TOTAL ROUT OF THE BOLSHEVIK FORCES

POLAND’S GREAT VICTORY

70,000 PRISONERS.

NORTHERN ARMY CUT OFF

Complete disaster has overtaken the Soviet attempt to capture Warsaw and dictate terms to the Polish Government. The Bolshevik army which invaded Poland has been utterly routed, and it looks as though not more than a small fraction of it will escape back into Russia. This welcome news is contained in the following official communiqué received from the Polish Legation last night:

“The Polish defensive action near Warsaw has developed into a complete victory over the Soviet army. The Soviet forces have been entirely routed. Thousands of prisoners are being brought in daily. Up till Aug. 24 70,000 prisoners have been taken. The booty in war material, supplies, and ammunition is enormous.

“As a result of the recapture of Bialostok by the Polish forces the Northern Bolshevik army is finally cut off. A message received in Vienna from Warsaw states that the commander of the Russian Northern Army has opened pourparlers with General Sikorski, with a view to the complete capitulation of his army. There is at present no confirmation of this report, but in the light of the latest information available, which shows that the position of the Red armies in Poland is rapidly becoming desperate, a wholesale surrender of the kind indicated would create no surprise.”

The Warsaw communiqué of Sunday, which was not received from Reuter until last night, says: “On the northern front the troops of our First Army, finally mastering the 15th Division of the Soviet army, have captured Przasnysz, Szumsk, and Mlava, after desperate fighting, thus cutting off the last avenue of retreat of the enemy troops, which are fleeing in disorder. At the same time, the bulk of the Soviet Fourth Army and the whole of the Third Cavalry Corps have been surrounded by this same manoeuvre. We have captured enormous booty, and it has not yet been possible to count the prisoners and the war material. Both booty and prisoners are growing hour by hour. To give an idea of the immense defeat of the Northern Bolshevik army it may be mentioned that the 18th Infantry Division alone, in the fighting of Aug. 21, took 5,000 prisoners, with sixteen guns, 135 machine-guns, and huge stacks of ammunition.

“At the same time, another section of the army advancing along the German frontier captured Soldati, thus completing the circle on the northern side. On the centre front the armies under the personal command of Marshal Pilsudski continue their victorious march towards the north. On Aug. 21 they took Zambruff and Mazuvec, and crossed the Naref line to the north of Bialostok. In the Mileuzyse region, to the north of Biskeltensk, the Fourth Cavalry Brigade came into contact with an enemy heavy artillery group, destined, according to prisoners’ statements, for the bombardment of Warsaw. This group was completely annihilated. In the course of a charge we made several hundred prisoners, and took twenty-two heavy calibre guns and more than a hundred ammunition wagons. An intercepted order from the command of the Soviet 21st Division instructs commanding officers to destroy artillery batteries and mount infantry on the horses so as to hasten the retreat. On the Southern front the general demoralisation which has set in among the Bolsheviks on the Northern front is now making its appearance. Under the pressure of our troops enemy detachments which were operating against Lemberg are now commencing to retire. Our pursuit detachments have reached the Bug line. The enemy cavalry has occupied Stryj.”

According to the reports received in official circles in London, it is estimated that of the twenty-one divisions composing the Soviet army in ethnographic Poland six have been destroyed entirely, eight have lost up to 50 per cent. of their strength, and the seven which still remain in being are also much shattered and worn out.

A telegram from Reuter’s correspondent at Warsaw gives the following further details: “The Bolshevik army, caught between the Naref and the Prussian frontier, is trying by means of sanguinary sacrifices to escape from the pincers that are squeezing it. The most desperate fighting is taking place in the Mlava-soldau district on the Warsaw-danzig line. Compelled to face two Polish armies, one of which is advancing from Modlin and the other from Graudenz, the Bolsheviks are attempting to save their advance guards, some of whom have ventured as far as the neighbourhood of Eylau and others as far as Plock. Their losses in prisoners in these districts amount to 11,000 in the course of the two last days. The attempt of the Reds to force the Polish lines and cross the Naref has completely failed. The Polish troops, marching up the Naref on the right bank, have thrown the Bolsheviks back.”

Quite as important to the Poles are the huge captures of war material and stores. The Warsaw Government was none too well off for supplies, and the insolent claim of the Germans at Danzig to stop the transport of munitions increased their difficulties.