WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16338, 19 September 1916, Page 8

WAR NEWS BY MAIL.

RUSSIANS' VICTORIES. VON BOTHMER'S RETREAT. HALF THE ARMY SACRIFICED OUTFLANKED OX BOTH WINGS The crushing victory which the Russians won early in August against the German general, von Bothraer, coftunanding what was previously the Austrian centre in Galicia, was described by a London newspaper as the finest military triumph which any army of the allies lias yet achieved in open battle during the war. General von Bothmer's withdrawal was from a deep salient curving from the! region north-west of Tamopol down to the | Dniester at a point west of Buczaez. The I chord of this arc measured roughly 35 miles, and the entire front, the eastern; edge of which ran for a considerable dis- j tance along the River Strypa, was about 60 miles long. Ever since the Russian | offensive began—on June 4—von Bothmer had made an obstinate stand. His was, indeed, the only enemy army in Galicia! that did not yield ground. In this j obstinacy can be found his undoing, fori the tide of battle swept past on both his j northern and southern wings, with the { result that every day the Russian advance, saw him more and more dangerously outflanked. _, Then came the fall of Brody, on Both-1 mer's northern wing. The capture of, Stanislau, the strategic railway junction ■ on his southern Hank, followed, and the, plight of the enemy centre changed from j bad to worse. ; The position then was that the German j general had only one really useful means! of escape from his predicament. This was j the Tarnopol-Lemberg railway, but the i gap through which it passed westward was j ominously narrowing. It became necessary to withdraw at once from the strongly fortified winter boastfully described as impregnable." A Long-stayed Blow. General Stcherbachcff, whose policy during the past few weeks-apart from the exerciso of constant pressure against his enemy-had been one of watching and wait-, ing, acted without hesitation. The force , of his long-stayed blow was terrific. Many villages north-west and west of larnopol were seized, the whole of the Strypa line was occupied, while the Russians, pursuing | the routed cnemv, advanced rapidly on the important Dniester bridgehead at Halicz, and, further north, on the railhead at Podhaice, whence a line runs to That Bothmer's Germans and Austrians suffered a debacle was evident from the enormous haul of prisoners and guns. Bothmer's army probably numbered between 120,000 and 150,000 men, largely Germans. Over half of these were made prisoners. , The Petrograd correspondent oi the London Daily Chronicle gives the- following account of tho operations which led to Bothmer's retreat:— When the Russians commenced the great advanco at the beginning of June they drove two wedges into the enemy's frontone west of Lutsk, the other in Bukovina. The latter (southern) wedge was gradually driven in along the Carpathians, and the northern wedge also allowed the area of Russian attack to be extended— wards to Eastern Galicia, the scene of hard fighting on the River Sereth.

Driving a Fresh Wedge. The Dniester floods caused a temporary stoppage of the active offensive operations in Southern Galicia. No sooner had the floods subsided and the earth dried than General Letchitsky struck hard up the Dniester Valley, while on the Sereth General Sakharoff increased tho pressure and kept extending the area of operations further south. By the capture of Tysmienica and Stanfslau General Letchitsky drove a fresh wedge into tho enemy's line, forcing the main body to retreat north on Halicz, while another section was driven into tho Carpathians- This success on the Russian left wing led to the capture of Nadvorna, which gave the Russians full control of the railway line DrlatynStanislau: and thus both secured the Russian flank and gave a possibility _ of developing an attack wherever it might be considered most suitable. The Russians kept extending tho front of their advance, and a fresh blow was struck north of the Dniester, on the River Koropiec. This river formed the Austrian line of defence from the Dniester to Monastervsk, where the enemy lino slanted north-east to the Strypa. Tho Russian blow on tho Lower Koropiec was completely successful, and Generals Letchitsky and Stcherbacheff now advanced along both banks of the Dniester towards Halicz. Thus Nadvorna was taken on the left, Stanislau in tho centre, Monasterysk on the right. Advancing from Stanislau, General Letchitsky crossed the two Bystritza Rivers, the last natural obstacles on the right bank of the Dniester, on the way to 'Halicz, from which he wasjiow divided I by. only 10 miles.

Northern Rivers Also Taken. On the northern bank of the Dniester progress was equally rapid. After forcing tho Koropiec, the Russians pushed west to the next left-bank tributary of the Dniester, the Zlota-Lipa. and crossed this near its confluence with the parent I river. A further advance has brought them to the River Horozanka, also a leftbank tributary of the Dniester, and, like ! the Koropiec and Zlota-Lipa, running I from north to south. This advance on ' the Koropiec involved the capture of ! Monasterysk, which was taken after heavy fighting by a cpmbined attack from north and south. Thus tho result of General Lelchitsky's movement was a threat to Halicz and a like threat to the flank of Bothmer's troops to the north and northeast of Monasterysk. Meanwhile, on Bothmer's other flank, BOuth of Brody, General Rakharoff gained success after success, and, advancing on the west bank of the Sereth, captured over 13,000 prisoners in the course of the I week. The direction of his advance was ' south-west, . and the enemy positions on j the Gliadki-Vorobieyka-Zborof line were completely outflanked. There was no course open to Bothmer save retreat. His natural lines of defence J would have been the Zlota-Lipa, and then |the line Pomorzhany-Brzezany-Halicz, i.e., a line from a point 30 miles west of TarI nopal, southward to the Dniester. But i the Russians had forced the Zlota-Lipa i near its confluence, and were threatening ! Halicz, and were hard on the enemy's ! flanks north of Monastcrysk. This posi , tion left the probability that the enemy's ' new line of defence would also prove i untenable, and that he must retreat still ! further in the direction of Lemberg.