Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-03
FALL OF WARSAW NOT A FATAL BLOW
Russia Long Before War; Had Planned to Abandon Poland
Establish Main Line of Defense Back Of Bug and Nemen
Rivers-Poland Always Thought Indefensibe
By FRANK H. s1MoNDs.

was no real prospect of destroying her a..
the German position in the west had hecor.,
so strong that there Was equally little cbap,'
that the Anglo French armies could force {,
Accordingly, early in the year German hiv,
command turned its attention to the a.,
led partly by the fact that Austria ~
plainly tottering under Russian blows
The first step was to check Russian "a
vance in the Carpathians. Until the menao.
to Hungary was abolished, there could h
no safe offensive. This was done by send,n.
some German formations, drawn from h.
west, to stiffen the Austro- Hungarian arms,
from Czernowitz to Cracow Early in Aprn
the world became aware that Russian al
vance toward Hungary had been effectlve,
halted in the high Carpathians
The second step was TO clear Galicia q,
the Russians. This was accomplished by H.
direct blow at the Russian flank along M
Dunajec, where the Germans concentrated
tremendous park of heavy artillery, A
enormous store of ammunition and all A
new formations which had just been turn
out of their training camps. with a s.
periority of numbers and munitions and win
far better led troops, the Germans struck n,
Russians about May 1, and by the closns
week Of June there were left only fer
Russians defending the eastern corner Il
Galicia.
Poland Again a Salient
Germany was now back at the beginnInr
of things, Poland was again salient h
could be attacked from the north By troop,
coming from East Prussia, from the south
by troops coming from Galicia 1t could
also be menaced, frontally, near Warsaw BY
hot had haId ataylra Il,,,r
since December. All this time there had been
gathering new German masses under Hin.
denburg in the north. Now, these wers
turned south, while at the same time the
mass Of the troops Mackensen had employed
to clear Galicia, reinforced by the main Aus.
trian masses, were sent north just as the
first Austrian army had gone north toward
Lublin in August.
The Russians were now in the precise posi-.
tlon which Russian high command had fore
seen long before the war. They were &C.
tually defending a great salient while upon
both sides of the salient were closing tm
jaws of the Teutonc nut-cracker To hoI
Warsaw meant to run the risk of losing ali
their armies. To retreat, if retreat were stIl
possible, meant the surrender of a position
which they had expected to surrender nearly
year before, which was immensely valuable,
both because of its strategic positonf as the
centre of roads, railroads and bridges over
the broad Vistula, but was not vital, was not
the capital of the country, had lost its Of.
fensive value, since German and Austrian
armies now possessed a decisive superiority
in numbers and in munitions, and Russit
was condemned to the defensive for many
weeks, perhaps months.
uolIo,,, N;o+o,,, e.. Ca,.,,,nn,,
Not Russian failure, but the failure OF the
British to get their million on the field o.
Flanders, and the coincident failure to foro
the Dardaneles and thus open the way 70
munition Russia's masses last sprihg-thess
explain the fall of Warsaw and the success
of German strategy
But the extent of this success is wholly
contingent on the degree to which Russian
military power is permanently crippled Los
ing Galicia was severe blow to Austria
but was not fatal and Galicia was presently
won back. II Russian armies now escape
there will simply be change of advantage
the Teutonic allies will hold Poland insteai
of Russias holding Gallcia. But both Rus
sia and Austria realized at the outset Of The
war that these frontier provinces were pawni +
that might be lost, and made their PLAN I
with full realization of their possibility
What 1t is essential to recall is that Ger.
many has only now succeeded in doing whni \
she hoped to do ten months ago, and that 81, +
has not disposed of her enemies in the west
which, as German high command saw IT, vas .
the first essential step, If there were TO be
victory in the whole war. Anything lea
than an approximate annihilation of Russia
military power will be an empty success fof
Csar cnnfrit4 H
utes nothing in the military way TO ending
the war.