LAND AND WATEE 
February 6, 1915. 
On the western lines in France we cause such 
■diversion by attacking unexpectedly at the most 
widely separated points. Now on the sea, now in 
the centre at Soissons, now right up in Alsace at 
the southern extreme. It is a mechanical system 
which produces perpetual going and coming up 
and down the German line, and as perpetually 
wears it down. . 
In the East, where there is neither railway 
facility for this nor a closed line of trenches to be 
broken, there exists what does not exist in the 
,West. and that is grave diversity of political 
objects at the extremes of the line, and it is of this 
that our Allies in the East are taking advantage. 
TirstStaor 
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JM 
I.— THE EAST PRUSSIAN FRONT. 
The Russians at the beginning of the cam- 
paign, when the number of their equipped men was 
inferior to that which it has now reached, dared 
not attack north of the central section of the East 
Prussian front. It is never safe to separate an 
isolated body too far from your main line, and had 
the Russians in October and November attempted 
to work much further north than Wirballen, their 
forces would have been too extended or would 
have had an isolated portion to the north. Some- 
what increasing numbers, as equipment slowly 
grew, have permitted them to act nearer to the 
Baltic. 
Now, this is of great importance. The middle 
'district from Wirballen southward between 
Goldap and Suwalki towards Osowiecs is the region 
of the lakes. It is one tangle of defiles between 
endless pieces of water of various sizes, and 
marshes. These defiles are both fortified and 
thoroughly studied by the enemy. But to the 
northward of the main railway line the country 
is more open. There is a certain amount of marsh, 
but the further north you go the easier the ground 
becomes. 
The political centre of all this district is the 
tow^n of Tilsit, famous in Napoleonic history, and 
it is upon Tilsit that the most northern new 
Russian move is converging. Though Tilsit is only 
fifteen miles or so from the frontier (less from the 
very nearest point), its occupation, should the Rus- 
sians be fortunate enough to force their way there, 
would be of considerable effect, not only because of 
the political blow struck, but also because forces 
diverted to pre^^ent a continued advance over the 
Niemen (which the Germans call the Memel) would 
be working very far away from the mass of the 
German Army. Numerous as the German forces 
in the East still are, they cannot be everywhere, 
and it is almost certain that in the attempt to de- 
fend East Prussia the Germans would pile up m 
the north an excessive number of men. 
The movement has for the moment only begun, 
and we have no right to form any judgment as to 
its development. The Russian cavalry has cut the 
railway at and destroyed the station of Pogegen. 
just north of Tilsit beyond the river, an afternoon's 
walk. In its advance on the town from the south 
it has reached and occupied Lasdehnen, a snaall 
town not more than eight miles from the frontier, 
and the larger railway junction of Pilkallen, 
about fourteen miles to the south and not ten 
miles from the frontier. South of Pilkallen they 
are still engaged with the Germans in a group of 
woods which lies between that point and the main 
railway, and their line runs southward and west- 
ward, getting further and further from the fron- 
tier until it touches the lake region somewhere 
apparently behind and south of Goldap. What 
happens to it in the lake region itself is not 
very easy to determine. A private message which 
reached London on Friday last said that the Rus- 
sians were already in occupation of Lotzen. 
If this is true it is news of very high importance, 
for they would there hold the principal defile 
through the lakes, and the principal railway junc- 
tion of the whole district. But I can find no offi- 
cial confirmation of such important news, unless 
the German official communique, which told us at 
much the same time the Russians were repelled 
from the Lowentin Lake, may be regarded as con- 
firmation: for the mention of a repulse — and no 
more — in an official communique always connotes 
a more or less successful attack by the enemy. 
When it is quite beaten^still more if the enemy 
lose ground — the official communiques are much 
grander. The Lowentin Lake is just south 
of Lotzen, and if there has been fighting 
along any portion of it then there has been 
fighting in the immediate neighbourhood of Lot- 
zen ; but it is remarkable that no Russian official 
news should apparently exist upon the subject. 
Lotzen, it may be noted, is over forty miles within 
the frontier, and an advance so far would, among 
other possessions, involve the occupation of the 
Imperial hunting grounds and country house at 
Margrabowa. 
We may sum up and say that on this front our 
Allies have, over a front of about a hundred miles, 
penetrated the enemy's territory through a zone 
of about one day's march, narrowing northwards 
to less than this ; but southwards, where the region 
of the lakes is reached, extending to much more, 
to two or three days, or even four days if the 
private telegrams which reached London at the end 
of last week are accurate. The amount of terri- 
tory occupied in this raid is about as much as that 
held by the Germans in Flanders, reckoning from 
the sea to the line of the main railway and a little 
beyond. But the Germans' foremost trencher 
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