New-York tribune., 1917-07-27
Whole Division Reported
Slain by Kornilof
for Treachery
Teutons Sweep
On Bukowina
Take Four Big Towns;
British Tanks in Thick
of Battle

London, July 25.-The great Russian
retreat continues. The efforts Of the
valiant troops on the Wilma front and
in Rumania have served only TO ease
the withdrawal temporarily. Tonight
comes news from Berlin that the pres
sure in Galicia has forced Russian re-
tirenhnt in the Carpathians. The army
there already has reached Kirlibsba on
the north side of the ridge and is draw
ing IN on Czernowitz, the capital Of
Bukowina.
Meanwhile the Austro- Germans have
taken Bucacz, Tlumacz, 0ttynia and
Deatyn, al important towns in the
evacuated territory, and at the point
of their deepest penetration, around
Tarnopol. they have stormed the
heights west of the Gnizna River as far
as the Trenbowla- Husiatyn road.
Only in this last sector are the Rus
SLAMS offering a resistance sufficiently
stubborn to suggest that they have
reached the line on which their leaders
wish to stand. But Petrograd admits
that even at this vital point the morale
Of the troops is still deficient and that
counter attacks brought no definite re-
suits. The retirement from the Sereth
continues, with half the army demoral-
lied and the other half fighting bravely.
Death Penalty Restored
From Petrograd the most drastic or
ders and appeals are being issued to
minimize the catastrophe. The govern
ment has unanimously restored tho
death penalty and appointed courts
martial, consisting of three officers
and three soldiers each, to act on all
the fronts. II is said that General
Kornilotf telegraphed from the Ga
lician front that such a measure was
absolutely necessary "as the only
means of saving my army"
Petrograd also reports that Kornilof
has blown to pieces practically whole
division of his troops with their own
artillery. For the moment General
Kornilotf, rather than Kerensky or
Brusiloff, seems the only man who
promises to master the situation, and
his is the policy Of "blood and iron,"
which Is TO be carried out against
traitors.
A frantic, almost hysterical, appeal
to the committees of the armies and
the feet has been issued by the ex-
ecutives of the Workmen's and Sol
diers' Delegates and the Peasants
Congress. II affirms that the panic pro-
duced by the lack of discipline and
open treachery" is preparing the soil
for the poisonous seeds Of a couater
revolution" and that already "the
jackals and hyenas Of the old regime
are bowling" II concludes with de-
mand that the army and navy SHOW
the country and the world that the ma
ton which created the greatest revolu-
ton in the world can not and shall not
perish"
"An Appalling Blow"
All England is talking to-day Of moth
ing else but the almost incredible and
entirely distressing stories printed IN
THE Morning POST from its Petrograd
correspondent He describes the de-
feat as "an appalling blow" and tells
how the Russian army that ran away
was easily the finest equipped the ma
tion had yet put into the field. II was
amply supplied with guns, munitions
and men, yet against inferior forces
hundreds of thousands Of soldiers
proved towards and abandoned vast
quantities Of shells, heavy artillery and
airplanes, even turning their weapons
on their own brothers in arms who
would stay their headlong fight.
Only here and there in the dark pict-
ure is there a CLEAN of light. Dis
patches from the front reveal that the
British tanks not only held up the ad-
vancing Germans during the worst Of
the rout, but escaped with but FIVE
casualties among the crews that
manned them. Though deserted by the
infantry, they fingered and engaged the
enemy advance guards, afterward re-
firing and again cooperating with the
devoted Russian cavalry before Tar
nopol.
Heavy Rumanian Stroke
In Rumania the combined Russian
and Rumanian blow resulted in a sharp
defeat Of the enemy, though il appears
TO have had only a local effect. The
Rumanians alone took o yer a thou
sand prisoners and thirty-three guns,
seventeen machine guns and ten mine
throwers. The Russian assaulting coll
umns captured another thousand pris-
oners and twenty-four more guns. At
another time and place this might have
proved a decisive victory, but in view
OF the Russian exodus in Galicia, with
its million men swinging back ever
nearly two hundred miles of front, il
sinks into the category Of minor ac-
tions. According TO Petrograd, the
enemy's retreat on this front con-
times
The pressure in Galicia has obliged
the Russians TO relinquish some of
their most important Carpathian posi-
tions and south OF Tartar Pass they
withdrew, under enemy attacks, from
the Baba and Ludowa heights to Kirli-
baba, on the eastward road. Further
south, in Rumania, unusually heavy
ire against Mackensen's front indicates
that the Russians and Rumanians may
try another stroke, but in the far north
there seems no hope Of Slavic counter
offensive. Around Smorgon, where
a breach was torn in the German lines,
the hostile batteries by drum fire hsss
partly closed the gap and have retaken
nearly all the positions lost by Hinden.
burg's forces.
Austria Reheartened
One OF the worst results of the gen.
eral Russian disintegration is the re.
heartening Of Austria, who. IL is said
here, was just about to make prepars