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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144709, 18 June 1915, Page 2

The present retirement of the Russian forces is one of the most disappointing features of tlio present siago of the war. Newspapers received by mail give no evidence that any great Anstro-Gorraan advance in Galicia was considered likely, or that if such an advance took place the Russians would not bo perfectly competent to deal with it. Writing from Warsaw on April 23, Air. Stanley AVashburn, a very competent observer who has been for sumo time with the Russian forces, says: "The renditions of the Russians on this front havo never been so good in every respect. Their 'moral is the highest 1 havo personally scon since the war started, and they are eagerly waiting for fresh activities.'’ Ho points out it is perfectly understood in Russia and Roland that flic Russian retirements before suddenly massed Gorman advances at given points havo little far-reaching significance ns the enemy gains are almost invariably made, up a few' weeks later by Russian resilcncy. We also have grasped this fact, and for the last two or throe weeks have born exporting a Russian counter-stroke in Galicia. The war has made us acquainted with the lath that strategic retreats are. quite a possibility, but a month ago wo should havo regarded a Russian retreat from Galicia as about as likely as a Gorman retreat from Belgium for purely strategic reasons. In fact wo can hardly believe that the Russians would have abandoned the Carpathian Passes, the newly-captured town of Przemysl and, as now seems probable, Lemberg, except because the forces and guns brought against them were considerably superior. The Russians have bad plenty of time to bring up reinforcements and to display tlio resilcncy of which Air. AVashburn speaks, but the spring on this occasion seems to have been pressed down so hard as to have lost its elasticity. There, is no doubt of the ultimate result, but tho capture of Cracow and the advance into Silesia we seemed to have almost within our grasp a few weeks ago havo now-been jndofinitelxjJ.oi'sijGoned,

It is a far more cheerful topic to turn to tho Josses sustained by the Austro-Gorman forces as set forth by the French newspaper Le Matin, which is a fairly trustworthy authority. The German Josses in lulled, wounded, and prisoners are set down at 4,200,000 out of a total available army of 81 millions. Tho German maximum output of men lias hithcr-to been put clown at nine millions but, even with the higher figure, a loss of nearly half the available force in less than a year is an absolutely irretrievable disaster for Germany. The Austrians are considered to have suffered even more severely with a total lass of 2,526,000 out of 41 millions. Even the most pessimistic cannot believe that the Allies, with Italy to be counted among thorn now, are going to relax their pressure during the next six months, since they have more men and a greater supply of munitions than ever before. Thus, though demands may still be made on our patience, we may have perfect confidence that, if we spare no effort, the next few months will see a marvellous change in the aspect of the war.