New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-14
SIEDELCE TAKEN
BY GERMANS
Russians Threaten Com
municatiOns of Baltic
Invaders.
CARS ARMIES SAFE
Petrograd Announces Success
of Withdrawal of War.
saw Forces.

London, Aug. l3.-tleld Marsnal
Won Hindenburg, upon whom the
most difficult tasks are imposed, has
personally taken command of the
German army attacking Kovno, and,
according to the German official re-
port issued tonight, has made fur
ther progress in the fighting against
the Russians in that region.
The selection of Germany's ma
tional hero for the duty of capturing
the fortress of Kovno, which stands
between the Germans and Wilma and
the Warsaw-Petrograd Railway, is
an indication of the Importance the
German General Staff attaches to
this operation and to the serious
ness of the defeat they have sus-
tained there in a week of terrific
assaults and staggering losses.
The Russian War Office, in an Off
cial communication tonight, admits
the evacuation of the towns of
Sokolow, Siedelce and Lukow, to the
east Of Warsaw, but claims that the
Germans in the region of Riga have
been driven back, and that near
Kovno, under the pressure Of the
Russians, they have abandoned their
attack.
The news that the civilians had
commenced to evacuate Kovno as
we'll as Wilma led to the belief in
many quarters that the Russians
either had decided TO give them up
or had no hope of holding them,
Now, however, they are fighting
hard to retain both cities, and in the
latest official report from Petrograd
it is claimed that the Russians have
repulsed the German attacks, except
at one point, where a desperate ar
tillery engagement is in progress.
Further north, between Poniewesch
and Dvinsk, where General Won Buelow
week ago was advancing rapidly tow
ard the railway, the Germans apparent
ly have suffered a setback, for the Rus
SLAMS now speak Of pressing them and
declare they have reoccupied the town
of Toviny, which is considerably west
of the point to which the Germans had
penetrated.
South of Riga also the Germans are
said to be doing little more than hold
ing their own, so that the talked OF
advance toward Petrograd seems to be
developing verJ slowly.
Siedelce Falls to Germans.
On the other hand, the Germans con-
tinue to drive in the Russians to the
northeast and east of Warsaw, and with
the capture of Siedelce are within a
short distance of the Bug River, one
of the main supports of the Brest-
Litoysk line, which it was believed the
Russians originally intended to hold
but which the German offensive to the
northeast may prevent. Field Marshal
Won Mackensen, who commands the
Germans in the southeast, between the
Vieprz and the Bug, again is reported
to have been held up by a Russian
counter attack, and il is declared in
military circles that if he is not further
south than he was a week ago he GER
tanly is not further north.
The military critics disagree as TO
the probable line on which Grand Duke
Nicholas will elect to make his stand,
but a majority of them consider it
hardly likel:' that he will try to hold
the Brest-Litoysk front.
The fact that the Germans are able
to advance with comparative rapidity
due east from Warsaw, while being
checked on the right and left fanks,
has strengthened the conviction in Eng
land and in Russia that the stout re-
sistance offered by the Russian wings
mas luAuEeu the Shlc "lAhutaWai VI bHS
main body of troops from the Warsaw
salient. Contrary to many reports, the
main line of communication between
the Polish capital and Petrograd has
not been cut through. 1t would be cut
if the Germans were TO take Dvinsk.
Move Toward Petrograd Slow.
The capture of the Warsaw sector.
where the Russians are making little
attempt to check the German advance,
Of the Polish city Of Siedelce, hfty-hvs
miles southeast of Warsaw, was an.
nounced to-day at Berlin Army Head
quarters.
The city of Siedelce lay directly in
the path of the TeutonE forces which
pressed eastward frOns Warsaw after