New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-18
The Situation in Poland and Its
Relation to the Grand STRAIT
egv of the War.

neighborhood Of Warsaw and Ivangorod, in Central
Poland. has been taken by many critics to indicate
a general retirement on the part of the Russians
in the eastern theatre of war If the Germans anC
,ustrians are near Warsaw and Ivangorod, they
have penetrated more than one hundred miles from
the Silesan frontier. So it has been hastily as
sumed that the Russians have been pushed back
more than one hundred miles into the heart Of
Poland.
That is not the case. Russian Poland is blunt
wedge driven between East and West Prussia on
the north. and Galics. on the south. 1t eX'enoS
FIR more than two hundred miles into what is no"
bos,ile territory It is exposed to invasion from
tbroa sides and in arranging for its defence
AGAINST attacks coming from the north west anu
soutb the Russians were obliged to select as thel
first line Of resistance the viStula River running
,ortb from the Galician border to Warsaw, and
.hor tho Narew River. extending from a point
northwest Of Warsaw 70 Ossowiec' near the e1-
,r.r,o southeastern corner of East Prussia. war
.ov and Novo Gcorsieysk are the extreme western
,,,nosts Of this line. Beyond it the whole western
section Of Poland has been only lightly defenued
by cavalry.
Tho troops destined to operate in Central Poland
,roro ,obilized at Brest Litovsk hundred miles
cast Of warsaw From that point they moved
forward TO Warsaw and the line Of the Nlstula'
Rut the upper Vistula army did not reach its sta
tim in time to head off an Austro-Hungarian in
yasion Of Southern Poland. Back in August two
Hungarian armies marched from the direction OF
Cracow. crossed the vistua, fought partially sue
oossfrl hattie at Krasnik and pushed the Russians
in that region back toward Lubln
When the Russian armies modified at hiev ana
Odessa broke into Eastern Galicia and captured
7 aroberq the Austro- Hungarian armies in Poland
were taken on the flank and had to retreat with
serious losses toward Cracow. The Russians then
gained the line of the upper Vistua and of the san
which extends from the Vistula near Sandomierz
southeast to the Carpathian Mountains They
csptured Jaroslav, invested Przemysl and then adj
vapced westward toward TarnOw. But even at
nembica. on the Wstoka River, the furthest point
Of their infantry advance in Gslicia, they were
still little east Of the parallel Of longitude run
ming through Warsaw.
In the north, in East Prussia. the Russians col
AS far west as Allenstein. which is due north Of
Warsaw. But they were badly defeated there
early in September by Colonel General Won Hin
denburg. and their northern wing is now operatin;
some seventy five miles further east on the Eas
Prussian border The Russians have therefore
never been in force except on the Vistua River be
tween Warsaw aud Thorn. at any point much ives
Of Warsaw.
Early in the war the Germans occupied LODI,
Polish city about half way to Warsaw from The
Silesian border. Austrollungaridn forces have
also been active in Southern Poland west of the
Vistula, so that the passage Of the enemy through
West Poland 10 the neighborhood of Warsaw anC
lyangorod encountered practically no resistance
The Russian centre could not be safely thrust out
west OF the Vistula until Galicia was cleared and
the city of Cracow was taken. Instead Of waiting
at Cracow and on the Silesian frontier for the
Russian advance, the newly collected German ar
mics on the eastern front and the reinforced Aus
tro Hungarian armies have pressed forward tC
give battle on the general line Of the San and the
Vistula. Operations in this region are in
charge Of General Won lIndenburg, the victor OF
Ortesburg and the present popular idol in Ger
many. The Russians have evidently reformed their
line 10 meet his attack, aud that fact accounts for
the reports from Austrian sources of a retirement
in Gacia and the partial raising Of the siege of
Przemysl.
Germany has at last gathered together for
midabe army in the eastern war theatre The
original plans OF the General stan called for a
strictly defensive campaign, with the use Of a
minimum Of troops. on the eastern front and the
completest possible concentration against France
The Russian invasion Of East Prussia upset these
plans, political pressure debating detachment to
the east Of forces which should have gone to the