BREAKING THE MONOTONY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 72, 25 March 1915, Page 5

BREAKING THE MONOTONY.

RETREAT INTO THE DESERT

RUSSIA'S FIGHT FOR PRZEMYSL

FURY OF THE FINAL SORTIE.

BRITISH AIRMEN RAID NAVAL YARD

-f r " The second attack on Suez, according to Mr. Bean, the Commonwealth military correspondent, was not a serious military effort, but was merely designed to break the monotony of camp life in the desert. The force retreated when the El Kubri guns were trained upon it, and encamped in the desert, where it was routed by the pursuing army. An attack ' on the Canal by a force which would have any prospect of success is regarded as impossible for months to come.

The Austrian reservists who participated in the final sortie from Przemysl fought with mad courage, and drove the Russians from the first line of trenches. Three times they were lost and won before the attack was finally routed, and it was a lif e-and-death struggle all the way, the Russians neither asking nor giving quarter. Besides the 117,000 prisoners, the Russians captured hundreds of big funs and field pieces.

The German assaults upon the north-western Polish fortress of Osowiecz are weakening, and only four batteries remain active. The Russian fire has compelled the abandonment of several of the giant howitzers which were being used against the fortress.

The British airmen have made another raid upon the German submarine yards in Belgium, Hoboken, on the outskirts of Antwerp, being the objective. Here a number of submarines were on slipways in course of construction, and eight bombs were dropped upon the works. The extent of the damage was not ascertainable, but it is believed that it was considerable.