Part 10

_From Vienna--The following official communication was issued on July 1 by the War Office:_

Battles in Eastern Galicia continued on July 1 on the Gnila Lipa and in the region east of Lemberg. Our troops advanced in several places on the heights east of the Gnila Lipa and broke through hostile positions. The allied troops also succeeded, after stubborn fighting, in reaching the eastern bank of the Rohatyn.

On the Dniester complete calm prevails. In the region of the source of the Wieprz we occupied Zamoso, north of the Tanew all lower lands are occupied. West of the Vistula our troops pursued the flying enemy up to Tarlow.

The total booty taken during June by the allied troops during the fighting in the northeast comprises 521 officers and 194,000 men, 93 guns, 164 machine guns, 78 caisson, and 100 military railroad carriages.

KRASNIK REACHED

_The statement issued by German Army Headquarters on July 2 says:_

In the Eastern Theatre: Southwest of Kalwarya, after stubborn fighting we took a mine position from the enemy and made 600 Russians prisoners.

In the Southeastern Theatre: After storming the heights southeast of Bu-Kaszowice, north of Halicz, the Russians along the whole front from the district of Maryampol to just north of Firjilow have been obliged to retreat. Troops under General von Linsingen are pursuing the defeated enemy.

Up to yesterday we had taken 7,765 prisoners, of whom 11 are officers. We also captured eighteen machine guns.

_The German official report of July 3 reads:_

In the Southeastern Theatre: North of the Dniester River our troops are advancing under continuous fighting in pursuit of the enemy and penetrating by way of the line of Mariampol, Narajoa and Miasto toward the Zlota Lipa section. They have reached the Bug at several places between Kamionka and Strzumilowa and below Krylow and are quickly advancing in a northerly direction between the Bug and the Vistula.

The lowlands of the Labunka now are in our possession, after our opponents had offered stubborn resistance at certain places.

German troops also obtained a firm foothold on the northern bank of the river in the Wysnica section, between Krasnik and the mouth of the Labunka.

Between the left bank of the Vistula and the Pilica River the situation remains generally unchanged.

A Russian counter-attack southeast of Radom was repulsed.

_The following Austrian official war statement was given out in Vienna on July 3:_

In East Galicia the Teutonic allied troops are advancing, pursuing the enemy east of Halicz and across the Narajowska, and to the north attacking successfully on the heights east of Janozyn. On the Bug River the situation is unchanged.

Between the Vistula and the Bug Rivers the Teutonic allied troops are steadily advancing, with fierce fighting. Zamosc has been stormed. West of there the Russians everywhere have been repulsed beyond the Por Plain, which is in our possession. At several places we forced a passage of the brook.

East of Krasnik, for which fighting is still proceeding, Studzianki has been captured. The village of Wysnica, west of Krasnik, also was stormed. Here and elsewhere in this sector the enemy was repulsed.

Friday on the Por and near Krasnik, 4,800 prisoners were captured, and three machine guns were taken.

West of the Vistula there were artillery duels.

_Following is the official report of the operations on the front in Galicia and Southern Poland, wirelessed July 4 from Berlin to Sayville, N.Y.:_

General von Linsingen's army, in full pursuit of the enemy, is advancing toward the Zlota Lipa. Three thousand Russians were taken prisoners yesterday. Under pressure of the Germans the enemy is evacuating his positions from Narajow to Miasto, and to the north of Przemyslany from Kamionka to Krylow.

ON ZLOTA LIPA RIVER

_Following is the Austrian official war statement given out from Vienna on July 6:_

In Eastern Galicia the Teutonic allied troops under General von Linsingen, after two weeks of successful battles, have reached the Zlota Lipa River, the western bank of which has been cleared of the enemy. In the sectors of Kamionka Strumilowa and Krasno battles against the Russian rearguards are continuing.

Near Krylow (on the Bug River), in Southern Russian Poland, near the Galician border, the enemy has evacuated the western bank of the Bug and burned the village of Krylow.

Fighting is proceeding on both banks of the Upper Wieprz.

The Teutonic allied troops drove the enemy from positions north of the small River Por and advanced to Faras and Plonka.

The western army, commanded by Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, after several days' battle, broke through the Russian front on both sides of Krasnik and drove the Russians back with heavy losses in a northerly direction. We captured twenty-nine officers and 8,000 men and took six caissons and six machine guns.

West of the Vistula River the situation is unchanged.

_The Petrograd correspondent of The London Times telegraphed on July 6:_

No apprehension is entertained as to the fate of Warsaw, for the city bids fair to be protected. Even if the Germans should reach Ivangorod, this would not necessarily involve the surrender of Warsaw.

The Russian waiting game in fact has been justified. The critic of the Novoe Vremya correctly explains the withdrawal as a manoeuvre deliberately undertaken with the object of accepting battle under the best conditions for the Russians. He adds that on the Vistula front the ground which offers the Russians the greatest advantage is that with Brest Litovsk as a base, Ivangorod on the right flank and a strong army occupying the flank and rear positions in relation to the right flank of General von Boehm-Ermolli's Army.

_The War Department at Vienna on July 6 gave out the following official statement:_

The Russians, who, in the second battle of Krasnik, were defeated by the army of Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, are retreating in a northern and north-eastern direction, pursued by the Austrians who are pressing to attack.

The Austrians on Monday captured the district of Cieszanow and the heights north of Wysnica. Under pressure of our advance the enemy is retreating on the Wieprz beyond Tarnogora. Our booty in this fighting has increased to 41 officers and 11,500 men and 17 machine guns.

On the Bug River and in East Galicia the situation is unchanged.

On the Zlota Lipa and Dniester Rivers quiet prevails.

_German Army Headquarters wirelessed the following report from Berlin to Sayville, N.Y., on July 7:_

During pursuit of the Russians to the Zlota Lipa River from July 3 to July 5 the Germans captured 3,850 men. The number of prisoners made south of Biale River has been increased to seven officers and about 800 men.

In Poland, south of the Vistula, the Germans stormed Height 95, to the east of Dolowatka and south of Borzymow. The Russian losses were very considerable. Ten machine guns, one revolver gun and a quantity of rifles were taken.

More to the northward, near the Vistula, a Russian charge was repulsed.

The Czernowitz, Bukowina, correspondent of the Zeitung am Mittag, says:

"The scarcity of rifles with the Russians is growing greater daily. The reserves are unarmed until they begin the attack, and then they take rifles from their fallen comrades. The Russian artillery fire, however, has grown more active."

DEFEAT AT KRASNIK

_From Austrian Army Headquarters in Galicia, July 11, came the following:_

The relative subsidence of activity on the part of the Teutonic allies during the last week may be explained by the fact that the goal set for the Lemberg campaign already has been attained. This was the recapture of the city and the securing of strong defensive positions to the eastward and northward. These positions have now been secured along the line of the Zlota Lipa and Bug Rivers and the ridge to the northward of Krasnik.

The Russians attempted a counter-offensive from Lubin against the Austro-German positions north of Krasnik, bringing up heavy reinforcements for this purpose. Owing to this movement the Austrian troops, which had rushed beyond the positions originally selected, withdrew to the ridge, where they have been successfully resisting all Russian attacks. They feel secure in their present positions, and it is believed here that they can be easily held against whatever forces Russia can throw against them.

Indications now point to a period of quiet along the Russo-Galician front, while the Teutonic allies are preparing for operations in other quarters.

_This statement from Russian General Headquarters was published in Petrograd on July 14:_

In the direction of Lomza (Russian Poland) on the evening of July 12 and also on the 13th, the enemy developed an intensive artillery fire. On the right bank of the Pissa, on July 13, the Germans succeeded in capturing Russian trenches on a front of two versts (about one and one-third miles). They, however, were driven back by a counter-attack and the trenches were recaptured.

On both banks of the Shikva stubborn fighting has taken place. Considerable enemy forces between the Orjetz (Orzyc?) and the Lydymia adopted the offensive and the Russians, declining a decisive engagement, retreated during the night of the 13th to their second line of positions. On the left bank of the Vistula the situation is unchanged.

In the battle near Wilkolaz, south of Lublin, during the week ending July 11 the Russians captured 97 officers and 22,464 men.

In the Cholm region engagements have taken place along the Volitza River, and on the night of July 13 we captured over 150 prisoners.

On the rest of the front there have been the usual artillery engagements. On the evening of July 12 the enemy assumed the offensive on the Narew front.

PRZASNYSZ OCCUPIED

In the eastern theater: In the course of minor fights on the Windau below Koltany 425 Russians were taken prisoners.

South of the Niemen River, in the neighborhood of Kalwarya, our troops captured several outer positions at Franziskowa and Osowa and maintained them against fierce counter-attacks.

To the northeast of Suwalki the Heights of Olszauka were taken by storm.

South of Kolno we captured the village of Konsya, and the enemy positions east of this village and south of the Tartak line. Two thousand four hundred prisoners and eight machine guns fell into our hands.

Battles in the neighborhood of Przasnysz are being continued. Several enemy lines were captured by our troops, and the City of Przasnysz, for which we were fighting hotly in the last days of February, and which was strongly fortified by the Russians, we have occupied by our troops.

In the southeastern theater the situation generally is the same.

GERMAN "NUT-CRACKER"

_A Petrograd dispatch to the London Morning Post said on July 15:_

The Germans have opened a new campaign for the conquest of Russia. Their plan is to catch the Russian armies like a nut between nutcrackers.

The German line of advance from the northwest lies between the Mlawa-Warsaw Railway line and the River Pissa and from the south from the Galician line. On paper the German scheme is that these two fronts shall move to meet one another and everything between them must be ground to powder. But the nut to be cracked is rather a formidable area of space and well fortified, the kernel sound and healthy, being formed of the Russian armies inspired not merely with the righteousness of their cause, but the fullest confidence in themselves and absolute devotion to the proved genius of their Commander in Chief. The area referred to cannot be less than eighty miles in extent, north to south, by 120 miles west to east. That is the mere nucleus and minimum area, as contained between the Novo Georgievsk fortress in the north to the Ivangorod fortress in the south and the Russian lines on the Bzura in the west to Brest-Litovsk on the east.

The Germans have an incalculable amount of fighting to face before they win to that area, the nut to be cracked, and then the cracking is still to be done. It is all sheer frontal fighting. The Germans have been twelve months trying frontal attacks against Warsaw on a comparatively narrow front, and in vain. What chance have they of success by dividing their forces against the united strength of Russia?

BREAKING RUSSIA'S LINES

_An official German bulletin dated Berlin, July 17, reported:_

The offensive movement begun a few days ago in the eastern theatre of war, under command of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, has led to great results. The army of General von Bülow, which on July 14 crossed the Windau River near and north of Kurshany, continued its victorious advance. Eleven officers and 2,450 men were taken prisoners, and three cannon and five machine guns were captured.

The army of General von Gallwitz proceeded against the Russian positions in the district south and southeast of Olawa. After a brilliant attack three Russian lines, situated behind each other northwest and northeast of Przasnysz, were pierced. Dzielin was captured and Lipa was reached and attacked by pressure exerted from both these directions. The Russians retreated, after the evacuation of Przasnysz on the 14th, to their line of defense from Ciechanow to Krasnosielo, lying behind them. On the 15th German troops also took these enemy positions by storm, and pierced the position south of Zielona, over a front of seven kilometers, forcing their opponents to retreat. They were supported by troops under General von Scholtz, which are occupied with a pursuit from the direction of Kolno. Since yesterday the Russians have been retreating on the center front, between the Pissa and Vistula Rivers, in the direction of Narew.

Southeastern Theatre of War.--After the Teutonic allies had taken during the last few days a series of Russian positions on the River Bug and between the Bug and the Vistula, important battles developed yesterday on this entire front under the leadership of Field Marshal von Mackensen. West of the Vierpz, in the district southwest of Krasnostav, German troops broke through the enemy's line. So far 28 officers and 6,380 men have fallen into our hands, and 9 machine guns have been captured.

West of the Upper Vistula the offensive has again been begun by the army of General von Woyrich.

_An official statement issued by general headquarters in Vienna on July 18 says:_

On the Bug River, in the region of Sokol, our troops drove the enemy from a series of stubbornly defended places. To the northeast of Sienvno we broke through the Russian front.

The enemy is evacuating his positions between the Vistula and the Kielce-Radom Railway.

_An earlier bulletin, dated July 17, read as follows:_

Between the Vistula and the Bug Rivers important battles have developed favorably for the allied troops. Some Austro-Hungarians, operating closely with the Germans west of Grabovetz, took an important enemy point of support after storming it several times, and pressed forward into the enemy's main position.

Southwest of Krasnostav the Germans broke through the enemy's lines.

On the Upper Bystrcz and north of Krasnik our troops took advanced positions of the enemy. The offensive also was resumed successfully west of the Vistula.

BERLIN'S REJOICING

_An Associated Press dispatch from Berlin via London on July 18 said:_

The news of Field Marshal von Hindenburg's newest surprise for the Russians, which the War Office announces has resulted in important victories, was made known late yesterday, causing general rejoicing and the appearance of flags all over the city.

Military critics attach great significance to the breaking of the Russian lines and the consequent Russian retreat toward the Narew River, particularly as the German advance between the Pissa and Vistula rivers threatens to crumple the right flank positions of the Russians.

With Field Marshal von Mackensen proceeding against the other flank, the maintenance of communications offers a serious problem for the Russians. The breaking of the Russian line near Krasnostav, thirty-four miles south of Lublin, brings the Germans dangerously near Cholm and Lublin, both of which points are of the highest importance for the Russians in maintaining their position in the Vistula region.

The following official bulletin concerning the operations was issued tonight by the War Office:

Portions of the army of General von Buelow have defeated the Russian forces near Autz, where 3,620 men and six guns and three machine guns were captured. They are pursuing the enemy in an easterly direction.

Other portions of this army are fighting to the northeast of Kurshany. East of that town an enemy advance position has been stormed.

On the southeastern front the offensive was taken by the army under General von Woyrich, which made successful progress under the heavy fire of the enemy.

Our troops on Saturday morning took a narrow point in the wire entanglements of a strongly fortified enemy main position, and through this opening stormed an enemy trench on a front of 2,000 meters (about a mile and a third). In the course of the day the wedge was widened and pushed forward, with tenacious hand-to-hand fighting, far into the enemy's position.

In the evening the enemy's Moscow Grenadier Corps was defeated by our landwehr and reserve troops. The enemy retreated during the night behind the Iljanka River to the district south of Zwolen, suffering heavy losses in their retirement.

Between the Pissa and Vistula Rivers the Russian troops are retreating and the troops of General von Schaltz and von Gallwitz are close behind them.

The enemy is attacked and driven back where he offers resistance in prepared positions.

Reserve troops and a levy of troops of General von Schaltz have stormed the towns of Poremky and Wykplock, and regiments of General von Gallwitz have broken through the extended positions of Mlodzi, Nome and Kaniewo. The number of prisoners was considerably increased and four guns were captured.

From the north of the Vistula to the Pilica the Russians also have begun to retreat. Our troops in a short engagement during the pursuit made 620 prisoners.

Between the Upper Vistula and the Bug fighting continues under the command of Field Marshal von Mackensen. The Russians have been driven by the German troops from the hills of Biclaczkowice, south of Piaski, as far as Krosnoskow, and both these places have been taken by storm. The fire of the Siberian army corps could not ward off defeat. We made more than 1000 prisoners.

WARSAW'S EVACUATION

_An Associated Press dispatch from London dated July 20 recorded the doubt in the English capital of Warsaw's holding out, as follows:_

The Morning Post's Budapest correspondent reports that the gradual evacuation of Warsaw has been ordered by the Russians.

Continued successes of the great Teutonic movement against the Polish capital were indicated in the German official bulletin received from Berlin this morning. This stated that the Russians were retreating along the whole front between the Vistula and the Bug. The bulletin reads:

The Germans have occupied Tukum and Windau (Province of Courland).

Between the Vistula and the Bug the battle continues with unabated violence.

The Austro-Hungarians have forced a crossing of the Wolicza River in the neighborhood of Grabovetz and advanced across the Bug to the north of Sokal, the Russians having during the night retreated along the whole front between the Vistula and the Bug.

The Germans captured from July 16 to July 18 16,000 prisoners and twenty-three machine guns.

That German columns have occupied Tukum, thirty-eight miles west of Riga, and Doblen eighteen miles west of Mitau, is admitted by an official statement issued at the headquarters of the Russian general staff. The same report admits that the Austrians have gained the right bank of the Volitza and have crossed the Bug River on a front reaching to Sokal. The bulletin says:

On the Narew front the night of the 18th the enemy took the offensive, capturing the village of Poredy, on the right bank of the Pissa River. On the left bank of the Skwa enemy attacks against the villages of Vyk and Pchetchniak were repulsed with success. West of the Omulew our troops, retiring progressively toward a bridgehead on the Narew, delivered on the evening of the 17th a rearguard action of a stubborn character near the town of Mahoff. Near the village of Karnevo we made a brilliant counter-attack.

In the direction of Lublin enemy attacks during the 18th on the front Wilkolaz-Vychawa (east and north of Krasnik) were successfully repulsed.

At dawn of the 18th the enemy captured Krasnostav, thirty-four miles south of Lublin on the Vieprz, and crossed upstream. During the course of the 19th enemy attacks between the stream flowing from Rybtchevbitze toward the village of Piaski and the Vieprz remained without result. On the right bank of the Vieprz we repulsed near Krasnostav and the River Volitza many extremely stubborn enemy attacks.

Nevertheless, near the mouth of the Volitza and the village of Gaevniki the enemy succeeded in establishing himself on the right bank of this river, after which we judged it advisable to retire to our second-line positions.

In the region of the village of Grabovetz on the 18th we repulsed four furious enemy attacks on a wide front, supported by a curtain of fire from his artillery.

Between Geneichva and the Bug on the evening of the 17th, after a desperate fight we drove the enemy from all the trenches previously occupied by him.

On the Bug energetic fighting continued against the enemy, who crossed on the 18th on the front Skomorskhy-Sokal.

"Can Warsaw be held?" is the question now being asked here.

With the German Field Marshals, von Hindenburg on the north and von Mackensen on the south, whipping forward the two ends of a great arc around the city, it is realized in England that Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander in Chief of the Russian armies, has the most severe task imposed on him since the outbreak of the European war, and the military writers of some of the London papers seem to think that the task is well-nigh impossible.

There was sustained confidence that Germany's previous violent attacks along the Bzura-Rawka front would never pierce the Russian line, but the present colossal co-ordinate movement was developed with such suddenness, and has been carried so far without meeting serious Russian resistance, that more and more the British press is discounting the fall of the Polish capital, and, while not giving up all hope of its retention, is pointing out the enormous difficulty the Russian armies have labored under from the start by the existence of such a salient.

_An Associated Press dispatch from London on July 21 said:_

From the shores of the Gulf of Riga in the north to that part of Southern Poland into which they drove the Russians back from Galicia, the Austro-German armies are still surging forward, and if Warsaw can be denied them it will be almost a miracle.