IN THE EAST

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1915, Page 5

IN THE EAST

RETREAT FROM WARSAW. HUGE ENVELOPING MOVEMENT. •limes and Sydney Sun Services. Received 7, 1i.45 p.m. , London, August (j. A tie Daily Mail s Petrograd correspondeut says that the German plan was to force the Russians to fight: tailing that, to surround them. Hindcuurg a hope was to drive 11 it* N'arow army southwards so that the troops south and northwards could catch the Russians 'by joining the German-Aus-trian armies eastward of them. That plan ma/ now be said to have failed, but German strategy has another huge enveloping movement proceeding, which is planned to envelope the new line further eastward.

The correspondent says:—Bv occupying Riga the Germans would place themselves in a favorable position for working south along the Dwina, and at the same time the other half of the pincers would begin to enclose the Russians from the south.

NEAR THE VISTULA. , DESPERATE FIGHTING, Received 8, 3 p.m. Petrograd, August 7. It is anticipated that the Russians will defend Novo Georgievsk to the last. Official: 'We victoriously repulsed the Germans between the Divina and the Niomen Theje was, desperate fighting on AA ouncsday night- and Thursday on the left 'bank of the Narew, on the JV.mni-Astrolenka-Ostitow roads. Our counter-attacks held up the enemy on an extended front, and violent lighting continues. All has keen quiet in the middle of the Vistula district since our crossing. AA'e evacuated AA'arsaw to save bombardment. The enemy's fruitless attempts to extend the occupation of the zone continue only in the Macievitze region. After stubborn battles east of the Tranniki-Vlodava road the enemy concentrated the lire of his massed artillery and we retired a little northwards.

I THE GERMAN MOVE. WORKING DOWN FROM SC-UTH. Received S, 3.43 p.m. Petrograd, August 7. Although Russia hopes that the German attempt to squeeze the Russians ■between the Forres advancing on the Xarew anil the Cholm-Lublin front has definitely failed, German stratecc has a imich more ambitious scheme of the same kind in view. This is a planned advance in the event of the Russians ..reaching the Niedenburg line The Germans, by occupying Riga, would be favorably placed for working down the Dwina, and taking the new Russian position bv a rear movement. This will require an enormous number of troops, ■manoeuvring over vast aro.i. and is liable to many mishaps, but the best military opinion in Petrograd refuses .to regard the daneer lightly. Much depend; on the fighting on the extreme German left.

The German l * are employing 250,000 between Kovno and the Dwina. Tf they break through 'there, before the Russians elear the Narew-Viitnla-Ru? area, a different situation will arise.

HEROIC RUSSIAN ARMY. THEIR SIMPLE FAITH. Received August S, G. 30 p.m. London, August 7. Mr. E. Partes, M.P., who has returned to London from the front, considers the Germans absolutely inferior in morale and strategy. He was deeply impressed with the Russian soldiers' courage, J'aith, and endurance, and says •Russia is at lier splendid best in this war. Though Mr. Parkes went anywhere he like;!, on the Russian front lie saw nothing bestial or brutal. The Russians foil;, r ht almost too humanely, and their kindness to prisoners wore down the German Miliums*. Tile men are extraordinary gentle and unselfish to each other. They show wonderful courage and passionate devotion to their officers. The German troops are brutal and arrogant, and often drunk, but there was probably not a single case ol drunkenness in the whole Russian line. POLES A BUFFER. MORE GERMAN BLAGUE. Received 7, j.'i p.m. Amsterdam, August 0. The. Tyd's Colo gnu correspondent states that the Aii-tro-Germans wiil make an announcement, synchronising with a meeting of the Reichstag, creating an independent Poland, whereby the Germans expect to secure the sympathies of the Pokvs, ami nia.k<- Poland a buffer Slate. No King will be appointed at present, but there will lie a Polish Governor, with a Cotuvil wherein Germans, Austrians, ami Poles sit.

MA.NTFACITUE 01' iMI'NITIONV. Received August S, 4.15 p.m. retro;;rad, August 7. Though constitutional democrats demand a new munitions ministry, 011 the lines of the Fngli.-h one, the Govcrnment opposes it on the ground of technical diti'lTieulties. Probably a com--promise will be reached bv establishing a separate department. The War Officej has now almost dictatorial powers. COMMITTEE oF PL'I'.LTC SAFETY. Received 7, p.m. Pctrograd. August (!. Fur the week prior to the evacuation Warsaw was governe 1 by a Commit tee of Public Safety ami citizen police. BOHEMIANS TO THK FRONT. Received 7. p.m. Zurich, August fi. Two Hungarian army corps from Eastern Galicia, in an extremely exhausted condition, are withdrawing to the Austrian frontier, being replaced by newly-trained German Landsturmere from the German districts of Bohemia. VIENNA REJOICES. Received 7, S. 5. p.m. Zurich, August 8. The jubilation in Vienna is the greatest since the war legan. Demonstrations in the streets lasted till early morning

AN EMPTY TRIUMPH. NEW GERMAN PLAIT. RUSSIANS LEAVE IVANGOROD. Received August 7, 3.10 p.m. Amsterdam, August 7. Berlin continues its orgie of liag' waving and,, revelling Crowd? in Vienna paraded efl'igies of the King of Italy, inscribed, "He brought his enemies luck, his friends ill luck." Better-informed circles realise that the people are flaunting an emptyi triumph which is irritating, because they expected Warsaw's fall a week ago. and it is known that the Germans have missed the real aim, namely, the destruction of the Russian armies.

The Vossiche Zeitung says, "We have now reached the result of the long-pre-pared Austro-German plan, a great offensive on both banks of the Vistula, rolling up the Russian front. From a military viewpoint it was important to shorten the front. AA'e are now able to form several strong lines in the rear to secure the East front, against all Russian attempts, and are freeing important troops for action elsewhere."

EVACUATION OF WARSAW. A BARREN VICTORY INDEED, Received S, 3 p.m. Stockholm, August 7. A correspondent of the Chicago Daily Xews has arrived from "Warsaw. He says that the iirst intimation of evacuation was oil July I.'}, \vhvn the authorities enquired how many passes were' required for the British colony. The evacuation l.iegan on tile lu.| ■ nt.h. Thousands of goods waggons had already been accumulated with goods, and men, women and children were hurried eastwards as fast as they could be taken. J'ully half the population went, also hundreds and thousands of peasants from villages ,whose homes had been burnt and crops gathered or destroyed. Everything of value in Warsaw —telegraph and telephone wires, horses, vehicle.-, every scrap of metal, even church bells— was removed. The factories were destroyed after the machinery in them had been taken or smashed. All art and antiquarian treasures, and also Chopin's heart from the Church of the Holy Cross, were sent to Moscow.

THE EVACUATION. CALMLY CARRIED OUT. A VIVID ACCOUNT. Received August 9, 12.13 a.m. New York, August 7. The Cfuicago Daily News gives a vivid de«.'ription of the systematic evacuation of Warsaw, which extended for a fortnight, forming a, line tribute to the calm and paniclesa methods of the Russian authorities and Allied Consuls. All the a'.eiiives have reached Moscow. The AweriPiin Consul remains at Warsaw. The refugees also include the officials of the law courts, with three million sterling of coiut funds. When the evacuation was announced, the Warsaw police rlsi'tcd every house, anl sought to induce the inhabitants to leave Poland and go to Russia. While 339,000 thousand citizens were thus departing almost another 350,000 trooped up from the neighboring districts, chiefly peasants, though in some eases they were men who were worth £200,000 a month ago, but are now penniless. Endless lines of tired and dust-whitened peasants, wit'li cattle and portables, thronged the roads and bridges converging to Warsaw.

Mean while, the factories were being feverishly stripped, the owners being granted free transport for their plants over tlie eastward road. Tliey dynamited those plants that were embedded in concrete, and the noise could be heard day and night in all parts of the city. Every fragment was dynamited, ami the metal immediately railed eastward. The 11cws.pa.pers made their filial appearance;, ami then tlie linotypes were looted tip and carted awav. The police visited every printing otlke. dismantled the presses, and took the type. Hardly a ton 0 f copper fittings is left in War-aw. Gangs of soldiers stri'pjwd the telegraph wires and poles for leagues,, and even the mat'liinery of tlie I üblie vater supply was removed, making a. typhoid epidemic probable. The huge bronze bells of the Were 1111-.lung, !c I tlvev should be converted ilito Krupp cannon. The jewellers buried their stocks, and joined the endless column* i:-f laden carts and lorries crowding the eastward roajs. Only a group of soldiers, with their legs dangling from the sacks. distinguished peabe'nngings from the banks', with their millions of loubles in 1 /per money h.i-tily (hnist into potato sacks. Two thousand hackney carriages, driven bv tneir owners, traversed tlie thousand miles to Moscow.

'I hroughniit the churches were open, and <Towded with weeping Poles and Pr-sians, who were putting up their tin.il All crop* were destroyed where n.o troop* could be spared to garner them. Three bridges, including (he new Pram. a mile long and costing £1.200.tifM. were lined with saml harts, and wires set in readiness to explode the land mines as the Germans entered, hive thousand wounded are left -behind, they being in too serious a condition to be removed. The only Britisher lelt is a Mi-.-; Kennedy, who' is in hospital with pleurisy, Ihe T!u-.--!;i n police hastily trained many civilian Poles in their duties. >;upeiyinu' them wiih revolvers and ride's P'O-German P,,!,- prepare! a IN of f H'e-Rns<,aii l»ole< and it wns handed lo the Gi-riiuin-;, as Ihe German generals --igniiie-l their intention lo linn"' the 1•" I.ii"anti-German Pole. Well-to-do I,U:-.:aii Pule-. accordingly [hd. The police, at the last, moment, shot live pro- ' 'i-i'nie.ns, whom they found brandishiiK»' a rope ami jeering outside the house 0} a pro-Russian.

ABUSE OF THE RED CROSS. AUSTRIAN METHODS. Received August 9, 12.45 a.m. Potrngracl, August 7. I lie commission invpstifjatiiig the aliuscs of warfare record that an Austrian Red Cross party approached the Itussian trenches, ostensibly to tend the wounded, and suddenly opened fire. The Russians retaliated, killing a supposed Sister of Mercy, who was found to be an Austrian officer dbgulse4,

WARSAW. AN ORDERLY ABANDONMENT. Petrograd, August 0, Tile newspapers are unanimous in declaring that the evacuation of Warsaw strengthens Russia's determination to pursue the war to a victorious end. A letter from Warsaw, dated August 3, staled that provisions were at famine prices, A party of Uhlan scouts who crossed the Vistula were taken prisoner. During the advance from the Vistula the Germans encountered innumerable fires. They were consequently preceded by military firemen. Ostramorff, Groitze and Blonie were in flames when occupied 1)y the enemy. The last Russian troops left Warsaw at 5 o'clock on Thursday morning. The evacuation was carried out with perfect order, even the street letterboxes being taken to .Moscow, and most of the shops were closed. Enemy aeroplane.-; to the last moment dropped bombs on th'e city. The decision to abandon it scorns to have been precipitated 'by the advance of great German forces from the kft of the Narew in the direction of Ostrow.

IVANGOROD OCCUPIED. KOVXO TO BE ABANDONED. Amsterdam, August 0. ■An official Vienna telegram states that T.vangorod lias been occupied. Petrograd, August (i. Official. The forts at Ivangorod were constructed practically entirely of brick and not with the materials Mcessary for modern fortifications. In view of* the impossibility of sustaining a siege all the stoics woie methodically withdrawn m time. Our rearguards stopped the enemy s progress for a few days on a lew lines of field works without sanouinary combats. On August 4, in "conformity with the general plan, we blew up several concrete 'bases on which brick casemates rested, and retreated. ~,, ... . Copenhagen, August G. J-lie vossischc Zeitung says the Russians have completed preparations for the evacuation of Ivovno. The Governoi, civil officers and archives have "one to -Novo Alcxandrov-sk. Half the civilif*™ T ? oli ~ an<l 010 Wo «iMte(l have been sent to Central Russia.

RUSSIAN REPORT. VERY DESPERATE FIGHTING, Received August 9, 1.50 a.m. r-IT • , rr, Petro S nul . 8. Official: The enemy is attacking our list line positions of the fortress on the leu bank of the Niemen, near Kovno. Our heavy batteriesare vigorously bombarding the enemy near Ossowoecs. The enemy at dawn developed an intense lire, launched clouds of asphyxiating and assaulted tlie fortress position.?, carrying the works near Sosna, but our fire and counter-attack dislodged Hum. Sanguinary lighting is procceomg near the Nitre w, on the road to Odt.ro!!. The enemy, after desperate encounters, increased the ground thev occupied. We repulsed attacks in the region of Serotsk by heavy artillery fire, and on the nights of August 5 and 6 successfully repulsed tiro enemy's pontoon parties on tlie Vistula. Most desperate actions are 'hein<f fought between the Vistula and the Bug, from Kodrovo to Kotsk, and in the region of Wiepim, north of Lenza.

In the Caucasus we repulsed stubborn attacks in the direction of Olty, which wore supported by intense cannonading. The Turks are actively l entrenching and we captured an important position at (he top of the pass in the direction of Alashkert at the bayonet's point, killing many of the enemy.

NO REPULSES, GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT. Received August 9, 12.45 a.m. Berlin, August 7. The Russians, east of Ponewieez, have retreated behind Jara. The arm ion of von Seiiolz and von Galhvitz, after severe fighting-. broke the liussians' resistance between 1-omza :i 11 d the mouth of the Bug. Between the fourth and the seventh, ive captured 83 officers, 14,200 men, six: cannon, nnd (X) machine-guns. Our siege troops before Novo Geogiovesk have advanced from the north to Hie Narew, capturing IVnie fort. Our troop;; from tlie south hove reached the Vistula, near Wiriikow. The situation at Warsaw is unchanged. The Russians continue the bombardment of Torvu from the eastern bank of the Vistula. Our airships bombarded the railway s!tatioiu at Novo Minsk and Siedlod. The situation north 0 f I'vangoroU is unchanged. The (lermans near Ruskojvala, between the .Vistula and the Bug, stormed the Russian positions and forced lllcir way through the lake country, north-cast cf liencz, on the seventh.

THE PURSUIT CONTINUES. Amsterdam, August G. A German communique state's:—We fought successful cavalry battles at u l ,( -b M kilometres north of i'oiiiewiez and near Kovarsk and Kourkle, northwest of Wilkoanierz. Despite stubborn resistance on the Narew, we made further .progress between the north of the Lug' and the Nasielk. A detachment of troops investing Novo Georgicvsk broke through the position at Blendostwo and advanced further. Our airship squadron threw bombs 011 the railway build111RW nt liialystol;. t Uic Kusskns, after being exi>olJe*} Iroiii the Warsaw fortifications without damage to the city, retreated to Praga, Jj v b , 1 011 lll ° o Pl ,o site side of the Clencr.ll Mackcnsen's armies continue '"li'Tn"« C,lmy ' Tl,c A1!i « expelled the Russians from positions northCELEBRATIONS AT LISBON. Received August 8, 4.30 p.m. m.. , Lisbon, August 7. ituriy seven detained German vessels Warsaw flßSS honcr of the fall of TO CRUSH" RUSSIA'S ARMIES.Received S, 3 p.m. Amsterdam, August 7. The \ossische Zeitung deprecates ex-, cessive rejoicing over Warsaw, ami points out that the principal object of the campaign is the destruction of the Russian armies, not the Capture of Polish cities.