Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-19
BACKS PRACTICALLY
At Gates OF. LEMBERG
Russians Making Last Desperate
Stand for Defense OF City They
Have Held So Long.
GERMANS HOT ON THEIR HEELS
Less Than Fifteen Miles Away, Mas
sive Teutonic Armies Are Pound
ing Away With Shell and Shrapnel.
Large Losses on Both Sides.

ing Away With Shell and ShrapneI
Large Losses on Both Sides.
! Especial Cable to The Times Dispatch. I
/ l-oNDON, June 1S.-Their backs prac-
| ucailE at the gates of Lembcrg. the
! Russians are making their last des-
pcrate stand for the defense of the
city which they have held so long. Less
than fifteen miles away, the massive
! German armies are pounding away
| with shell and shrapnel Already
! large portions of tho Cars forces have
J been driven across .hcir own frontier.
ana Ausiro-German troops. hot on their
| hcels, have captured the city of Tar
/ hoErad' In Russian Poland, and are
S'oFmlhE the heights north OF KreZow
! The battle for lemberg is raging on
front of sixty miles. stretching down
! from the Russian frontier to the
| marshes of Dnicster
/ The key of the Cars defense 10 ,t
| Grodck, and here tho Teutons are d.
recting their heaviest blows. Already
they have succeeded in broaching parts
of the Russian front. At places the
Germans and AustrIans are only ten
miles from Lcmberg itself.
Unprecedented losses on both sides
mark the fighting. But for this final
battle the opposing armies have each
! been brought up to full strength
thousands of Germans and Austrians
, pouring down the Carpathian slopes.
| have stiffencd and strengthened the ar
mics OH the Dniestcr, and thousands
more have filled the torn ranks of the
troops operating against Lembcrc
from the north and east The Russians.
too. have been REINFORCED 10 full
! strength, and have received fresh CON
roys of heavy artillery. Many of the
| new Russian troops, It is reported
from Berlin. are unframed territorials.
IMMERSED in warfare and poorly armed
FATE OF CAPITAL
HANGS IN BALANCE
The fate OF the Galician capitaI de-
Ponds upon the ability of the Russians
10 hold this line, for their flank is
effectively safeguarded on the south
by tho Dniester marshes. and beyond
| these. to the east, by the Russian ar
mics, which of late have more than
held the Teutons. and in two days
have taken 1900 prisoners
The present line of contact begins
beyond the Russian frontier, passes
through Narol and Mlasto TO Magic
row. twenty-five miles northwest of
Lemberg. and then along the lakes to
Grodek and the swamp valley of the
Wesuka, 10 the great marshes At
Grodek itself. seventeen miles almost
due west of I.embcre, the dcfcnscs are
naturally strong. The Russian line
here is protected by series of six
connecting lakes. and much marshy
ground. cut by dykes. Between two
of these lakes, on narrow strip OF
! land. lies the road to Grodek. with
the suburb on the western side, which
the Austrians say they captured by
storm early yesterday.
The Austrian defense Of the Cirodek
line last September was one Of the
critical episodes of the war which re
suited in the Russians breaking
through and overrunning Galicia.
The armies now engaged are twice
as numerous as they were then. and
conditions are different, the line then
being defended from the east instead
of from the west.
While the army of General Won Mack
enscn. operating from the San. has
driven the Russians back to Grodck
and across their own frontier, captur-
ing important strategic positions on
Russian soil the Austro- German armies
further south are pounding the Slav
I lines on the Dn"ster. Massive forces
under Field Marshal Won Hoepzendorf
arc smashing away AT the Russian de-
| lenses. battling for control of the river
crossings.
Heavy lighting also is going on i'm
the extreme southeast, where the Rus
slams have been driven into their own
! territory of Ressarahia. There seems
to be some doubt as 10 the result here.
conflicting reports being received from
Bucharest.
Dispatches from the Roumanian can
ital to Berlin. rclaycd here. state that
the Teuton armies under General Plan
ger have advanced about ten miles into
Ressaraba, covered by their heavy ar
tillery, and now menace Chotin. They
also are said to have occupied Novo
selica. across the northern boundary
OF Roumania. On the River pru,b Tho
( Russians, in retiring, the dispatchoe
state. have burned their own yil,apoe
behind them.
The official statement received here
tonight from Vienna bears out thcso
dispatches. stating that Russian conn
! terattacks against Pnanzcrs troons
were repulsed with heavy losses. NOR.
than 1000 prisoners being taken
| bucharest dispatches direct to London
! however assert that Bessarabia has
! been cleared of the invaders who Inv.
/ been driven back into Bukowino ana
| Novosclica rccapturcd
RUSSIA SAID To Vt>,r