Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-26
About The War IN Europe
New York Evening Post.

New York Evening Post.
More completely even than the German ar
mics from the beginning OF the war, the FORCES
of the soviet have waged warfare along interior
lines Since the appearance OF the Keo army
last summer. its main pressure mas oeen sue
cessively against the eastern or Urai 'front.' the
northern or Arctic front, the western front, and
now the southern or Black sea front The soviet
was hardest beset last summer when the Czecho-
Slovak armies stood on the Volga and stimuli
taneously peasant revolts broke out about MOS
COW. The bolshevik regime was then IN are
peril, and the resourcefulness with wnich "
met the crisis is tribute to the courage ana
organizing ability of the creators OF the Red
Guard. The Czecho-Slovaks and their Cossack
allies we're driven from the Volga and virtually
out of European Russia Thereupon soviet &C.
tivity turned towards Archangel and westward
towards the Baltic and the Vistala. In the
winter just past Lithuania was invaded and ITS
capital, wilma, occupied and the menace was felt
in Poland itself, where an unsuccessful coup
d'etat from within seemed for few days to
be the prelude to bolshevist victory. Then
the soviet tide in that direction slackened and
ran back. while steady movement set IN TO-
wards the SOUTH which was completed only the
other day with the occupation OF the Crimea,
closing the most impressive of the soviet cam
paigns since the victories OF last summer on
the Volga With the allies pledged to a with
drawal from Archangel, the Red army has viz
the Black sea.
Factors real and unreal have entered into
the bolshevist victories. Real enough has been
the growth of the soviet army in numbers, IN
leadership and in discipline. The Red army is
now on conscript basis. its officers have been
cars armies, and its discipline is OF the kind
justified by an "iron" dictatorship OF the pro.
ietariat Wild estimates have been made OF
the nunbrs Of troops at Lenine's disposal. Halt
a million men would be nearest the truth. One
detailed account speaks of IL armies" each
Lenne Is yet has no unlimited resources in
hand is indicated by recent Developments. in
the field As the soviet armies have pushed
north and south. they have been beaten back on
the east and the west. This is precisely the re-
verse Of the rubber-bal operation of last year
when the soviet armies gave way on the north
and south and made progress towards the Urais
and the Polish frontier. The armies OF kol-
chak and Denikine. numbering perhaps 100000
men, are still the most formidable of Lenine's
opponents. Against them we may assume that
half the soviet forces are concentrated II these
are now falling back we must suppose that
they are not much superior numerically to the
enemy, or, say. quarter of million men. That
would make the total soviet armies the halt
million we have conjectured.
The unreal factor in soviet success-though
real enough in the result-has been the fact
has met with only perfunctory resistance, as
around Archangcl and against the allies in the
south, or with partial resistance, as on the west
ern front While the Poles were apparently in
panic about the soviet danger from the east,
Polish forces were in conflict with the Ger
mans around Posen, with the Czecho-Slovaks
around Teschen, and with the Ukrainians in
Galicia. When the Poles did turn eastward
they seem to have had no difficulty in throw
ing back the soviet armies to the original line
Of the German occupation running through the
Pripet marshes and Pinsk. Similarly. the Uk-
struggle for Lemberg against the Poles, while
the soviet was over-running eastern Ukrainia.
Today Petlura's Ukrainian forces report vic
tories south of the Pripet and full in the rear
OF the soviet armies, If this were really war in
the grand style. As matter of fact it is large
ly war of isolated bands or groups, and TANKS,
centers, rear. and lines Of communication have
comparatively little meaning.
What if the allied invitation to truce in
exchange for food should meet with no better
fate than Prinkpo? Opponents of the bolshe-
wiki have argued that the recent soviet Sue
against Kochak has been weakened in order
to score on the northern and Black sea fronts,
where the propaganda value is the highest. Such
interpretations have been made before and be-
lied by events Yet they would be real enough
if Kolchak's advance on the Volga should con-
tinue and Petlura keeps up pressure from the
west. On the other hand if war goes on with
out interference by the allies on one side or the
other, we may expect continuance OF interior
line operations by the soviet in the form of
withdrawal from the north and the Black sea
and new concentration against Kolchak and
Denikine.
As for the much-advertised soviet invasion
Of the west this spring, 100000 men marching
into Germany, Poland, Hungary and Roumania,
that is pretty near nonsense There are $4,000
allied troops in southeastern Europe today
English, French, Serbs Greeks. Roumanians and
Italians. OF these the English and French
alone number nearly 100000. With the Czecho-
easily more than 100000 men can be stretched