New Britain herald., 1918-02-22
PRUSSIANS CLOSING
 WISE ON PETR0GRAD
AuStrianS and Germans March From Two Directions on Capital
 JOINED BY UKRAINIANS
Dispatches State Invading Force Is Small But Utter DisorganiZation of Russians Offered Unl1indered Path way.

London, Feb. 22.-Austrian and German troops are advancing in the mans in the north. and Ukrainian troops are reported to have joined them against the Bolsheviki. accord ing to a Petrograd dispatch to the Morning Post. The Polish legions of the Russian army have offered an armistice in the prevailing civil war on condition of free passage in any direction and now are trying to reach Warsaw.
 The German advance into Russia IS not tine march of a conqueror for nowhere up to the present have they met any serious opposition. The comparatively rapid progress is as- cribed to the fact that the Germans found clear passage.
 Dispatches from Petrograd, none of which are dated later than We'd nesday, indicate the invaders ain making their own pace in collecting immense stores of weapons, nuni- tions, food and other valuable prop erty, which the disorganized Russian armies abandoned in their hurried JIle OI tue I0TuAtl advancing army is not believed to be great.
 A Petrograd dispatch to the Morn ing Post says there is only one divi- sion of cavalry and one division of infantry.
 According to the correspondent, there is nothing whatever to prevent them from reaching Petroe3rad if they wish, for the demoralization of the Russian soldiers is so complete that orders to resist the invasion would be impossible of execution. Moreover, the enemy could easily re- duce the capital to famine, which all ready is closing it's grip on the peo- pie.
 The Bolshevik ca pituiation to a German peace and the news of the German advance was received in Pe- trograd in various ways, according to Wednesdays reports.
 The correspondent of the Times says profound disgust and shame was felt and uttered by serious and intelligent people and was reflected in the non- BolsheVik newspapers. A report to the Morning Post says the saner elem ent of the population call for closer reIa- tions with the Allies, looking to the unification of Russia and the aban- donment of the dreams of amateur statesmen.
 The PetrogTad correspondent of the Daily Mail says a majority would well come the arrival of the Germans in the hope that they would restore or der, the feeling being that anything is better than the present condition. As to the decision to surrender to the Germans, accounts differ. Some say that Premier Lenine, and others that Foreign Minister Trotzky, was re- sponsible for the equalization. The correspondent of the Daily News. who has been in close relations with the Bolsheviki. says that at the meeting of the Council of Peoples commissaries, which voted on the question, Trotzl1y, who had been in favor of fighting to the last, unexpectedly went to the | other side.
 The change in the Bo1shevik policy to one of surrender surprised both their enemies and friends and threw their supporters into confusion. The foreign embassies, says the Times, knew nothing of the Bolshevik capitu- lation until Tuesday night. They be- lieved the Russians intended to resist the German advance at all hazards.