THE RUSSIAN PROGRESS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12541, 12 May 1915, Page 5

THE RUSSIAN PROGRESS.

(Per Pbebs Association..)

A HUGE ENGAGEMENT. RUSSIANS SUFFER REVERSES. Received- Mav 11, at 10.30 u.m. Berlin. May 11. A German official communique state-::

General' Mackensen again drove the Russians from 'position after position, taking 12,000 Russian prisoners, despite the enemy bringing up troops hastily by rail and forced marches. The puisuit is proceeding. Petrograd. May 10.

It is officially announced that desperate engagements are proceeding in West Galtcia. The enemy crossed the 'Wisloka near Krosno. The Russians routed a division of cavalry and a regiment of Prussian Guards in the Shavli region. The pursuit tested all night. Dun frig last week the. Russians made prisoners of several thousand Germans. Received May 11, at 11.25 p.m. Petrograd, May 11. Military circles state that the Germans have brought up eight army corps from Cracow, and are massing artillery in overwhelming force on the precipitous bank of the Dunajecs, which dominates tbie low country opposite. The Germans, by a costly series of frontal attacks and reckless disregard of life, after a week forced the Dtinajecs, and dribbled across until they were able to form a new front on the east side of the river.

The Russian line is now .straightened and holding its own with increasingly riequent counter-attacks.

The Russians are thrilled by the splendid example of General KornilofF.s Forty-eighth Division, which was cut oft' during • the retirement from the Goriice-Zoigroo-Dukla road but cut it s ? way through by heroic effort and rejoined its own army corps. The division's losses were heavy, but they restored the Russian confidence hi victory, which was'severely'tried during, the retirement to the Dunajecs.

• The Rusv'ans who are suffering reI verses a.re chiefly the victors of Prze- ! nvysl, not the Grand Duke's main ! force. ■ The Germans must master the line of the "W.isloka defences before, they can menace the Grand Duke's strategy in tin? southern slopes of the Carpathians. Budapest, May 11. The following is the description given of the creasing of the Dunajecs, where there are high banks on both sides:— The Russians were well entrenched and bridge construction was impossible. ■Working silently at night, the AustroGermans bored great tunnels towards th;j bank and fitted! rails on pontoons on whee'*. The tunnels" were blown up at the last minute, and twenty pontoons were lannehed. Nine were destroyed, by gunfire, but eleven reached the other bank. Many men were dead and dying... but there were sufficient survivors to enable the other pontoons to cross. At least two thousand Aus-tvo-German-s were killed crossing at Oftinov. The Russian artiKeiy was amazingly good at first,'but later became weak owing to lack of ammunition. Amsterdam. May 11. An Austrian official message states that the Russian Third Army, consisting of five corps and several- reserve divisions, has now lost 80,000 dead and wounded. 60 guns, and 200 machine guns.