GERMAN SET-BACK IN CHAMPAGNE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2668, 13 January 1916, Page 5

GERMAN SET-BACK IN CHAMPAGNE

' : ./ STAGGERING. LOSSES . RUSSIAN COLOSSUS IN GALICIA ' WHOLE LINE ADVANCING The news from Mesopotamia .to-day states that General Townshend lias been surrounded at Kut-el-Amara, and that the relief forces which are fighting their way to liim are held up by adverse weather and other difficulties incidental to the campaigning in that region of. Mesopotamia. The New Zealanders are now in a new camp, states our official correspondent (Mr. Malcolm Ross), who adds 1 that every precaution is bc-ing taken to guard against a threatened , attack on the Suez Canal. The latest development •in the Balkans is the growing intensity of the lighting in Montenegro, where the Austrian® have thrown the weight of a terrific artillery bombardment behind a big offensive cn the Montenegrin stronghold <jn Mount Lovchen, which they claim to havo carried —a claim which lias not yet been .admitted by the defenders. The fighting in Champagne, on the Western front, has been of a most desperato character, and from the narrative of an official recorder the German losses, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, seem to have been so enormous as to have given the operations an important status. The Russian .push • , in Galicia has not relaxed; one report states that the whole Russian line from Riga to the southernmost point is moving forward. The . British Compulsion Bill has been the subject of an interesting dobato in tho House of Commons. 1 , , ' RELIEF MARCH TO KUT-EL-AMARA : GENERAL TOWNSHEND SURROUNDED NO DEFINITE BRITISH SUCCESSES . ■ By Telejrapi—ProE6 Association—CJosyrlght London, January 11. The newspapers point oxit that; General Townshend at Kut-el-Amara is surrounded. He is only in heliographio and wireless communication with the main force. Apparently the Turks are still in superior numbers. There have .been no definite British successes. .Colonel Aylmer and Lieutenant-Colonel Kemball left linan Ali Gherbi, a hundred miles south-east of Kut-el-Amara on January 6, in an endeavour to relieve General Townshend. Colonel Aylmer made good progress, and has reached Sheikh Shad, half-way to Kut-el-Amara. Melbourne, January 12. In response to the request of the Indian _ Government; tho Commonwealth is dispatching a wireless corps to Mesopotamia. It consists of fifty-three officers and men. THE LATEST TIDINGS (Rec. January 12, 10.30 p.m.) London, January 12. In the House of Commons, 1 Mr. Austen Chamberlain (Secretary of State for India) read a cablegram which stated that owing to the weather conditions in Mesopotamia, and the necessity for dispatching wounded by river, Colonel Aylmer's force was still halted on January 10. The enemy has been located sis miles eastward- of Kut-el-Amara. WHEN THE BRITISH ENTERED KUT-EL-AMARA Sir Mark Sykes, M.P., the Unionist representative for Central Hull, who lias'just published a book, "Tho Caliph's Last Heritage," recording his experiences as a traveller in Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia from 1906 to 1913, and who recently paid a visit to the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia, has contributed an interesting descriptive account of some aspects of the operations about the time of tho battle of Kut-el-Amara, September 27-29, 1915. As factors in the campaign at this point Sir Mark says:— "A winding river which is restless in its bed, capricious in its fall, uncertain in its rise, and sown with shifting shoals and_ sands,, is the sole means of communication between Bagdad and the sea; it is the inevitable line of supply, advance or retreat for Turks and British. . . . A 6 for ■' tho population, it is base, semi-nomadic Arab, cruel, treacherous, and rascally as the town influence can make it, yet predatory with primitive Bedawi instinct. On the night of September 29, tho British forces entered the' town of Kut, which had been firmly held by a forco of Turks numerically superior, well armed, and entrenched under the guidance of clever German engineers. The British took over 1000 prisoners, half the enemy's artillery, and a considerable quantity'of ammunition. FIERCE CONFLICT IN MONTENEGRO FURIOUS BOMBARDMENT BY THE AUSTRIANS. Cettinje, January 10. The Austrians made furious onslaughts for several days on our front at Ipek. The onemy reached our first lino Mount Lovchen, a hill 1760 ft. high, the summit of which is within three miles of Cattaro, under cover of an uninterrupted stream of shells from the warships and the Cattaro forts. We repulsed them with enormous losses, until the use of asphyxiating gas forced us to abandon a portion of our position. The fighting continues. AUSTRIANS ASSERT THAT EOVOHEN HAS FALLEN. (Reo, January 12, 9.20 p.m.) j _ Amsterdam, January 11. 'An Austrian communique claims the capture of Lovchen and Berane. MONTENEGRIN COMMUNIQUE. (Rec. January 12, 9.20 p.m.) Gcttinjo, January 12. A communique states: —"A most violent battle is raging on the Herzegovina front. The Austrian.? havo brought up _ twenty-three battalions, and eighty guns, and tho onoiny is fiercely attacking Lovchen, constantly using "The Montenegrins failed to liojrt W important position at Kuk"lho enemgwae drivsA back neat'Buxauo with heavy losses,"- i