OCR Text |
Show KQVNO CHEAT DOSTfiCLE TO TEUTON DRIVE Niemen River Proves a Stumbling- Block to Advance Ad-vance of Austro-German Forces in Poland. By FRliPERJCIC RENNET.' ":t''"' ' l.M, I..,!, Tf!;,JBl. li.Urn.m.,,,,! .Nr, arti-l.-a.) vv.r iu )G k a n, auk. r.'.-Ti.o i.Hk r tlui Nii'mon forms t.lut orst. stuniliinii; Muok tho U.TiMiiiia hiivn hu,l to onooun-tor. onooun-tor. On it iminv tliuiiicinil of bo.lidn hnve bomi l.t beliinj by the onomv, who is Jtill on tho couth bunk of tho rivor. The. Gerumn effort aeainst tho fort-ro fort-ro ot rvovno hnvo oast thorn more dourly dour-ly tiiHii any tirovious jkttemjita at storming storm-ing ilnrioj tho oastrrn oimpiuKn. Tlu-v t'lOUKiit up bv ril nml motor thoi'r UoHVi.-st urtilb'ry nuj triod boldlv to take bv ir.am for.-o wlmt onlui'milv woul.l havo roquirrd prolouKrJ operation?. opera-tion?. 1 hov usoj au tmtiro nrmy aiul spnrod noithor men nor shells in orSor thut thoy "'' t take Kovuo uuieklv. Thv lost a colossal number ot men" in Irving to prevent tho garrison of tho forties irom rvpairiiiK tho ilainacs. On tho tlur.l it lv .if their attaek tho Uormuns beeanif. moro insistent in their assaults on tne western and northwest em sections of k'ovno, which protrude tor live or six miles between toe lower iie:nen and the rier Vessa. The Hessians made a counter-nttack. destroying three liermun battaiious and capturing many men ami machine jiinj. Kovno is the chief obstacle to tho Herman effort to obtain control on both ban-ks of the Niemen. Hence their continued con-tinued desperate etl'orts to reduce tho fortress which is to bo the baso of thoi lvussian lino when the roroupino; of ! tho char's armies in the south is com-I pleted. Von Mackonsen in the north has been frustrated bv the change of front of the Germans on the Narew from the I southward to tho eastward. When Von Woyrseh's army stepted in between the latter and the fourth Austrian army, ; whose purpose it was to cut off the ! Russians from Tlrest-Litovs';, this opera tion was foiled. The Russians foucM so i desperately that, although Maokensen I was supported bv seven or e'uht. corps, ard had the best technical means of wa-fare at his command, includnc poisonous poi-sonous pases, this attempt to pierce the Russians' front on t he riht bank of the Viepr.: failed and the euemv has now-been now-been reuiilsed twentv miles back to the river I'kherka. Kxperts here regard the Russian front as favorable. The Zlota l.ipa-Pniesrer l.ipa-Pniesrer line is very secure, the Narew-Tu Narew-Tu line varies according to tho stubbornness stub-bornness of the offensive conducted bv the Austro-Genuans. and the Niemen front is secure, while the Dvina-Niemen front is (rradually moving to the west-wa-d. The results of the mobilised industrv of Russia are benriinir to be observable observ-able in the a-miea' work in the field, in which confidence daily becomes more evident. |