Germans hard-hit

Complete failure of Western attack

THE Austrian official report on the Russian theatre of war that “fighting continued on Tuesday without bringing any change in the general situation” reads curiously in view of the enemy’s disastrous defeats in the south, and, on the other hand, their determined efforts, not all together without result, to obtain some measure of success in the north.

Von Hindenburg’s inflated reputation is in peril of being pricked by lack of decisive achievements and so he is once more renewing the operations which failed in July, an attack from the westward of Riga, with his full objective the capture of the whole Dvina line from the Baltic to Dvinsk.

A reliable correspondent states that the Germans have now moved up considerable forces for a movement which threatens the whole line from Tukkum to Mitau, thence eastwards to Friedrichstadt, and finally along the river to Dvinsk. They have had a small success six miles north-west of Mitau, on the Aa, where they captured the village of Kish on Monday.

They have likewise moved up through the forests which border the left bank of the Dvina below Friedrichstadt and are bombing from positions on the left bank an eight-mile section of the Riga-Dvinsk railway on the opposite side of the river, between Elizenhof and Temmul.

Lower down the stream the Germans, also with intense determination, are now forcing a way through the forests northwards to reach the Dvina in the immediate neighborhood of Riga.

The intention of this widely extended movement - it covers over 160 miles - is (declares the correspondent) to find a weak spot getting across the Dvina and taking the stubborn defence of Dvinsk in the rear.

The Russians are well placed on the left (west) bank of the Dvina and the German operation is at present in the initial stages.

Very large additional forces required by Germany for this new move have been drawn mainly from the centre, but some are reported to have been brought up from the rear.

So far as one is allowed to penetrate the strategic plans of Russia, the writer we are quoting believes that the Russians are disposed to welcome the increase in the German armies in this region.

It is an encouraging sign that the Germans for long past have been steadily moving their forces into positions which have East Prussia conveniently in their rear and the bases on the sea at Libau and Windau are likewise available in so far as their transports are not molested by the Russian cruisers and British submarines.

Before Dvinsk and along the line of the lakes south of that town, the artillery bombardment continues steadily.

The Germans are quite at a standstill over the whole of this region, notwithstanding their frantic attacks and the lavish use of artillery.

The Russians appear to be well supplied with munitions and are under such conditions again proving themselves more than a match for the best that the Germans can do.

Meanwhile, the work of attrition goes on and as we get away from the northern sector enemy reverses grow in number and magnitude. In the Styr region he is “retreating in disorder and scattering through the forests”.