BROKEN SOVIET ARMIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17593, 5 October 1920, Page 5

BROKEN SOVIET ARMIES.

DEFEAT ON TWO FRONTS. POLISH ADVANCE UNCHECKED PROGRESS BY WRANGEL. By Telegraph— Association Copyrigh t.«(Received 12.5 a.m.) A. and N.Z.—Bsuter. PARIS. Oct. 4. The Poles claim to have captured 42,000 Bolshevik troops and 150 guns during the past week, dispersing twenty "Red" divisions. ' J General Wrangel, the -Bolshevik leader in South Russia-, in a communique states: —" We completely destroyed several Bolshevik divisions in the region of Alesandrovisk. We surrounded "Red" forces in the neighbourhood of Vethoyetzk and Crishoikos, capturing 10,000 prisoners and an enormous amount of war material."

A Polish communique states:".We are continuing the pursuit of the Bolsheviks beaten at Lida.. The Second Polish Army has taken 30,000 prisoners and 100. guns. All action is suspended in the region of Suwalki as a result of an agreement reached with Lithuania."

A writer in the London Morning Post-, reviewing General Wrangel's campaign in August-, stated that it was the passionate revolt of the peasants in South Russia against the communistic system _ imposed by the Soviet Government which had made General Wrangel's movement so formidable. " He has known," said! the writer, referring to General Wrangel, "as none of his predecessors have known, how to' attach the mass of the people to him by satisfying their dearest wish—which is to possess a recognised indefeasible title to their lands. In the past this aspiration has been resisted by academic liberals ■sad revolutionaries because H was held to lead inevitably to the pauperisation of the small holder and the gradual absorption of the land into the hands of a wealthy landlord class. But the successful establishment of the co-operative movement in Russia now averts that danger, by placing at the service of the small cultivator all the resources for transport and marketing cf the large capitalist. It leaves the peasant-owner free as an individual, and socialises only the operations that are beyond his capacity. " The conditions which General Wrangel is setting up are the feme foundation for the new national Russian State: for the bitter experience of the last few years has proved that without property there can be .-to nationalism. And with this charter of freedom and proprietorship of the land for the peasants, General Wrangel is combining another consolidating policy establishment of a federation of free states, which at once satisfies local interest and aspiration, and enables the reformation of a great and united Russia. Thus it' is that he finds himself whole-heartedly supported both by the Ukrainians—who have hitherto resisted both the Bolsheviks and the Poles—and by the Don Cossacks. "It may be said, indeed, that General Wrangel has solved problems which neither Bolshevik nor anti-Bolshevik in Russia has hitherto been able to solve. He has even been able to enlist and to tame to service the elusive Makhno—that incalculable Ukrainian- irregular, half liberator, half bandit, who has hitherto vexed the plans of every attempt to settle Tith the Ukraine. Accompanied only by two attendants, General ; Wrangel paid a visit to Makhno at his headquarters, and in a straight talk obtained not only his adherence but his obedience.

" The success of General Wrangel's movement is vastly important, not only for Russia but for Europe, because the area which he is delivering from the Bolsheviks, r*ith>its population of 50,000,000, is the great grain-producing area of Russia, and contains also the rich deposits of coal and iron on, which the industrial development of Russia depends. As long as the Black Sea is open, Southern Russia can be not only self-supporting bet prosperous. If 't'io Bolsheviks ones obtained control of the Black —as they are aiming to do— it is more than General Wrangel and his cause that would suffer a mortal blow."

INTERNAL DISORDERS. COMMISSARIES MASSACRED. Renter. PARTS, Oct. 3. The French Foreign Office attributes the greatest importance to the reported disorders in Russia, Semi-official advices indicate that the Soviet Government is exposed to the most serious danger yet experienced. General Brusiloff, for the Soviet Government, is calling on former Tsarist officers to rally to the "Red" army. Massacres of commissaries attached! to One armies are occurring daily. Two hundred took refuge in Germany, including the notorious hangman Peters. Meanwhile General Wrangel is gaining fresh successes owing to his policy of winning the confidence of the peasants by granting title deeds to the fend. The Ukrainian peasant leader Makhno, who has thrown in his lot with General Wrangel, announces the capture of Marofa, m the I>onetz Valley, and the annihilation of a " Red " division.