Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-11-05

vi june ~ I5Io, tHS AuSSlol VI
fensive against the Austro- Hungarian
front east of Lutsk, at Tarnopol. and
north of the Dnlester be-
gan. cit was on front of more than
200 miles on the southern end of the
Russian battle line)
Their attacks were carried out,
though the Russians had no decisive
superiority in numbers. In the neigh
borhood of Tarnopol they were conf
pletely repulsed by the army of Gen
eral Count Won Bothmer, who had
taken over the command of the Ger
man southern army in succession to
General Won Linsin2en, but they broke
through in the other two places and
won complete victory. At both
points they penetrated deep into the
Austro- Hungarian positions. Things
We're all the more critical because the,
Austrians had shown such small pow
ers of resistance that at one blow the
whole eastern front was in dire jeop-
ardy
Although we were anticipating an
attack on our front (south of Riga) I,
we Immediately started divisions on
the southwark marcn Field Marshal
IIlntG lGOpOlu Oh bavaria lilly
group (south of Ludendorff's also
responded to the requirements of the
situation. Our G. H. @. made heavy
demands on both groups, and also
Withdrew divisions from the west The
battle of the Somme had not yet be-
gun. Austria gradually broke off the
Italian offensive and sent troops to
the eastern front.
The Italian army now started a
counter offensive in the Tyrol. The
face of the war had changed COM
pletely. Not much later the opening
of the Somme battle and Rumania s
declaration of war was to make our
position still more unfavorable.
Russians Had Too Few Troops.
To Make Good Their Victory.
Thanks to the failure of the Aus
TRAN defence, the Russian offensive
at Lutsk made rapid progress, and
following the railway to KoveL soon
reached the Stochodl (about 40 miles
from the starting point.) The first
German reinforcements became in
volved in the retreat. A new German
front was gradually created on the
Stochod on both sides of the railway.
The Russians had not followed up
very smartly in a westerly direction
although great victory was beckon-
ing them, They had too few reserves
at hand to make full use of their OPP
portunity.
At Saturday and Kisielin, south and
west of Stochod, the beaten Austrian
army was able to collect it's remnants.
1t was obvious that the wing of the
Austrian army which had escaped at
Lutsk, would have to swing back
quickly to avoid being rolled up.
Here Brusiloff was not strong enough
for a really energetic pursuit.
The arrival of further reserves
strengthened the front on both sides
of the Kovel-Lutsk railway. They
came up with the 4th army further
south and somewhere near Gorochow
formed a strong counter offensive
group behind the Austrian wing re-
treating to the southwest. Our crit
ical situation did not allow of our
waiting for the arrival of all our re-
serves in order to attack all together.
Another Break Through.
The counter attacks of the Ger
man troops during the latter half of
June and early part of July obtained
only local successes. The Russian
offensive on the Dniester had broken
through the Austrian divisions UNI
der General Won Pflanzer Baltin in
the Okna- Sniatin direction (north
and northwest of CZernowitZ) and
south of the river soon gained lot
of ground. Czernowitz fell. BY the
end of the June the Russians had
reached a line from TlumacZ south OF
the Dniester, to Kolomea and Kimpo-
lung Tan advance of more than SO
miles,, and were pushing on toward
the Carpathian passes.
The Austrian front south of the
Dniester, originally a very short one
between the river and the Rumaniar
| frontier, had now become very much
longer, and this long new line was, OF
course, now correspondence thin.
Owing to the extraordinary bad
railway communications reserves
could only be brought up with the
greatest difficulty. German troops
from the front of the commander in
chief in the east, as well as the west.
ern front, were conveyed to the Car
pathians and the Dniester. Even al
I the fresh divisions that were thrown
in were hardly sufficient to hold the
front.
Russians Lacked Supplies.
| In these circumstances counter
attacks were inadvisable. They were
attempted by our troops all the same
but remained without result. A pure
defence from the start would have
been our proper course, as the Rus
slams were also contending against
extraordinary difficulties Of suppl,