The Sun FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1914. THE BEAR STRIKES AGAIN.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 252, 27 November 1914, Page 6

The Sun FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1914. THE BEAR STRIKES AGAIN.

The great Bear reaches forward steadily through Poland, lumbering relentlessly toward the German frontier. The Teuton army that stood in his way and gave battle at Lodz has been shattered and broken, and, as Petrograd reports and confirms, the enemy is falling back on his lines of defence in something approaching a pell-mell retreat. Both sides were attempting flanking movements. The German com-] riiariders aimed &t splitting' the Russian forces in twain, and rolling up the flanks. The Grand Duke Nicholas was I possessed of* a similar idea. The eontest resolved itself into a question of v speed and, strength, and, unless the correspondents and the official news bureau in petrograd are all wrong, the Russian Commander-in-Chief has got in first and lasted the better, with the result that the Crown Prince is once again playing the role of a discredited leader. A Petrograd official message to Rome reports that the Crown Prince's army is fleeing post-haste iil utter and complete rout, abandoning guns and munitions of Avar. If this be not an exaggeration on the part of Petrograd, the German armies in Poland, between the Warta and the Vistula, have been rolled lip in sad confusion. Though hampered in their plans of campaign by a lack of strategic railways, the Russian legions have .done, a tremendous work in this quarter. The task of feeding the enormous number of men under the command of the Grand Duke Nicholas is a prodigious one itself, but to push these millions across Mhe wintry wastes of Poland in the face of stern • opposition and hurl them against such a powerful enemy as confronted them, is an exploit that will redound to the credit of the Russian [General Staff for all time. The shock of battle in the Lodz department must have been terrific, in force and savage in its intensify. It is too 1 early to assume that the great contest in Poland has resulted in a conclusive victory I for the Russians. If the retreat of the | Teuton is as hasty arid confused as we [arc led to believe, it might possibly | develop into a genuinely decisive battle. But it has to be remembered ! that the Austro-German forces between |the Russian front and the enemy's lines of defence number close on two million men, and it would be a strange thing if the German Staff in the east had not provided stoutly entrenched /linos in case, retirement was necessary. Russia is doing well. She is lighting redoubtable foes, over a line extending fiom the Baltic to, Asiatic Turkey, and so far has succeeded;, in".-overcoming all resistance,. the ghastly episode at Osterode excepted. Her latest victory tends to intensify the desperate condition of the enemy's cause, and General Hindcnburg will be hard put to recover himself. The Crown Prince scarcely counts in these days.