The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1915.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3994, 29 July 1915, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1915.

Still Hanging in the Balance.

The question as to whether the Russians can coniinuo to hold Warsaw still remains the all absorbing topic in connection with the war. It has been given out that the crucial pint of this particular and very important contest may not eventuate for some days and in the meantime the daily bulletins on the subject become more and more more interesting. Anxiety in the matter is indeed almost, if not quite, as widespread as was the case ", lien the Germans in the early stages

of {lie struggle got so close to Paris. The coup which the ouoniy hope to make on this occasion is clearly the great stroke which it was claimed by the Hull press some weeks ago General von Hindenburg was preparing—a stroke which, il it succeeded would, we were told, “ astonish tlio world and would “probably bring about an early conclusion of tho war!” Seemingly the Germans and their Allies feel that, it Warsaw should fall into their hands, Russia would he hopelessly crippled and would lose no time in Slicing for a separate peace and that Britain and France would then no longer wish the struggle to lie continued. The only point in connection with these great ideas that can he accepted is, however, the fact that the loss of Warsaw would be nothing less than a great set-back to the Allies. By way of emphasising tho great importance of Warsaw the military writer in the “Sydney Morning Herald” recently remarked :

“ Tho strategic importance of Warsaw can hardly he over-estimat-ed. It lies on the western hank of i he Vistula—the wrong side from tho Russian point of view—but its main railway station is in the suburb of Praga, on the eastern side. 'This station is tho king-pin of tho scanty Russian railway system, for Horn hero all the lines in the country radiate, north, south, cast and west. To everyone who has followed the events of the war with even a casual scrutiny the importance oi this should he manifest. In addition, from Sandomierz, near the Galician frontier, to Novo Gcorgiov.sk, 2G miles north-west of the Polish capital, the River Vistula is everywhere deep and unfordable, and it is bridged only at two points. Warsaw is ono of these points, the other being Tvangorod. Again, even the casual student of warfare must realise the added strategic importance this gives to Warsaw. Tho bridges in the city, by the wav. are three in number—the fine Alexander Bridge, for foot passengers and ordinary traffic, a road bridge farther south, and the railway bridge, which lies more to tho north, under the, guns of- tho Alexander citadel. Then Warsaw is actually the main hasp of the Russian armies operating against the Germans and Austrians—it is a Hugo depot, wherein are stored tremendous quantifies oi foodstuffs and other supplies for tho troops. To loso this base would mean tho dislocation of the whole Russian campaign, and, on tho,other hand, it would offer to the enemy a base pushed far into their opponents’ territory. Apart from tho strategic importance of Warsaw, there is', too, its tremendous political importance. It is a city with a

population of tl:rec-quartors of a million, and is the capital of mo j Russian province which juts out like . a great bastion between Austrian and German territory. The lall of such a city would assuredly react , badly on the people of the Allied 1 countries, and would as ccitainly J have a distinctly harmful ofl'cct, < from our point of view, upon those neutral nations whose attitude at the present time is of some concern.” But there is, of course, no ground for the belief that if Warsaw should fall Russia would sue for peace, tor a time she might remain at a considerable disadvantage and then she would once again prove a big thorn in the side of the enemy. The wish on the part of the Germans and the Austrians that Russia would conclude a separate peace is clearly futile. In the worst possible event, viz., that Russia might forsake her Allies—which is unthinkahle —the sti ugglc would assuredly go on just the same oil the part of Britain and the other Allies. The determination of llritain and her Allies to sec the struggle J through no matter what untoward . happening might take place in tl.< j earlier stages of war was, it will he recalled, set out very plainly Asquith, M. Boineairo and the Czar at the time when Paris was so .seriously menaced and there was a great risk of the greater part of I ranee falling into the hands of Germany. As fai as the cable messages to hand go—excepting those which indicated that the Home press had prepared the British people for the possible fall of AA arsaw —it would seem that the chances that that city will he retained by the Russians are at least as great as are the chances that it will be wrested fioni them. There are, indeed, very reasonable grounds for taking a still more optimistic view ol the situation. In this connection it has to he borne in mind that along the I'.astern I'rout the enemy is not only engaging the Russians very strenuously in North Pol-

and and m South Poland, hut in addition is conducting a vigorous campaign in the Baltic Provinces. As Russia’s military resources must be fairlv well organised by this time—no doubt there has, up to the present, been a shortage of munitions —the action of the enemy in splitting up its

strength may prove its downfall, and one and all will trust that a son' disappointment, instead of a signal victors-. is real I v in store for them.