Evening star., 1915-02-20
WARSAW MAY BE OBJECT
OF PRESENT GERMAN MOVE
Critics Declare Worlds Strongest
Fortress Blocks Path of Gen.
Won Hindenburg.
LINE UP FOR NEW BATTLE
Decisive Engagement Expected 20 Be
Fought on Banks of River
Pruth, in Crownland of
Bukowfna.

GENEVA, via Paris. February
2o-A dispatch from Cracow
says the Russians have begun to
lombard Przemysl with new
heavy artillery, and that they
have driven the Austrians back
along the line Krosno-J Jaslo-Gor-
lice.
The Austrians are reported to
have suffered heavy losses in the
past three days at Wyszkow, near
Dukla Pass.
Trying to Flank Warsaw.
LONDON, February 20.-Gerrnan
movements on the northern extremity
of the western battlefront hold first
place in the military situation, par
ticularly SO as Petrograd believes that
Field Marshal Won Hindenburg Is try
ing to flank Warsaw from the north.
task which the Russians think is rather
daring and fraught with great risks
unless the German cOllinAnQers
forces are overwhelming.
The first rush of the Germans over
the East Prussian frontier seems to
have spent itself. The Germans now
are reported to be locked with Russian
reinforcements at many points. from
the Niemen river below Kovno down
the right bank of the Lower Vistula.
and military experts in London say it
! Is difficult to visualize this position.
Decisive Battle Near.
The campaign in the Austrian crown
land of Bukowina continues with pros
poets of developing into a decisive bat
| tie on the banks Of the River Pruth.
In Galicia the repeated violent Aus
trian attacks against the Russian posi-
| tions in the Carpathian passes have been
costly to both sides, but they have left
the alignment little changed.
In the west the Germans are hammer
ing away in an efdeavor to recover lost
ground, and are reported to be keeping
the British troops especially busy to the
southeast of Ypres, in Belgium and else
where along their comparatively extended
| front, but, according to French and
| British claims without making appreci-
| able gains.
Difficult Road to Warsaw.
| The Times Petrograd correspondent
says that if. as believed in the Rus
sian capital, Field Marshal Won Hinden-
burg Is trying to reach Warsaw by an
| advance on the north bank of the Wis
| tula he can hardly succeed unless he
has enormous forces at his disposal.
ha
| lis protected by the Russian fortress
of Nowo Georgievsk. reputed to he the
strongest in the world. while further
north the Germans must deal with
| Ossowetz. which stayed their advance
from East Prussia.
Military circles consider that the
Withdrawal of the Russians from
Bukowina was dictated by necessity.
AS when the ice melted in the river the
Russians would have been cut off from
the opposite bank of the Pruth and
faced by superior forces of the enemy.
1T is reported from W Warsaw that
Sochaczew. thirty miles west OF that
city. has been almost deserted by its
inha bitants. Those remaining are cut
off from the outside world. They have
been for forty days between the Ger
man and Russian fire and dare not
leave the town. They are compelled
to live in the cellars. There is no
food in the town and the people are
suffering severely"
Pursuit of the Russians
BERLIN. via London. February 90
Explaining the situation I'm the east,
Maj. Moraht. military expert of the
Tageblatt, points out that reports from
general headquarters show the pursuit
of the Russians is proceeding in three
directions.
The northernmost has resulted in the
capture of Taurogen, but not without
fighting along the line from Tilsit to
Taurogen. The Russians, however,
soon were forced to retreat again. MAJ.
Moraht says. and il appears that no
reinIorcements have been sent them
from Kovno. He continues: There
also has been fighting northwest OF
Grodno. probably against the fortress
garrison sent ahead against the Ger
mans The situation is just favor
able in the district of the Narew river.
near Lolnza, where the Germans are
still contending with apparently fresh
Russian troops from the fortress at
Lomza-
This whole movement is the result OF
the Mazurian lake victory. 1t was well
prepared and splendidly carried out to
cover the right flank of the fortified
line north of Tarsam.
Mai Moraht declares the western sit
uation shows daily the hopelessness OF
the allies offensive. and adds:
Our procedure there stands in q
certain degree under the pressure OF
general conditions. We must, like Gen.
Lee, abandon for the time our bold
warfare and restrain ourselves to q
steady holding on"