L X N D AND aV. A T E R. 
March 13, 1915. 
asked bow this plan could be sound, leaving the 
long line B C perpendicular to the line of A B, 
the answer lies in the disposition of tho lower 
obstacle in that step below the Carpathians, which 
main obstacle is the river Dneister. It will be 
apparent from the following sketch that the 
pushing back of the Russian line more and more 
eastward will at last succeed in throwing a por- 
tion of the Russian forces behind this obstacle, 
and when that was done, a comparatively small 
force sufficing to hold it upon that line, the mass 
of the Austrian effort could have been turned to 
the left and north-west against the flank of the 
Russian armies. In other words, B C would have 
been immobilised, and A B, and particularly the 
portion A D, would have been subject to the most 
pressure. The original Russian line, some six 
.^veeks ago, ran along the line of crosses, mostly 
over the ridge, and only at the point E (at the 
Beskid passes) falling behind it. The Austro- 
IGerman effort had the effect after about a month's 
Vork of forcing the line back to the full black line 
parallel to, and in the main beyond, the moun- 
tains. Czernowitz at C was occupied ; so was 
Kolomea at K. 
The enemy's thrust thus accomplished the 
beginning of his final design; for Stanislaus at 
6 was occupied, as we have seen, and the ulti- 
mate Russian positions, beyond which they were 
not forced, were reached in the last days of 
February — corresponding to the dotted lines 
behind the full black line upon the sketch. If at 
the apex of this point, between S and H — that is, 
upon the right between Stanislaus and Halicz, 
the effort could have been continued, and if our 
ally had been compelled to fall back to the river, 
the whole of the Russian position in Galicia 
.would have been in peril, for it would have been 
taken in flank. It is not to be wondered at, 
therefore, after the very heaviest fighting took 
place at this point, about half-way between S and 
H — that is^ on thg main road uniting Stanislaus 
with Halicz— and this turned, after a three days'! 
battle, in favour of the Russians. Stanislaus waa 
reoccupied, the thick black line on tho sketch 
roughly re-established, and the plan of forcing the 
Russian armies behind the Dneister for tha 
moment was defeated. At least, this seems to me 
to be the explanation of what has been taking 
place upon the plain below and just north-east of 
the Carpathians in the last seven days. 
IV. 
THE EFFORT IN CHAMPAGNE. 
Although the ceaseless attacks along the 
iWestern front upon one sector after another do 
not, cannot, and are not intended to break 
through the line, and have, therefore, no more 
than a continuous and not a decisive value at 
this moment (their business is rather to wear 
down), yet there is one portion of them which 
has illustrated during the last few weeks the 
French intention in this kind of war so 
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thoroughly that it is well worth following in 
some detail. I refer to the section between the 
camp of Chalons and the forest of Argonne, 
the eastern of the two sections to which tho 
open, rolling, chalky district between Rhcima 
and the Argonne is divided. 
Many weeks ago, when the French line 
stood not very far from Suippes, it was pointed 
out in these columns that the chief effect of a 
prolonged and successful' advance in this dis- 
trict would be to get upon the railway line, 
which here runs all along behind the German 
positions and feeds them. This railway line 
continues through Argonne, and helps to link 
up the German armies in Champagne with 
the Crown Pi-ince's army in front of Verdun. At 
the moment that criticism was written the 
distance of the French trenches from the rail- 
way was, if I remember right, rather more 
than four miles, and in all the long Aveeks that 
have passed since that date no more than a mile 
of total advance has been gained. The nearest 
French trenches are still quite three miles from 
the railway. 
The French are in front of Perthes and of 
the Farm of Beausejour. But they are a long way 
from the position oi' Tahure^ for instance^ The^ 
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