Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1916. THE EASTERN FRONT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14049, 20 July 1916, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1916. THE EASTERN FRONT.

There is good news from tjie . Eastern, front; to-day. The enemy is' reported to have-begun a -general- retreat beiore the victorious Russian armies. If these reports are confirmed by later:.. in formation, we may expect to see quick developments. The Russian hosts are well, prepared to deal with a retreating enemy, and the country lends itself to cavalry work such as. the Cossacks in Bukbwina found so effective in rounding up the demoral ised Austrians. Whilst pur attention, has been focussed during the past fortnight Upon the Anglo-French operations in the Western theatre and the absence for, some days of news, from the Russian side may have suggested that our Northern; Allies were resting their offensive, the probability is that the Russian armies have not .been inactive but gathering for ' the fresh outburst now- reoorded which is to drive the enemy back off a further .considerable extent of .Russian' soil. W e should not lose sight. of the fact that the operations of Wve. Allies are Co-ordinate, and that the blows rained upon the enemy on 6ne side of Europe reflect themselves upon his vulnerability in the other. Hitherto the Germans, when assailed on one front haye been able to rapidly transport troops from another quarter and' so reinforce the armies assailed, but there is reason to believe that the enemy's reserves have been so trenched upon that his mobility in this respect is very considerably curtailed. Tlie pressure imposed by the French and British armies on the Western front has prevented reinforcements being sent to Hindenburg, Avhose position, as recorded to-day, is purely a defensive one. Yet Germany's strong hope a few months back was that he would be able this summer to break Russia. Failure to • do, this spells, defeat, for it is freely admitted that by next year Russia's fighting strength will have assumed such tremendous as to be overwhelming. English military critics predicted that Germany would attempt to smash Russia by the end of June, and that failure to, /make .an offensive would conclusively demonstrate the shortage of German resells and the inability to withstand the Crushing pressure of the Allies. It iV incontestable that Germany must break Russia or be broken, and thero is now not much reason to doubt which party is going to submit to this calamity. The AustroGerman debacle in Bukbwina and Volyhania has been fairly f complete, and interest now chiefly, centre? . upon the operations further north .Tlie bulk of Russia's northern ' offensive -ia being undertaken by General Everts" group of 'armies, .fighting; from the Pripet to a little past Lake Narocz. Everts' troops, according to a cablegram of a few days ago, are said to be animated by an intention to .driye the foe beyond the Niemen. If Brusiloff and Everts ate able to deliver so tremendous a blow that the whole of the Austro-German armies are forced to fall back for a considerable distance, their next line of defence may run from Riga due south to Koyno, aiid thence in ' , front of . the Grodno-Bialystock-Brest Litpysk -railway dowri to Gliolm, whilst south of Choliri tho lines -may go anywhere into or beyond the Carpathians. Russia has already accomplished wonders. Eight months ago she was in such straits foi* want, not only of . guns and munitions but even of arms and equipment for her infantry that almost anything seemed possible. Her losses had been so great in the retreat that she had not enough trained men let .alone officers, to fill, the daily , increasing gaps in her ranks! And her armies, though they still. kept in touch and resisted a succession, of tnost .determined attempts .to envelop different sections of the -continuallyretiring line, had been pushed baok so far that the possibilities of the Germans reaching Moscow ami Petrograd were seriously discussed. Yet a l few weeks later the armies, had pulled themselves together and in November last scored a series of successes which proved that Russia was by no means in defeat. Since theii she has grown so enormously in strength that her operations against . the enemy have proyed irresistible. When it is remembered, says the Sydney Daily Telegraph, that apart from a lPng length of European front Russia, is also attacking on . a series of fronts in Asia,, the,, colossal size of the effort; ;;,she is making; wilL be. realised. Leaying' out. of .account Persia, inwhich. theife is no: Russian front, though Russian -forces i

have defeated rebel parties and occupied a number of towns, the Grand Duke seems to be pushing forward along a great curve that- stretches, from west of Trebizond down past Erzerum, well below Lake Van, and on into Northern Persia. If this curve were continuous it would represent a front nearly - as -long as Russia's front in. Europe. Probably it is not continuous, but it may fairly be assumed that Russia is attacking altogether, on some 1500 miles of front ! Britain's front in France is -90 miles l . Of course there is no basis at air for a comparison. Still the fact remains, and it is a notable fact, that Russia is . finding the men and, with the help of British credit atid Japanese and American factories, the munitions to harry and bayonet and blow to pieces Turks and Germans and Austrian's" along an area five or six times as great as the Western front, and more than fifteen times: as great as that which is. held by Britain. The Russian pressure is going : to be a strong factor, in helping our armies in France and Flanders to win through, and the co-ordinate operations of all the Allies, growing greater week -by week, are now thoroughly testing the strength of the enemy's, defences in such a manner that before very long we 'shall be- able to determine the limits of ■ Austro-German ' resistance.