(Press Association.) THE POLISH CAMPAIGN GERMAN ENVELOPING PLAN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 138, 8 December 1914, Page 7

(Press Association.) THE POLISH CAMPAIGN GERMAN ENVELOPING PLAN

REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE WEST PETHOGRAD, 7th December. Correspondents state that five army corps and five cavalry divisions 5 reached Kalisz from the west front from Ist December onwards. The Germans are attempting to hold the centre with two or three army corps, while the flanks, each consisting of four or five army corps, have attempted turning movements. - The Russian commanders are glad to fight at a distance from the German frontier, where the strategic railways greatly assist the enemy. The Russian soldiers are delighted at the opportunities for hand-to-hand fighting with the bayonet, owing to the frost making the Germans' steam plough trench-makers of little use Many instances are recorded of wonderful Russian dash and bravery. One regiment charged a German howitzer battery. Its centre broke before a hellish fire, but the flanks cut down the gunners, captured the howitzer, and cleared the way for the infantry In an attack on a village at Kurpin, Germans who were taking refuge were burnt alive when the Russian shells sets their huts on fire. The Siberians marched sixty miles to reach the heights dominating the country south of Lodz, and, finding the Germans in possession, they gave themselves no time to entrench, but~ begged their commanders to allow them to storm the heights that same night. The Germans repulsed their first attacks, and attempted an offensive move, but the Siberians, with a counter-offensive, hurled the Germans from the heights, leaving piles of dead. Lodz has been bombarded for several days and nights, and fighting has occurred in the suburbs, from which, small bodies of Germans have been driven back. GERMANS CLAIM TO HAVE CAPTURED LODZ. AMSTERDAM, 7th December. A Berlin communique claims that the Germans have occupied Lodz, and that the Russians are retreating, having suffered severe losses.