The Russians appear to be at least delaying the German
advance at other points besides Riga, and where speed is an essential element in a great German success this is to the good. Nowhere have the retreating Russians been caught and overwhelmed. Since our last issue several important points which were hard pressed by the Germans have fallen. The capture of Kovno has been confirmed, and the Russian retreat from this highly important strategic point made the fall of °novice, on the Bobr, north-west of the industrial town of Bialystok, almost inevitable. This soon followed. Meanwhile Novo Georgievsk had been taken by the Germans. This fortress, in holding out in isolation for two weeks and commanding an important railway, had performed a most valuable office in delaying the German onrush. According to the German account, twenty thousand prisoners were taken here. The Russians have necessarily moved back from their positions on the Niemen and the Bohr. Prince Leopold of Bavaria, having cut the Bialystok-Brest-Litovsk railway at Bielsk, has advanced several miles eastwards. East and south-east of Kovno the Germans do not seem to have made much progress. Nor has Marshal von Mackensen at the time we write reached the great military centre of Brest-Litovsk, though his troops are gradually closing in upon it.
