The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-01-05
RUSSIA Gets BUSY
Military Activity Slumps While
g Nation Makes Munitions.
Rifles, Cannon and Shells Pour
Into the Country.
FORCES NUMBER II MILLION
Gear Plans Crushing Offensive
When Spring Opens.
Effective Fighting Follows
Rush of Supplies to Army.
FORCES NUMBER IL MILLION

Petrograd. Jan. 5.-Watchful wait
ing, that welI-knOwn American policy
regarding Mexico some months ago,
sums up the war situation in Russia
to-day. but watchful waiting in Russia
has a meaning all its own
Whereas Uncle Sam, after expert
encing a few pin-pricks in his pa
tience remained passive. the great
Russian bear after sustaining a
healthy, nfe-sized wallOp on his ten
der snout, let out a roar that shook
the earth continents away. Reduced
to plain English the roar was;
Give me munitions; I've got
enough men"
That was several months ago. Rus
siais greatest arsenal, near Petrograd,
Ind been blown to smithereens; the
armies Of Grand Duke Nicholas yield
ing to the Austro-German steam roller.
had been driven from the Carpathians
back into Russia and had lost War
saw and the whole of Poland; there
was political dissension in Russia
alarming semi-revolutionary outbreaks
were occurring here and there; the
ever advancing enemy was threatening
even MOSCOW and the greatest seaport
in the Bal:,c. Riga. appeared to be
about 20 fall.
No Sleep for the Bear.
IN winter. bears usually hibernate,
but all these things and more which
happened to the Russian bear in the
simmer and fall of 1915 precluded
any idea of his going into winter quar-
tiers this year. Russia is today the
most active winter bear eXtant.
gBussia has now modified her in
dustries and shells and other NUM-
lions in great quantities have begun to
flow from the factories and shops in
every important Russian city; the
Russian cabinet has been reformed
with particular reference to a more
active conduct of the war; the peas
ants who used to drink vodka have be
come used to q vodkaless Russia and
are putting their profits from vodka
less harvests-hence bigger harvests-
into the provincial banks; Grand Duke
Nicholas has been superseded by the
car as command er-ln-ch1et and mas
taken hold of the important campaign
in the Caucasus Stirred to renewed
Vigor under its ruler. the army has
used the shells born of the industrial
mobilization and repulsed the enemy
inzthe vicinity of Riga, besides putting
him on the defensive elsewhere.
With the beginning OF the New Y ear
various estimates place the number of
fresh-armed Russian troops at five
million. At least two million more
are being armed at the rate of over
half million q month An additional
million of twenty-year-old youths We're
called up on December 4. These Will
take their places in the ranks early in
the year.
Have Four Million Veterans.
Russias veterans already holding
The battle line from Riga to the Black
sea and operating in the Caucasus are
estimated to total at least 1000, 900,
alLhardy fighters. making the total of
Russian military strength in sight APP
proximgtely twelve million men
Take Many Prisoners.
Though Russia has lost an esti-
mated million and a half prisoners to
Germany and Austria, nearly a million
msh OF the double enemy have been
ctptured and. sent TO Siberia where
theyare in no danger of liberation, as
are the Russian prisoners. in Germany
and Austria The Austro-G errnan
LOSSES during the last three months, on
the Russian front have been enormous.
Russia's own losses have not been
slight, but they undoubtedly are far
under those of the enemy, most of
whose fighting has been offensive
The activities of General IvanOff in
Eastern Galicia during September, Oc-
tober and November are credited with
putting 100000 of the enemy out OF
the fight
Russia generally is watchfully wait
ing but it takes 40 clairVoyant to
forecast that the animal that confronts
the Germans before many weeks will
not be the same sore-nosed beast OF
the summer and autumn of 1915