THE HONG KONG TELEGRAPH.
GERMANY ON THE DEFENSIVE,
EAST AND WEST
An American View.
If one were to undertake to sum
Π
EXTRA
HONGKONG, SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1915.
targed north toward Lemberg and, approaching Stanislau 'and Haliaz in a wide, swinging a tempt to envelop the Russiane, had crossed the Daiester and the Pruth,
failure, too, bad decided the fate
German offensive at this point.
Other German corpa had made their appearance on the creste of the Carpathians, and, with their help, the Russians had been pushed east to the foothills of these mountaine In December a from the prodigality with which sortie from Przemys! had brought fford Ped up men and officers the two Austrian armies within in her opening bids for decision tave miles of each other. and Austrian bulletins wee But the effort had failed. The claiming auccess in an Austro- Such statements, necessarily
of the fortress. As Meiz, AD partisan, could hardly be accepted impregnable fortress, had fallen as final, yet to support them was because a field army of 200,000 the unmistakable fact that for two had been driven in upon the forts months the Allies had been on the and no provision for its main
ffensive. Champagne, Neuve Chapelle, St. Mibiel, Altace, the Przemysl succumbed to hunger, tenance had been made, so stupendous conflict in the Carpa- thiane following the fall of the while its forts were unshaken. fortrees of Pizomyel, all were been sold for $1.50 each, doga for In the ulosing days cuts had the result of the offensive moves
entered with the Itussinus des $5. The correspondents who
marize in a single statoment the West and Eut salient detail of the April fight- ing, it would necessarily be by nserting that, for the first time in the Great War, Germany as ompted the defensive role in the East and the West or the first. time in nine months of struggle, bor efforts were confined to meet ing and halting the offensivo of her, three great ecemica, France, Rússia, and Britain.
of
Przemysl.
:
Galicia."
Once Przemysl fell, the Ras. Baltio. But such # deadlock tween Rheims and the Argoune, advanced the meaning of the sisu plan was clear. Five or six would inevitably lead to freeh on ground forever famous as the phrase became more and more corps, now released, flowed up Bussian efforts, new Russian scene of the defeat of Attila. obvious. Interpreted by such the Carpathian passes, cleared offensives, when the port of Over 500,000 men had battled for eminent students of war as Hil- the Dukla and began to enter Archangel should be free of ice weeks on a narrow front, and the aire Belloo, this policy of "nib- Hungary along the headwaters of in the spring and the stream of French attack, after having car bling" was identical with the far smaller tributaries of the Theiss, supplies could flow in to Russia ried the immediate objective Ger- grimmer method of Grant, the the Ondava, and the Labore, from her western Allies." At best, man trenches along a low creat to method of attrition, by which the reached the crest of the Lupkow for the Austro-German alliance, the north of Socain, had been Confederacy was finally subjugat- and approached the left flank of victory in the Carpathians might halted. But to check the French ed and Lee's invincible army the Austro-German forces in the mean a respite, a chance to draw the Germans had denuded their worn to dust. Uzok. But in the Beskid they breath and reorganise shaken entire front, in France, of reserves, Briefly the method of Joffre, as made little real progresa, on Austrian armies, but now that Taking advantage of this, in early thua interpreted, was as follows: April 20, they were still well cast Przemysl had fallen there was March the British had struck out On the western front the Allies of the summit of the range here, left little hope of a reconquest of north of La Bassee and won the had established a considerable Battle of Nouve Chapelle. superiority in numbers, which In his conflict upwards of 30, was bound to grow as British corpa Allied Defeat at the
000 men had been lost in the two arrived. On the whole front the Dardanelles. Strategically the two operations difficult to follow or to des
armies, the British lose alone Allies were able to maintain The disaster to the Allied fleet reaching 13,000. The gain in reserves and still have troops to cribe. What seemed to be the at the Dardanelles, which occur. territory amounted to perhaps a he used at a point selected for purpose of the two contending red too late to permit anything mile on a fourmile front. Hailed attack. The Germans, on the forcas was this: The Russians but the bald mention of the fact as a considerable triumph in contrary, were compelled to draw mountains, enter the Hungarian a decisive nature so far as the been minimized by the Germans mest any thrust at a fixed point. were endeavouring to cross the in my last review, proved to be of March, the British succasa had troops from their whole front to
Plain by the Dukin and Lapkow plan for forcing the Straits by the at once. In April, official reports This was proved in the Battle of lines of communications of the effort of British and French official beea twice that suffered by the signed to cover the position in Passee, and strike the rear and Reeta alone was concerned. The conceding the British loss to have the Champagne, when troops, as
the Uzok and Beskid Passes, in- minimize the extent of the check army at Waterloo, and admitting Austro-German forces defending statements and naval critics to British contingent in Wellington's Flanders, appeared at Beausejour. In addition, if the Germans. terrupting their connection with was discredited by the progress that the English reserves had been should, by hurrying reserves Badapest. The Austro-German of the operations in the weeke badly handled, and artillery had from all parts of their lines weak- at one point played upon advancen sny point, a new attack would forces were attempting to reach that followed.
Joald the fasts, by mere ing British infantry, weakened be made upon this point. Thus the Galicina Plain by the Uzok and Beskid Passes and cut the weight of their auperior gunfire the effect of what was still a con- Neuve Chapelle was attacked an Russian communications Lemberg. A Russian saccess artillery, have reduced the forts
with and by the greater range of their aiderable success.
Boon as the French in Champagne This success put the Germans signalled the appearance on their would compel the retreat of all at the narrowest point of the south of Verdun. Their purpose front of reserves, which were the Austro-German forces from Straits and reached the Ses of was to push west and join hands known to have been previouely the whole Carpathian front to the Marmora, the result would have with the army of the Crown stationed about La Bassee. If at Hungarian Plain. An Austro- been worth the cost of the lost Prince west and north of Verdan no point the German line were German advance would equally ships. But no profit had resulted and complete she investment of actually pierced, yet the wearing- imperil the Russian offensive to from the loss. On the contrary this great fortress. Could they down process would be continu- the west.
it had been olearly established | take this they would open a short jous. that ships alone could not force line into northern France direct the Straits.
What Russian Victory
Would Mean.
1
Such an assertion carries with of the Allies; in all of them ad- irene in mind that, the had been harvested by the foes of cribed the sufferings of the army it more than might appear at vantages, local or considerable,
rate Crosman military system is Germany. If no really conciasive with great detail. Mismanage- based upon the offensive, not the of far-reaching saccess had been ment, neglect of the men by off defensive, that Bernhardinad all brought home from Flanders to care who continued to live in his predecessore had preached the Switzerland, in every case Gerury, were among the stories acat forth, but sent forth by offensive as the only real method man power had been patently unfriendly correspondents and "by which Germany could win; strained to retain 1 posi- recall that hitherto Germany had tion or regain some portion of denied by the Austrian Govern
ment. The isst terrible sortie, rested in the West to redouble groand lost to Allied attack.
made chiefly by Hungarians, was her energies in the East, and vice
described as a wilful sacrifice and veras, and it becomes clear that,
the reports excited anger in so far as it was now possible to
Budapest. judge, the weight of the numbers
The surrender of Przemyal, on At the lowest and narrowest of her cusmies was at last bagia- Marob 22, was the most consider point in the Central Carpathians, ning to tell. The coming of ablo triumph on the Allied side of
from German territory. But the An immediate effact of this British lories, the completion of the whole war, save for the defen corresponding perfectly to Pana is the Dukla Pass, over [ma, the organisation of Fronch 10-sive victory at the Marae, in which goes the main road from
For Americans, the parallel of retreat of the army of the Crown policy of" nibbling" would be to serves, the over-failing stream of single hour the German assertion Hungary to Galicia.
It remains now to examine the Santiago instantly comes to mind. Prince and the subsequent repul- prevent the Germans, from send- At its eum Battle of the Carpathians from Even after the Spanish feet had se of the Matz army, at the Aireing troops from the West to sup- Russian troops, these circum that Russian military power was mit this pass is under 1500 feet the political side. After the fall left the harbour and there was to checked this plan. The Metz port the hard-pressed Anetrians in atances, fortified by the growing on the verge of collapas vanished above the sea level and little more of Przemysl, German military be faced only the weak batteries army was compelled to retreat to the Carpathians. But the alt- failure of Austrian resistance, in thin air. Since Bapaine laid than 500 above the level of the writers conceded that the conflict on Socaps Point, the naval St. Mihiel, where it fortified it mate effect, so Belloc reasoned, were combining to force the Kai. down his army, at Metz in 1870, plains. A little to the southeast might conceivably decide the authorities left it to the army to position, still holding a bridge and it was becoming plain the ser into the position of holding Europe had seen no such triumph. is the Lapkow Pasa, somewhat issue of the whole war. They reduce the city, contenting them head on the west bank of the Allied commanders reasoned, his own lines, not endeavouring to Russian statistics reported the higher, which is followed by the were thinking, unmistakably of getres with bombarding by in Mense opposite St. Mihiel. At the would be to wear down German break those of his opponents. capture of 3000 offoars, 117,000 Przemyal-Budapest railroad, a the political, even more then the direct and, as it turned ont, in same time they fortified the sides strength to the point where the
Out of Germany, officially and men, 1010 cannon., At Antwerp, local, not a trunk line. Still for military consequences. anollicially, to, there began to Germany had captured a fortress, ther to the southeast, for the
effective fire. If the entrance to of the wedge north and south and line would be too thin to hold. How new suggestions of a drawn not an army; at Przemysl, Russia mountain range runs from north the Hungarian Plain, it was easy to the Sea of Marmora, it was for through the French barrier forts, fiftieth anniversary of the close of Once Russian armies were in Santiago was narrower than that thus held a corridor leading Americans, to whose minder the battle, of a return to peace on had taken a host and fortress at weat to southeast, in the Uzak to forecast the sweep of Cossack shorter and infinitely less well but not immediately available for the campaign stout Richmond terms far different from those one blow.
Pess, the higheat, and, longest of and Kirghiz cavalry over the for- aovered by artillery. But offensive operations. which were in the minds of the On the moral side it was im- the three most commonly "men tile regions, which are the gran-
recalled the strategy of Graut, Berlin populace when Vor Kluck possible to exaggerate the effect tioned in the battle news. Over ary of the Empire and the hope Straits was a demonstration that tory attempts the French in April
For the Allies, the defeat at the After many more or less desul-saw instantly the parallel approached Paris, and Vou Hin- of the Russian victory. All Ger- this goes a highroad and another of Austria and Germany for the the work of the ships must be undertook to break this wedge. Foint of view was that the losses On the other hand the German denburg won Tenuenberg. Not man efforts in the stupendous light railroad from Budapest to coming harvest. Even if Budap- supplemented by that of an army, Their plan was to attack the Ger- of the Allies in each offensive yet was there any suggestion of a winter campaign toward the Via Lemberg. Finally still further to ast were not reached, the deva 18 at Santiago. Thus, while made from the north and zouth, were tremendously in excess of doubt as to German ability totals and the Niemen had been the southeast, suggesting the station would be terrible. There nothing but occasional long-range foreing the two sides of the cor- their own. Champagne, Neuve maintain the defensive, to hold directed to an effort to break Rus Nicaragua crossing in Central was too the possibility of Rou bombardments what she had won, to make a de- sia's hold upon Galicis. The huge Amerioa, is the Beskid or Ver-manian intervention, of new Ser victorious Tarks and their Ger- garrison at 8. Mihiel to retreat ined in German reports tremendous disturbed the ridor together and compelling the Chapelle, St. Mibiel, all represent fence lasting over years and ex- losses at Ladz and at the Bzure, coke Paes, much more difficult, vian advances, all to be directed man associates in the forts, an order not to be surrounded. To and sterile storifices of men. To acting a tall from her enemies in the splendid victory at the Mazuri- much longer than the other three, at Hungary. life and treasure beyond their en- an Lakes, had been attempts to and carrying the main railroad
Anglo-French army, commanded do thie large masses of infantry, this the Allies retorted with in- durance. But the dream
Were such a situation to arrive, by General D'Amade, the French supported by artillery, were cou cressing insistence that the compel the Russians to recall from line between Budapest and Lem-it was wholly conceivable that general who had conquered the centrated north of Toul on a front German losses in each case had "world power" had vanished, Galicia the masses which were berg. patently vanished, however dist beating down Austrian military
Hungarian influence at Vienna Shawia Province of Morocco for from Pont-a-Mousson on the Mo been greater. A fair decision La December, when the Rae would compel a separate peace France in 1911, was reported to selle to Apremont near the Meuse, between the two claims could not ant was the day when down; power. The failure of all this sians had driven the Austrians for the whole Empire. In such have sailed from Tunis, to have while other masses were pushed yet be made. Still it was fair fall," Bernhardi'e alternative, effort, both to relieve Austria and out of Galicia for the second time, an effort the Bohemian Slave landed in Egypt; finally Athens south from Verdun to drive the to say that nowhere had the Allies would even be thought of in Ber- to take Warsaw and the line of Russian cavalry orossed the would unquestionably support despatches announced that an ad- Germans down the eastern slopes made any real gain in ground. the Vistula, was now clear. Dukla and reached the Hungarian the Magyare, and together their vance guard had passed the Egean of the Heights of the Mouse at Yet everywhere, in Flanders, in Coincident with the disclosure On the military side the effect Plain. Russian infantry pene influence would be decisive, un ports of Greece and Bulgaria and Les Eparges and Coimbre ugon Alsace, where a new offensive war of this Germau frampoof mind was was even greater. While Austria trated several of the other passes. less German military force sup entered the Gulf of Saros.
the Plain of the Woovre. Between breaking out, the growing 'confidence revealed held Przemyel, which commanded Bat reinforced by the Germane, pressed Austrian desires. But if
in Champagne, Meantime it is necessary to re- the two French forces north of between the Meuse and the in official statements from Paris the main trunk line east and west new Austrisa armies returned to this happened, Hungary might, cord that the Allied defeat had a Firey and south of Verdus, the Moselle atont St. Mibiel, it was and London. A French review of in Galicia, Russian communica the battle and drove the Russians with the aid of her invaders, marked efect in lowering the German wedge was perhaps plain that the Allies were "nib- the first six months of the camp-tions were interrupted, Rassian north and east of the mountain make a separate pesce, and obtain prestige of the enemies of the fifteen miles wide, bling, and that at all these points nign supplied a wealth of detail armies along the Carpathians in orests, save at the Dukla, where with the aid of another Czar that Tark in the Near East. Bulgaria Once more, as in the Cham- the Germany were on the defen to demonstrate the deterioration peril. At Vicksburg Grant bad the Russians burg on. From independence which she bad lost and Greece were still neutral aud|pagne, the fighting was desperate, sive and, as their own bulletins of German armies under the ter to deal with Pemberton in his December to March the fighting because of Russian intervention the political parties and forces and the German and French revealed, fghting desperately, it rible strain of earlier offensive front, with Johnston in his rear in the Carpathians was steady and in the nineteenth century, operations, the frightful mortality The parallel was perfect, the out desperate. By the time Frzemysl
favouring neutralily, and friendly reports conflicting. The French successfully, to hold their own, among clicers, the lessening come identical. What the Miss fell, the Austrians had succeeded prevent such a catastrophe, Ger- immediate and considerable ad- mans down the slopes of the Again, it was probable that to to Germany, were able to tora to claimed to have driven the Ger efficiency of new levies. In the issippi was to the North, the Crain debouching from the Lupków, man high command would con- vantage the Allied obeck. In Mease, to have taken the Heights
The Coming of May 1. minds of French military obser-cow-Lemberg railroad was to vere, sot forth in those statements, Russia. With the loss of Vicks were in the upper vallege of the train troops in Russian Poland and parties appeared anew in Servian Germans long maintained that all wrongly, had been ascribed the Uzok, and Beskid Passee and sent to the withdrawal of all Aus- point of fact Bulgarian raiding of Les Eparges and Coimbre; the To Kitchener, rightly or the German machine was begic burg the Southern frontier re-Sin, the Daeister, and the Stryj about Cracow, now serving Ger- Macedonia. In Greece, Venize French attacks had been repulsed phrase, "I do not know when the ning to crack under the strain. coiled to the eastward; Grant on the Galician side of the Car man, not Austrian purposes and los, the champion of Hellenic in- In the same fashion the French wer will end, but I do know that
British opinion was little dif resumed his work at Chattanooga, pathians, frent. To Field-Marshal Sir Jobu the Grand Duke Nicholas at, the
send them, with German re- tervention, announced his retire-recorded, the Germans denied it will not begin until May 1 In this time the objective of inforcements, to check the Rus ment from public life, gains to the south from Firely As this day approached, there was Trench was attributed the asser- Carpathians.
Austro-German strategy had been siana along the Theias. But this in the esme fashion Turkish and Font-a-Mousson. Yet it unmistakable expectation all over tion that an early end to the wor
Russian victory automatically to relieve Przemysl; that of Bas would mean the abandonment of prestige gained immensely; the seemed fair to believe that the the world that it would be signa- Wow now to be expected. The released above 200,000 veteran gian strategy had been to hold the territory conquered in Poland. German party in Constantinople French reports were accurate, lised by some operations that British success at Nenve Chapelle, troops for active service at the back the Austro-German hosts the retreat from the Bzura, the acquired new influence. The since they narrated in great de would disclose the purpose of the somewhat tarnished by official ad- true front, the mountain ridges until the captare of the Galician Raws, and the Nids, to the Saltan himself condescended to tail the ground taken. Bat up to Allies. mission of bad management which to the west. How grave was the fortress should release the besieg Wartha. It would mean a tre- receive the correspondents of the the third week in April no deci Bat the fighting of April, the lessened the extent of the victory necessity of the two Kaisers to ing army and thus give them amendous drain on German mifit neutral press and narrated to sive success could be claimed, eteady nibbling of Joure and that might have been achieved, prevent such a release, their decisive advantage in numbers. ary resources which would compel them bie confidence in the im- the German wedge still held from French, suggested that May, like and increased the casualty list, combined efforts in recent monthe Four months of fighting, con an acceptance of the defensive pregnability of the forte defend the Moselle to the Meuse, although the preceding months, might pass was accepted as proof that the Ger- bad demonstrated. Apart from ceivably the most nan line could be pierced, French the tremendous efforts of the fighting of the whole war up to front, at a time when the western Even in Rome the effect was gested the possibility of a Ger- or decisive conflicte. To wear desperate role permanently on the eastern ing the water gats to his capital. rumours, wholly unreliable, ang-without seeing any considerable and British observers alike agreed Germans in Poland and East that time, of battles fought in campaign had already dropped to marked and Italian appetite once man retreat. that the Allies had established a Prussia, the Germen General Staff snowdrifts and over mountains a defensive, more waited upon a clear oppor
down the Germans, rather than decisive superiority of numborain had sought directly to aid the turned to glaciers by the winter Austro-German, victory, on the tunity for easy rewards.
to attempt any spectacular, costly, Joffre's "Nibbling."
and conceivably fruitless, general the West, agreed in the declara Austrians, G.rman corps had been tion that Germany was already sent to Bakovins, had flowed is, ended in Russian success. other hand, would mean the tem St. Mities.
Early in the year General Jaffre offensive, appeared more
mare Grouad they had lost, and they porary interruption of the Russian appro tobing the limit of her back over the Cownland and re- were now well eset of the range, but offensive, new deadlook from broken out, with a great offensive enigmatic phrase that he was command.-H. Simonds, in the In February the French had had explained his strategy in the to be the plan of Allied HEN reserves and beginn og to suffer taken the capital, Carnovits, bed Presmysl had not been relieved, the Roumanian frontier to the in the Champagne district be-},"' still nibbling. As the messon American Reviews of Reviews
liu.