Show i I I Seven Weeks of the Russian Drive By FRANK PRANK H H. SIMONDS Copyright 1916 by y The N. N Y Tribune EVEN weeks ce ago the Russians began their their great offensive in iii th S SEVEN East It is IS now possible to review in In some somo detail the progress and achievement of this tills great campaign First of all it must be measured by its cost in men rather than itA it conquests in III territory The Russian official figures disputed to ha hEt surely the Austrian and German reports claim m around prisoners The Tile German and Austrian reports estimate the total Russian RUSsian Rus' Rus sian loss at Hitherto Russian estimates of prisoners have proven reliable asI as shown b by American agents charged with inspecting prison camps in Russia I If we c accept the Russian figures as accurate it is c safe to estimate estimate the total loss of the Austrians and Germans as above half a million that is in iii addition to fo Russian captures To re have put half a million troops out of action in seven weeks celts is in itself a tremendous achievement It is the greater grenter when it is accomplished accomplished ac fie ac- ac with a n loss of only about half as much the by-the Russians Bear in ill mind also that Rus Russia's ia's man supply is well nigh inexhaustible inexhaustible inexhaustible inex inex- the man supply of Germany and Austria rigidly li limited Together with the great bag bap of men there has beena a huge capture of guns munitions supplies of all kinds by the retreating Germans and Austrians Exactly as the Russians lost terribly in this fashion last summer the tile Austrians have suffered now no and are continuing continuing con con- to suffer stiffer Continued on page pace 12 SEVEN WEEKS Continued from page 1 So much for tor the material effect in men and munitions of the Russian ad ad- van vance e. e Even more important i the moral effect Dispatches from Berlin make no concealment of ot the time surprise and amazement the Russian operation has awakened in Germany I Look back a year ear and it will be seen that all German and Austrian reports reports reports re re- re- re ports forecast the approaching dim elim of the Slav Russia was done for tor several y years rs Berlin proclaimed proclaimed pro pro- claimed when Vilna had fallen and the great German drive halted at the Dwina and the marshes German German German Ger Ger- man hands were once more free tree to finish with France Austria Needs Help But nine months later late the fallacy of all this is ed by a Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian success only less great than that won about Lemberg in September 1914 Again and again German bulletins bul huh pay tribute to In o tIe vastness of oC Russia's supplies of ot guns and munitions munitions muni muni- and the Inexhaustible supply of men It was all a terrible miscalculation miscalculation miscalculation lation this belief that Russia was done Instead of Russian collapse German German Ger Ger- I man newspapers again talk openly of oC Austria's failure The collapse p e l Is almost as complete as that of 1914 and and- it again makes extensive drafts upon German resources j- j have 1 For 01 weeks German troops troops have been rushing to o Kovel and to Ga- Ga licia ucla When they have arrived there has been a slowing down of the Russian advance but on the south where Austrian troops arc unsupported the I failure Bukovina has been cleared taken the he heI southernmost of the railroads leading across across' tho the has been tut I Add to 10 this the presence of Russian troops on the I French rench front and the I reports of fresh tresh Russian victories In Asia Minor and it is plain the lie lieIs lieIs lieIs Is finally given to all reports of Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian exhaustion Winter of Effort Wasted This then is the answer to the German campaign of last summer s summey In InI Inthe I the time east Russia was no not put out ut I but this Russian setback is is' is coincident coincident coincident dent with wilh a British attack in the west and follows upon the Verdun failure allure on the same front A whole winter of effort has gone for nothing Verdun and France still hold out Instead of a a. conquering Germany the world Teutonic and otherwise 1 sees a Germany on the defensive east and west and a restored Russia stepping stepping step step- ping out to new victories material and moral victories vie vic I Be Besides the tories the Russian conquest of territory terri tern I tory is less Important Yet it is very considerable The fortresses of Lutsk LutskI and Dubno the city of I and almost all aH of Bukovina some thousands of square miles s ot of territory in Austrian Galicia and more in Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian between and square miles in all and all and the advance advance advance ad ad- vance is continuing Men Count Most Now The greatest possible territorial I and moral success the success the compelling of ofa ofa ofa a general retirement from the gulf gult of Riga to Rumania the Rumania the Russians have not yet attained It remains possible that they will yet attain it but it seems less likely than in the early days lays of their advance They have visibly slowed down all along the line I It is too early to say the Russian success marks the beginning of the end but it is already the greatest allied success since the autumn and winter of 1914 It has proven that Russia is not out of the war it has raised again the question of Austrian Austrian Austrian Aus Aus- trian collapse it has cost Germany the initiative and nd it has changed the whole tone of Berlin quite as much muchas as of Paris and London In addition It has conquered nearly square miles of territory and accepting Russian Rus Rue sian figures cost the Germans Austro-Germans half a million of men and vast resources resources resources re re- re- re sources in munitions and guns But it is the men that count most |