EASTERN THEATRE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17199, 20 June 1916, Page 7

EASTERN THEATRE

CZERNOWITZ TAKEN.

ENEMY CLOSELY PRESSED

By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright.

PETROGRAD, June 18

A communique states that despite tho enemy's resistance, marked by many counter-attacks, all were successfully repulsed. Wo arc closely pressing the enemy in various direc'Sieral Leshitsky on Saturday afternoon carried by assault the Czernowitz Bridgehead, on tho left bank of the Pruth after a desperate fight in tho river fords, the enemy having blown up the bridges. Wo have occupied Czernowitz. STYR AND THE STRYPA. ENEMY COUNTER-ATTACKS FAIL. (Received June 19, 6.20 p.m.) PETROGRAD, June 19. A communique says:—We are pursuing the enemy retreating towards the Carpathians, We captured 1000 men at Czernowitz and captured some guns in tho town. We repulsed desperate counter-attacks on the Styr, including Germans brought from the French front. We repulsed a furious German attack at Svidniki, on tho north bank of the Stokhod'. A Cossack regiment bv a flanking charge captured many and sabred a great number. The rest are in disorderly flight. General Kaledine, between Juno 5 and 17, captured 1369 officers, 70,000 soldiers, 83 guns, 236 machine-guns and an enormous amount of war material. We checked an offensive on the right bank ot the Strypa, north of Buczacz.

GERMAN CLAIMS. AMSTERDAM, June 18. 4. German communique says:—General von Linsingen repulsed attacks on both sides of Kolki. We captured 3500 Russians in the sector between Kovel and Lutsk. Russian attacks northward of Przevloka collapsed with heavy losses, under curtain fire.

AUSTRIAN STATEMENT.

(Received June 19, 6.20 p.m.) AMSTERDAM, June 19. An Austrian communique states:— We evacuated Czernowitz in the face of a superior enemy. Our artillery foiled Russian attacks west of Wisniowchvk, on the Strypa. Tt e gamed ground at several points m Volbynia.

FIGHTING IN CZERNOWITZ

FOUR DAYS' BATTLE

A GERMAN ACCOUNT,

AMSTERDAM, June 18

The "Berliner Tageblatt" gives a graphic description ot the situation on Juno 14 after four days of hot battle around Czernowitz. The withdrawal ot tho Central Powers on the Dniester and Pruth front entailed the temporal':, evacuation of positions north-westward of Czernowitz. The troops thence proceeded to the Pruth valley. A police proclamation, resembling the motif of a thrilling tragedy, warned the population on Whit Sunday that Czernowitz would be under fire that day. Then the flieht began. Heartrending panic seized Christian, Jew, German, Rumanian."Pole and Lutheran, all believing that it was necessary to leave their beloved town, and wanderine; throur/h the streets already echoing to the thunder of the guns. The shells landed mostly in the lower quarters and the vicinitv of the railway station. Occasionally a shell hit an inhabited house. Our artillery re-

on all day long. There was a similar spectacle on Whit Monday. Incendiary shells struck small farms and the station buildings, which were severely damaged, and a timber yard was set ablaze.

Tho Russians made a night surprise attack on the north eastern end of tho town, and the intensity of tho bombardment, opening at midnight, made us shudder. The flashes of the shells on the horizon were like a thunderstorm. The defenders of the trenches began an annihilating fire against storming columns, whoso losses were heavy, and the Russians were unable to cross the Pruth. Our guns on Tuesday caused terrible destruction among their moving columns. The attack on the bridgehead was repeatedly renewed until June 14, and like a thousand craters, vomiting fire from the town our guns replied. With tho same intensity the Russians later advanced and sixteon waves were mown down, the stormors being forced back beyond Sadagora.

BRUSSILOFF'S THRUST.

EFFECT ON STRATEGIC SITUATION. "Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services. (Received June 19, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, June 18. Intenso fighting on all fronts, unparalleled sinco the earliest months of the war, still marks the situation. The German tactics aro obviously intended to keep the Allies busy in the hope of preventing general offensives. The Russians' substantial progress has already relieved the Italians, who, on 'the whole, are securely situated on a strong defensive line and are successfully counter-attacking. Fears of an Austrian entry into the Venetian plain are dissipated. The momentum of tho Russian advance is undiminished, although M. Marcel Hutiu, who is specially well informed on Russian matters, suggests in the "Echo do Paris" that Russia's objectivo is not a strategic success but tho reduction of the enemy's effectives, which is being achieved. The strategic situation remains intensely interesting. It is known that the Austrians are attempting to effect a junction with Generals von Linsingen and von Bothmer, who, with large German reinforcements, are hoping to stop the Russians north of Baranovitse. French military ■ writers emphasise the point that the plan in connection with the Russian offensive requires the Allies to come to grips with the enemy in all theatres, preventing the transfer of forces to vital zones.