New-York tribune., 1915-03-30


We have word to-day that the German
engineers have been sen. forward from
certain points where the battle line is
more advanced than II Is here, 70 begln
tie rebuilding of bridges and railways
which will facilitate the advance tow
erd Warsaw. Here we are, thirty-nVe
miles from the centre of warsaw or
little more than twenty from its west
ern line Of forts Evidently certain
troops lying TO the north Of us are
nearer than that.
Meanwhile. some of the greatest
fighting in history continues, ana II
much OF il seems more like feats OF en-
gineering than battles, 1t is none the
less desperate The enormous activity
and energy OF this Warsaw campaign
can be indicated by no figures. Inc
mind Of the layman simply tails TO
grasp 1t, let him go over th5 actual hg-
ures and the actual scenes as often as
he will
1t is when he tries to get the busi-
ress clear In his mind that he ceases 10
wonder that the lion eyes Of Won HIM
derburg are veiled by weary abstrac-
ton and that his staff encourages MIN
to give a twenty-minute sitting 70 d
painter every day to the end that thls
terrific strain may be lifted from ms
train for a little while. Tie man mas
to think in the terms Of frontiers
From TiIsit to Rumania'
Counting in the operations IN last
Prussia. his mind has to carry from -,
sit on the north 20 the northern bound-
ary of Rumania. Along a prodigious
outward curve. along a still vaster IN,
ward curve. and along another outward
curve that is greater than the other TWO
combined that mind has to travel daily.
In other words, he must think from
TiIsit to Bolimow, from Bolimow to
Czenstochau, and from Czenstochau to
the Bukowina. The best soldiers IN
Germany and Austria are thinking with
L;m-Yon Eichhorn and Mackensen,
and Suren. and Won Morgen on the
north. Won Buelow, too, and Won Lutz-
ner and Lietzmann. And, toward the
south. Woyrsch, with his Si.esians and
Austrians
The operations arc ceaseless and pitt
less. and though the situation is con
stantly presenting new aspects the Ger
man advance seems as ineXOrabie as
fate. At some points it appears 70 be
as slow as the workings of fate. In the
earlier operations around LODI there
was one position where the Germans
were pounding away for five weeks. Al
another the siege business-for that is
what this kind of fighting comes to
lasted two weeks.
Russian Rifles Found.
One way to get an idea of the extent
of this tussian campaign is to lay hold
of isolated facts and dwell on them.
For example: An officer assigned TO
the work of salvage IN a district where
there had been heavy fighting collected
twelve baggage cars full OF Russian
rifles in five days. These had been
gathered up from the fields and from
the euemy's trenches.
And again: During the seven weeks
ending with New Years eve the Ger
mans took 10000 Russian prisoners OF
war and captured 100 cannon and 300
machine guns. Since then that record
has been surpassed. .,
And the Germans can do things with
dazzling CELEBRITY, too. At the time they
were compelled to fall back from Lodz
TO SieradZ an officer Of the engineers
was ordered 10 dismantle the bridge
over the Warte so that it could not be
repaired in less than two months. lie
did it. In far less than two months he
received orders to have the bridge
hex in commission i'm two weeks. lie
surveyed the ruin he had wrought, set
his laws hard and executed the order.