KERENSKY FIRM.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7911, 26 July 1917, Page 3

KERENSKY FIRM.

WILL SAVE RUSSIA. BY BLOOD AND IRON IF NECESSARY. Australian & N.Z. Cable Association. PETROGRAD, July 24. M. Kerensky, interviewed, said the Government would save Russia by blood and iron if appeals to reason, honor and conscience failed. Whatever happened, he declared, the pre-revolution regime was impossible. The problem of the moment was to check the retreat and end the economic disorder, and restore the finances. The situation at the front demanded heroic measures. He added that he would deal sternly with traitors.

NO IMPROVEMENT. IN THE GENERAL SITUATION. TROOPS RETREATING. LONDON, July 25. A Russian official message states: South-west of Dvingk our detachments occupied German positions astride the Dvinsk-Yilna railway. Subsequently whole units voluntarily, returned to their trenches. A number of units disobeyed commands. The 24th Division acted heroically and lost heavily. The gallantry of the officers was noteworthy. The enemy occupied a height northward of Bogush, in the direction of Vilna. The officers had the utmost difficulty in restraining great numbers of men from withdrawing to the rear. The enemy crossed the Sereth in the region of Mikulice and occupied Volyamazovockay.

The enemy continues his offensive between the Sereth and Strypa and has occupied three villages. We are holding the line Gaivoronka-Monastir-Jiskt, north-west of Buczaze. *

We ore retiring easterly southward of the Dniester and Stanislau is being evacuted. We made a successful raid at Domukpatak, on the Roumanian front. Our torpedo boats co-operated with artillery and bombarded Tircoli, in the Black Sea, and destroyed depots and barracks.

ENEMY CLAIMS. SUCCESSES ALL ALONG THE LINE. LONDON, July 25. A German official report states: There have been bitter fights resulting in our favor on the whole east front, from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Russians twice vainly attacked on a wide front near Jacobstadt. Six Russian divisions five times attacked south-west of Dvinsk. After tough hand-to-hand fighting the Russians withdrew with terrible losses. Renewed Russian attacks failed on a wide front at Krevo, which we again hold. Eight Russian divisions attacked southwards of Smorgon. Only remnants returned. The strategical effect of our operation in east Galicia is becoming powerful. The enemy is retreating from the northern Carpathian frontier. Pressing forward on a front of 250 kilometres from the Sereth to the wooded Carpathians, we forced the crossing of the Sereth southward of Tarnopol. We repulsed desperate Russian mass attacks near Prembowla. We advanced beyond Podhetjce and Solotwinska. Our booty has not yet been ascertained, but several divisions report 3000 prisoners. Each captured many heavy guns and railway trucks filled with foodstuffs, proving the enemy’s precipitate retreat. The Archduke Joseph’s north wing joined in the movement. The Russo-Roumanians attempted an advance on a wide sector between the Trotus and Putna valley, but were driven back. Fresh fights developed, but General von Mackensen broke down the RussoRoumanians’ attack along the Putna and Berth.

TARNOPOL. BIG CAPTURE OF STORES. AMSTERDAM, July 25. The “Lokal Anzeiger’s” war correspondent says that stores valued at a million sterling were destroyed at Tarnopol, which was the main base of the south-western districts. The city is still burning. Some units stubbornly resisted.