Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-06-03
THE BATTLE FOR PRzEMYsL.

AS the Russian conquest of PrZemysl was tn
greatest land victory of the war, so the pros
pectiye Austro- German reoccupation of thi
stronghold will be the greatest. The wor
prospective" is used advisedly, for all sign
point to singing Russian defeat in the we
tering arena along the San.
The Austro- German forces must be nearly
not quite equal in numbers to the Russians fo
the Russians have suffered cruelty all winte
and spring and have lost hundreds upon hun
dreds of thousands in killed, wounded AM
prisoners. Furthermore, the Russian moral
has been severely shaken by the three grea
defeats in the Mazurian lakes region and tn
three repulses from Hungary. Each time, afte
penetrating deep into the enemy's country, th
Cars armies have been slashed so badly tina
they retired in something akin to demoraliza
ton.
disadvantage quite as serious under which
the Russians are laboring is the lack of mum
tons and equipment. They have lost a larg,
number of machine guns and field guns, motor
drawn equipment, rifles, field impedimenta o
oil sorts. In later battles some of the Regiments
have been scarcely armed at all. A few day!
ago the dispatches spoke of Germans taking
The Austro- Germans have surprised many
critics undoubtedly they have surprised til,
Russians with the driving strength of theil
spring campaign on the east. The theory of the
Allies was that the opening of the spring cam
paign on the west would relieve to an appre
ciable extent the furnishing pressure upon the
Russians just as last fall the Russian offensive
campaign forced the Germans to rush divisions
and corps back across Belgium and Germany
to defend the east border, thus relieving the
weight upon the western Allies. But apparently
this theory has not nlaterialized. just at the
time when Lord Kitchener's summer campaign
should be caving in the German west front, the
Teutonic Allies are able to detach a winning
army for the task of retaking Przemysl
and turning to ashes the dear-bought fruits OF
Russian victory And this is the more remark
able because at the same time Italy is hammer
ing at the southern door and her fresh troops
must be held off, The Teuton Allies are re
ported to have put 100000 men at this task.
Then, too, considerable number of German
officers and men are stiffening the backbone of
Turkish defense.
Two explanations for the present situation
are plausible-that the heralded western at
tack has materially failed or that the Russians
are so demoralized only a small force of Austro-
Germans is needed for the task of retaking
Prezmysl and sweeping the Slavs out of Ga
|icia. If the western attack has failed to pro-
duce the expected results, that is, if the Ger
man lines are SO fortified that a comparatively
small number of defenders can hold back the
Allies, Germany would be able to detach large
number of troops for the Galician campaign.
If the Russian organization has so far broken
down that it gives ground before small num-
Der of opponents, then Germany could keep
nearly full strength on the western front and
still accomplish the military purpose to the
east
German generals promised to have new
army of million men ready for the summer
campaign. Considering the strength they are
able to exhibit on all fronts simultaneously, a
large part or all of this million must be in the
field.
The situation emphasizes the probable long
duration of the war. Neither side has yet won
land victory sufficient to cripple the other
Both, in the language of the boxer, are "get-
ting their second wind now The prophesy of
three years of war looks less and less like ultra
Conservatism.
ELIMINATE THE DISTURBING FACTOR.