The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1916. RUSSIA’S EFFORT.

Southland Times, Issue 17789, 19 July 1916, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1916. RUSSIA’S EFFORT.

It is not difficult to understand the uneasiness that prevails in the, Hungarian capital and has led to wholesale change in high army commands. The extension of the Russian offensive to the northern section of the line and the effort of the Anglo-French on the west render it an impossibility for the Dual Monarchy to be again succoured by Germany. - The German Staff has ample trouble of its own at present, and Austria will have to rely entirely on her own resources. The Russians have already seriously injured the fighting strength of AustriaHungary. Pflanzer’s army has been broken and Von Bothmer's forces have been defeated, and it is safe to reckon that it would take half a million men to make good the losses in Galicia. Austria’s reserves are depleted, no help can be expected from Germany, and Bulgaria cannot come to her aid so long as the Allies are in strength at Salonika. The strategic position is now such that part of the Central Empires is in jeopardy, and has been isolated from assistance. The Russians are meeting with strenuous resistance on the Styr and the Stockhod, and have answered the German concentration by attacking further north, sc that the pressure is now being exerted along the whole line from the Gulf of Riga to the Roumanian border. General Brussiloff's advance on Kovel should therefore he resumed as soon as the Germans find it necessary to reinforce other points of the line, leading to a reduction in the number ol men who were rushed together to save Kovel, and to prevent the armies cf Germany and Austria from being cut off from each other. In the extreme south General Lechitsky's Cossacks have seized Delatyn Junction, 20 miles from the summit of the Jablonitza Pass, and have also reached Kimpolung, about 25 miles from the Rodna Pass. The Austrian right flank is thus being rolled back, and the lines of communication are threatened. The Austrian armies in Galicia arc

supplied by five principal railway* which cross the Carpathians at the Jublonitza Pass, Vereczke Pass, L'szok Pass, Lupkof Pass, and the, Tilicz Pass. The line which traverses the Jablonitza is now cut by the Russian occupation of Delatyn, and portion of the forces endeavouring to stem the invasion of Hungary is already placed at a serious disadvantage. It is, of course, useless to guess at the objective of General Brussiloffs operations in Galicia, but the opinion is frequently advanced by the military experts that Buda Pesth is aimed at. If the Russians break through the barrier of the Carpathians at the Rodna and JabJonitza Passes they should make a rapid advance on the capital, and all the lines of communication supplying the Austrian armies east of the Carpathians would be cut. This is the position that faces the Austrians, and it is sufficiently disturbing to account for the uneasy internal condition of the country of which there have been many recent reports. The progress of the Russians in this theatre has led to a recrudescence of interventionist agitation in Roumania, but assistance from that quarter has become a subject scarcely worth speculating about. The Austrians, unaided, cannot long hold the Russians in check, and so long as the pressure on Germany .is maintained with sufficient vigour to prevent the sending of reinforcements, the present fighting should develop in the direction of an important Russian success that should seriously cripple Austria’s waning power.