NOTES ON THE CABLES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17067, 27 July 1917, Page 6

NOTES ON THE CABLES.

RUSSIA'S TROUBLES.

Bμ Sheapnki.. THE GALICIAN DEBACLE. Each succeeding day brings further details of the great Russian disaster in Galicia and the tone of the advk-ea from various sources, official and otherwiso, suggests that there are worse reports to come. The rosults of the Eleventh Army's insubordination apparently affected tho position and safety of tho Seventh and Eighth Armies. All the guns of the Eleventh Army havo been lost, and it is questionable whether those of tho Seventh and Eighth Armies can be saved, and indeed, whether the Eighth Army can bo extricated from the pocket which tho enemy is forming round it. Of course there is a chance that tho Eighth Army, if surrounded, may cat ita way through the enveloping wing of tho enemy, but in tho face of artillery and machine guns, that sort of action involves very serious losses. Tho only hopo is that loyal forces may engage tho Gorman right, which ia working down from Tarnopol, and that tho Eighth Army may foroo its way through the Austrian forces in the wooded Carpathians, but in that case it will be really marching across the enemy's front, and tho records in tho history of wars contain few descriptions of the success of such a manoeuvre. General von Kluok, when held up near Paris, tried the manoeuvre and met with a disastrous defeat. It is regrettable to have to say that there seems little chance of the Eighth Russian Array being extricated unless tho Rumanians go to its assistance. .On the other hand it is difficult to seo how the Germans can havo very large forces operating north of the Dniester. Their successes in recovering territory and towns have been great, but they are not du<s to their own strength and their all-conquering ability so much as to the deep-seated treachery which permeated the Eleventh Russian Army, and there is a remote chance, therefore, thai by a skilful stroke with the loyal remnants and a few divisions of Cossacks, the Russian commander may stay the rapid progress of the enemy, who may yet overrun the constable in his haste. •

Disasters ore often a blessing in disguise. This statement may be more applicable to the condition of Russian political affairs ' than is usual in such cases. There is nothing like tragedy and suffering to effect purification and to clear away intellectual confusion and moral obliquity. The hand '-_ of Providence may yet appear to bo taking the present means of bringing the Russian people to a nense of danger in order to create a spirit of patriotism that will give national unity to tho various bodies at present so we-akly and ineffectually controlling their country. The Baltic Fleet has como round to tho le support of tho Provisional Government, g_ Petrograd has become alarmed and inle dignant. It is to be hoped it has also be,j come rational. Distant provinces have sent k- in declarations of loyalty to the Government re and advico to resort to stronger measures, s- and the restoration of tho death penalty for id treason, insubordination, and mutiny has ;h been approved of. Gradually the hand of a- M. Kerensky, General Brusiloff, and Genera! l " Korniloff are being srengthened. , It is not so long ago since British regi- ' ments guilty of laxity and insubordination were exiled for a number of years to the West or East Indies, and the treatment was found to be very effective. Lenin, tho anarchist, who returned to Russia after the revolution, k being hunted by loyalists soldiers and has apparently become very 1_ frightened. It is only by unremittingly enorgetio action thai the' Russian executive authority can save the State. GERMANTPS FUTILE PROPAGANDA A Copenhagen paper, the National ...idende, :s publishes a letter from its Berlin correspondent which indicates that no German offensive, presumably on- tho west front, is ;s expected by the Germans themselves, but suggests that Germany regards herself as 3, in a position to make peace irrespective of the determination of tho Allies, and that she is strong enough to avoid defeat The J > German authorities would prefer peace now, j_ fcho correspondent says, and are convinced that Germany will not obtain better terms j_ six months henoe. - ' This opinion is instructive' in its tedl1. tale character, and is more than a confession that Germany's great original war aims is have been defeated, for it implies that Germany recognises that she badly requires s a settlement within six or • seven months, and that after that period she will be much • less able to stand the attacks of the Allies. Wiiilo the Germans believe that Germany is f unable to obtain victory and dictate terms, ' they feel that she cannot be defeated.' Every time a German soldier falls Gers many is being defeated, owing to the fact that, while her strength is running away s in blood and treasure, the Allies aro maintaining their streagth, and when America • lands a. million men in Europe it will begin to preponderate immensely in men and in material of all kinds. The German military bureaucrats must needs, therefore, take anxious counsel among themselves in regard to the future. As far as Middle Europe and tho domination of Turkey, Bulgaria, and the routo to Ba.gdad are oonocrned, Germany is now the conqueror of Russia, Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania, and appears to bo in the master position territorially to ( obtain terms. In reality, however, she is . standing on the edge of a precipice Sho f must realise that British, French, and American artillery will in itself smother her trench defences and destroy her armies piecemeal. To the work of the Allied artillery will be added that of tens of thousands of aeroplanes, which will attack enemy for- , mations and communications, concentration ( camps, batteries, and munition dumps, thereby rendering trench defence useless or inoperative as a military expedient. From what has already, been accomplished by French and British airmen, there seem to be good_ grounds for believing that superiority in air and aeroplane operations is going • to be a prominei' element ii winning the war, and it is extremely probable that fcho German Staff recognises that, if the war lasts another year, the defeat of Germany by that means ia inevitable. Germans affect to believe that their country cannot be defeated when actually they fear sho wxlL THE MACEDONIAN FRONT. General Sarrail'e forces .at Salonika and in Macedonia have been strangely inert for a long time. The reason for inactivity now no longer exist , ?, since Constantino and his pro-German clique navo been eliminated ' from practical politics in Greece, Discussiona and comments on the situation are beginning to appear in the press ol the ' Allied countries, and apparently tho time 1 for some action on tho part of General I Sarrail is drawing near. Danger to his rear and his has now been ro- < moved. If he has the forces which it is < believed he has, he should, from a point < of viow of high strategy, bo making a move Many Bulgarians aro with the Austrians < defending the Rumanian front along thu ' Danubo and the Sereth. If General Sarrail ' a heavy offonsivo he would relievo 1 the pressure against the Rumanian armies, ' and, ae they have already taken tho offen- I sivo and obtained a fair measure of sue- c cess, they would, if tho pressure woro taken i off their front, bo ablo to do more and re- f lievo tho Russian front. It should now bo an easy matter to get I supplies to General Sarrail. The Gulf of x Corinth could be used and rappbes put I upon tho Greek railways and taken close S cp to the Macedonian front and to a port * on the Gulf of Salonika. From France n and Italy guns and munitions wuld t be railed to BrindSei, transhipped, 1 and in two days unloaded in the n Gulf of Corinth if speed is a necessary 6 factor for that purpose. If tho western T Allies do not intend to strike a heavy blow s this year, men can be spared from tho west front. Italy can also spare men, and should P do so, for it would bo wiser strategy for * Italy to .attack Austria through Albania, h Montenegro, and Serbia than to use tip her h strength on the Trentino and Carso front, n To gam Italy's ends Austria must be do- ci fcated, and it dr-es not ranch matter for s l those ends whether she is defeated on tho " Itali~n front or in Serbia, or on the Rosso- v Rumanian f-onte. Italy has a small chance of swiftly defeating Auslria where she is fiffhoiivj, unless Russia can be kept in the struggle littlo help Russia Li j a her trouble and nowhere can mttch bo done I except on th> Sakrrjkan front. ?■ Jutf now tho Macedonian is tiuit t fr> wiacCx o±bw*sae ahoald be As h

M. Jounart, who effected Constantino's downfall, says: "Wβ must not neglect this theatre of war." Hβ might e have added that, strai*)gicaHy, that front is more important, trad immediate attention ehould be given to it