Western Kansas world., 1915-08-07
TEUTONS SMASHON
TOWARD WARSAW
Kaiser's Armies Drawing Their
Lines Closer About the
Polish Capital.
ONLY A MIRACLE CAN SAVE IT
edges Loss of Several Towns
London Expects the Fall.

London, July 2i-The seemingly ir-
resistible march of the Austro-Ger-
man armies is winning for them town
after town in Russian Poland and in
| other territory through which
stretches the 1,O00-mile battle front in
the East
Two pivotal points in their drive in
Poland have been turned by the Teu-
tonic allies. Ostrolenka, strong
hold on the Narew river, seventy
miles northeast of Warsaw. and Ra-
dom. hfty-seven miles to the south OF
that town and thirty miles from Ivan
gorod. another of the great fortresses
which girdle the Polish capital, have
fallen. according to Berlin and Vienna.
How close the advance guard of the
Austro-Germans have pressed toward
Warsaw is indicated by the official
statement of the Russian war office.
which says that the guns of the fort
ress of Nova Georgievsk. nineteen
miles northwest of the capital, have
shelled the heads of the on-oOming
columns.
Retreatins Before Austro-Germans.
All along the line from the Baltic
to the region of Sokal, across the Bug
river in Galicia, the Austro-Germans
are advancing, and though the fight
ing is severe. the Russians almost
everywhere are falling back before
vicious attacks or retiring voluntarily
to new positions. Where the Russians
are offering resistance, the Germans
and Austrians assert, they are suffer
ing defeat, and thousands of prison
ers and numerous guns have been cap
tured by the Teutons.
Petrograd admits further advances
for Russia's adversaries in the region
of Riga and Shawl. Northwestern
Russia; the capture of trenches by
them in the Suwalki region, and the
extension of the Austro-German lines
on the right bank of the Bug.
If Warsaw can be denied them it
will be almost a miracle.
London Won't be Surprised.
This seems to be the consensus of
opinion. even among those in Eng
land who heretofore have been hope
full that the Russians would turn and
deliver a counter blow. News of the
evacuation of the Polish capital fol-
lowed by the triumphant entry OF the
Germans amid such scenes as were
enacted at Przemysl and Lemberg
would come as no surprise.
Russians Admit German Victories.
Petrograd, July 2O.-German col
umns have occupied Tukum, thirty
eight miles west of Riga, and Doblen,
eighteen miles west of Mitau, accord
ing to an official statement issued at
the headquarters of the Russian gen.
eral staff. After capturing these
points they advanced southwark
against Hofzumberge and Benen.
Russians Retreat on Long Front.
The Austro-Hun garians have forced
a crossing of the Wolicza river, in the
neigh borhood of Grabovetz. and ad-
vanced across the Bug to the north of
Sokal. the Russians having retreated
in the night along the whole front be-
tween the Vistula and the Bug. The
Germans, from July 16 to July 1S,
captured 10000 prisoners and twenty
three machine guns.
Can Warsaw be Held?
London. July 2J.-Can Warsaw be
held by the Russians? With the Ger
man field marshals. Won Hindenburg
on the north and Won Mackensen ON
the south. whipping forward the two
ends of great arc around the city, it
is realized in England that Grand
Duke Nicholas. commander-in-chief of
the Russian armies. has the most Sc
we're task imposed on him since the
outbreak of the European war, and the
military writer's of some of the Lon
don papers seem to think his task
well nigh impossible.
Too Much for the Russians?
There was sustained confidence
that Germanys previous violent at
tacks along the Rzurka-Rawka front
would never pierce the Russian line
but the present colossal coordinate
movement was developed with such
suddenness and carried so far without
meeting serious Russian resistance
that more and more the British press
is discounting the fall of the Polish
capital. and while not giving up all
hope of its retention. is Pointing out
the enormous difficulty the Russian
armies have labored under from the
start by the existence of such a sal
lent