STOUT RUSSIAN DEFENCE OF DVINSK LINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16035, 29 September 1915, Page 7

STOUT RUSSIAN DEFENCE OF DVINSK LINE.

RESISTANCE ENDANGERS GERMANS FURTHER SOUTH. —— — *•; ft - 1 : '■' * s 'u:\k\\\ SEVENTY MILES GAINED IN THE KOVEL REGION. «T'* ' -.V". •' * ?• ' V «W : [f^r ■ ".' •*• '%'i i % ''J ■' 7 ■ ' HURRICANE FIRE DEVELOPED AT NOVO ALEXANDROVSK. • " *?•' *v:V"

Time* *nd Sydney Sua. Stnioii. ' * (Beceirad September 28, 7.30 p.m.) "■" ; liOSDOK, September .27. 4 The Petrograd correspondent of the London Times says that the increasing intensity of the German efforts near Dvinsk indicates the importance the enemy attaches to the capture of this city, also the general Dvina line. The ability of the Russians to develop a'hurricane fire at Novo Alexandrovsk, 114 miles north-east of Kovno, and southwest of Dvinsk was gratifying proof that the defenders of Dvinsk are well equipped 'with ammunition. The presence of Germans in the region of Vileika, east of Yilna, points to the strength of their thrust from Sventisiany (in the north) across the Russian lines of retreat. Consequently, the expulsion of the enemy from there was all the more ' important. " V ■

The Russian territorial gains in the Kovel region since early in September, are estimated at seventy, miles. The general- offensive in Volhynia and the Galician' theatre has effectively countered yon Mackensen's advance. "'V-

GERMANS SAY CAPTURE OF CITY IS ESSENTIAL. * . 4t TENS OF THOUSANDS OF INVADERS .IN DANGER. Paris, September *7. A French official message states that recent orders addressed to Germans operating against Dvinsk stated: " Tens of thousands of your comrades who courageously pierced the Russian front at Sventsianv and are moving eastward, are endangered while Dvinsk remains Russian. It is absolutely necessary to take the town." The message adds that these wishes do not seem likely to be realised. Dvinsk is an important fortress north and east of Vilna., on the Dvina River. It consists of four separate parts—the fortress on a meadow on the right bank of the Dvina, two suburbs, and the town of Griva, on the glacis of the fortress. It is the principal strategic position for the defence of the river. Vileika, 68 miles south-east of Vilna, was recently the scene of a Russian victorv. It is 12 miles from the Vilna-Minsk railway. Sventsiany, mentioned as the base of the German thrust across the Russian lines of retreat, is north of both Vilna and Vileika.

Kovel is 117 miles south-east of Brest-Litovsk, and lies to the north-west of the Volhynian triangle of fortresses (Luck, Rovno, and Dnbno), where the Russians recently repulsed fierce enemy attacks.