SeptMuber 13, 1914 
LAND AND WATER 
been we cannot teU until further details come in ; 
but it is evident tbat the first Austrian Army was 
in a position to suffer defeat, and ahnost equally 
evident that it would not have escaped from its 
position without at least some very heavy loss. 
Things may even be worse for the remaining 
Austrian Army ; we do not yet know. But at the 
moment of writing it is not yet cut off. 
The question now arises, what use the Russians 
can make of this victory, if it is complete : that 
is, if the first Au.strian Army is broken up as the 
second was, and if the advance through Galicia into 
Silesia remains unchecked. 
The first thing that strikes one is the great way 
that the Annies have to travel. It is nearly a month's 
mai'ching fi-om the district of Lemberg to the German 
frontier ; but against this delay in time there are two 
things to be said : First, it is evident from the map 
that once Galicia was clear of opposition, forces in 
Russian Poland gathered at Wai-saw or between that 
centre and the German frontier could, if they were in 
sufficient numbers, come down upon Silesia, before the 
main Russian Army, now in the neighbom-hood of 
Lemberg, could come up. It is an improbable because 
a dangerous policy. The Russians thus advancing 
as a detached body in front of theu- main body 
might have to meet forces superior to then* own 
and suffer just what their companions have suffered 
in East Prussia. It is more probable that the 
pressure upon Silesia (if the Russian victory is 
indeed complete, and if, as seems probable, the line 
of advance undertaken wiU be westward through 
Galicia) wiU not begin until at least a month has 
passed. 
The second consideration, however, is more pract- 
ical. It is this. The wealthy industrial district for 
which the word " Silesia" stands is not confined to the 
Gennan province whose capital is Brcslau. It extends 
into Austrian and even into Russian territory ; and the 
disturbance caused to the society of the enemy by his 
presence in territories which can be held to ransom, 
and the social life of which is important to the whole 
Germanic aUiance, wiU begin before the German 
frontier is crossed. 
But before we leave this first division of this 
week's comments, the eastern theatre of the war, some- 
thing must be said of the effect produced by the 
German victories in East Pnissia. 
The extent of the check there received by the 
Russian Armies has not, perhaps, been fully appre- 
ciated by the public of this country. 
The German official report first claimed 30,000 
prisoners — later, more than double that number. 
Accurate as these official reports usually are, one is 
disinclined to accept the very large second estimate ; 
or, at least, one is inclined to suggest that its pro- 
duction immediately after the Lemberg disaster was 
too much of a coincidence. 
It is only a conjecture made for what it is worth, 
but the conjecture may be risked that of some five 
Russian Army Corps present in East Prussia, two 
got pushed fm-ther ahead than was safe and were 
caught. That they were completely sun-ounded and 
destroyed there is no evidence. That then.' fighting 
value for the immediate future was destroyed is 
probable. But a conjecture it remains, and more 
than a conjecture it will not be until we have some 
full account of the reverse here suffered by our 
AUies. 
It woidd be possible for the main Russian Army 
in Galicia to march on into Silesia before this check 
was set right by the occupation of East Prussia in 
force. But it would not bo possible to begin a 
general advance upon Berlin, or upon the centre of 
Gennany, while large and victorious German forces 
still stood upon the lower Vistula. And all this line 
of argument reinforces one's conclusion that it is 
unwise to expect the effect of the Russian pressure 
in the East to be felt in the west until several weeks 
have passed. 
THE WESTERN FIELD. 
tCALC Of MiCti 
CON/IPIECNC 
RHEIM3 
•VALMY tSi^'^ 
K»V\», Cm, ^ 
HALONS 
In the western field of the war, that is in ojierations. We can only say that the 2)roblera 
Northern France, we are approaching very rapidly presents itself in a certain form ; we cannot yet say 
the most critical moment in the first phase of the how that problem will be solved. 
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