LAND AND ^ATER, 
■July 10, 1915. 
up, or was bringing up, its supplies by two roads 
■ — one, the road marked a-a-a-a; the other, the 
double road leading across the Vistula at 
Zawichost {there is no bridge, I believe, but 
only a ferry), marked b-b-b-b-b-b. From Krasnik 
runs the mam causeway, the only ^ood road north 
of that town, marked with a double line upon the 
above sketch, and striking the railway, which is 
the great objective, rather more than twenty miles 
beyond Krasnik, and so reaching Lublin. Through 
Krasnik, or rather just in front of that town, 
there runs towards the "Vistula, into which it ulti- 
mately falls, the small river or stream of the 
iWyznica. The line of this stream the Russians 
hold successfully. The Germans, therefore, are 
attempting to get round east of Eo-asnik and 
between that town and Bykhawa, where there is 
no natural obstacle, and soon, as one proceeds 
towards Bykhawa, one gets open country. The 
Russians are massed in defensive over against 
the German attempt. The battle is not, at the 
moment of writing, decided. 
It is, however, already clear at the moment of 
writing (Tuesday evening) that this Austrian 
column, with Lublin for its objective, has done 
better than its neighbour, to which we shall 
f)resently turn. All the Friday and Saturday the 
ine hung undecided, but upon July 4 (the 
Sunday) the Austrian right, up in the drier 
country, near Bykhawa, managed to advance. The 
left, along the Wyznica, seems to have been held 
by the obstacle of that stream, and whether the 
Austrian advance will continue as a whole in this 
region will depend entirely upon the amount of 
ground it can occupy upon the right. If it gets 
well forward there, the Wyznica line will have to 
be abandoned, and the Russians to fall back still 
nearer to the railway line. 
Now, the action at this stage (where we are 
compelled to leave it from lack of later news) is 
both critical and perilous. The original positions, 
^ust in front of Krasnik, were themselves not 
much more than twenty miles in front of the rail- 
way line, where it pa.sses in front of Lublin, and 
if lines thus distant cannot be held, it is difficult 
to see how positions between these and tHe rail- 
"ways would be held. Twenty miles is not a dis- 
tance so great that it seriously hampers the bring- 
ing up of munitions from the railheads, and no 
very great advantage is gained in the mere 
handling of these munitions by falling back 
further. 
Moreover, there is no natural obstacle between 
the .Wyznica stream and the railway along which 
the Russians could check the enemy's advance suffi- 
ciently to consolidate a new position. It is all 
slightly falling ground in rather flat country, less 
wooded than that immediately to the south. 
On the other hand, the extent of the Austrian 
success, though it is admitted by the Russian com- 
munique, can be measured pretty accurately, and 
is not formidable. There are 8,000 wounded 
men picked up, and only 29 officers among them. 
The guns lost were six, with their wagons. That 
does not mean the breaking of the Russian front 
at all, but the fact that artillery was captured does 
mean the advance of two or three thousand yards 
beyond the positions of last Friday, and the loss 
of all the trenches lying east of the head waters 
of the Wyznica and in front of Bykhawa. 
One may sum up and say that since the 
further news which has reached London on the 
Tuesday afternoon, and relates to the fighting 
upon Sunday last, the chances of the railway near 
Lublin being held by our Ally have fallen. In 
what degree they have fallen, and whether those 
chances are now heavily against the Russians or 
only slightly against them, we cannot tefl until we 
have more news. 
Meanwhile, the second column, German in 
composition in the main, and operating towards 
Cholm, has not had, so far, any similar good 
fortune. 
Cholin, we say, is the objective here; and pre- 
cisely as in the case of Lublin, there is one great 
main causeway negotiating the marshes, and 
cutting through the forests of this somewhat 
deserted land. As near Krasnik, so here, the 
enemy is fighting about thirty odd miles from his 
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