Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-03-27
NO STOP AT HARDIN START ON COAST line
RUSSIAN ARMY TO CONTINUE
WESTWARD.
Unless LineVitCh Can Check japan.
csc at Sungari II Is Not Be-
iieved Another Stand Will Be
riade-Preparing VIadivOStOk for
Long Siege.

St. Petersburg, March 25.-The pos.
sibility that if the Russian army
should be unable to hold the lower
line of the Sungari river at Chunchi-
atsu, it may be compelled to retreat
not only to Hardin, but also further
westward along the railroad, abandon.
ing to the Japanese Northern Man
churia and the Russian maritime
Amur provinces as we'll, is the latest
startling news from the 'front.'
The strategic weak ness of Gen. Line
vitch's position as he falls back north.
ward, is made clear by Gunshu dis.
patches to the Associated Press, in
which it is pointed out that unless
Chunchiatsu and the Sungari lines, a
scant hundred miles below Hardin,
can be held, it will be difficult to
maintain position further back before
Hardin, where, with the front of the
army paralleling the railroad, the
practicability of turning movement
to completely sever communications
and isolate the army 5000 miles from
home, is too serious for Russian con-
sideration. In seiw of this possibil-
ity, the dispatch alluded to suggests
the advisability of Immediately pro-
viding Vladivostok with war NUM-
tions and supplies for two years
siege. The correspondent estimates
the number of reinforcements needed
to give Gen. Linevitch the requisite
superiority in force, at 100000.
Censor Passes II.
That such a dispatch should have
been permitted to pass the censor at
the front is significant, and if Gen.
Linevitch has communicated SINH
lar estimate oe the situation direct to
Emperor Nicholas, it may account for
his majesty's increased disposition to
listen to peace counsels and open ne
gotiations before the japanese est4b-
lish themselves on Russian soil. With
Manchuria entirely abandoned to the
japanese and Vladivostok left as Rus
STA s solitary sentinel on the Pacific,
it is realized that Russia will be prac-
tically at Japan's mercy in the matter
of peace terms.
1t can now be definitely stated that
the decision to appoint Grand Duke
Nicholas Nicholaivitch to the supreme
command in the far East, was recon
sidered because the outlook at the
front does not warrant the risk of COM
promising the prestige of member of
the imperial family.
Military authorities here believe
that unless Gen. Linevitch is sure of
his ability to hold the lower Sungari
line, he will risk his whole army if he
fortifies and concentrates there, as if
he should be defeated. his line of re-
treat lies to two sides Of triangle,
the third side of which is open to the
enemy's advance.
At the general staff the view that
Gen. Linevitch may be compelled to
abandon Hardin and retire toward
Lake Baikal, leaving Vladivostok to
it's fate, is regarded as almost unwar-
ranted by anything that is officially
known here, it being pointed out that
Field Marshal Oyama will have long
and laborious task to bring up an army
of 300, 900 or 400, 900 men.
Meanwhile Russian reinforcements
are arriving at Hardin at the rate of
200 men per day. Nevertheless, it
is significant that there is now a we'll
marked peace party at the winter
palace.