoners six thousand. Many Russians expect a sudden cessation of the Galician attack and a fresh German concentration against Bzura or Warsaw. If the Germans continue to support the Austrians in Galicia, the Russians are likely to alter their objective and attack Silesia.