THE FIGHTING IN BELGIUM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 153, 26 December 1914, Page 7

THE FIGHTING IN BELGIUM

AN ADVANCE FROM THE SEA TO LYS BELGIAN FORCES MOVE (By Telegraph. — Press Association.— -Copyright.^ PARIS, 24th December. Official.— -We have advanced on the front from the sea to the Lys. An attack before Lombaertzyde was repulsed. We also progiessed at Zwartelen, south-east of Ypres. The Belgian army has thrown detachments across the right bank of the Yser, and has organised a position at a bridgehead southward of Dixmude. We took a quarter of a mile of trenches north-east of Mesnin and les Hurlus, thirty miles east of Reims and five miles north-east of Suippes. Artillery wrecked and cleared several trenches In the Forest of Apremonfc (in the Argonne), and silenced several batteries on the Woenvre. BRITISH DEMOLISH A FORT PARIS, 24th December. The British recently by concentrated fire demolished -the Englos fort, three miles west of Lille, and followed this up by a vigorous attack with sweeping fire from hidden machine guns, in which a thousand Germans were killed and many wounded. This enabled the British artillery to command the high road and railway entering Lille. ' The Belgians on Tuesday broke through the German position on the banks of the Yser beyond St. Georges, and established n new position, notwithstanding a fierce attack by the enemy. ENEMY STRENGTHENS BELGIAN FORTIFICATIONS AMSIERDAM, 24th December. The Germans have gi'eatly strengthened iill the Belgian fortifications north of Anfcweip, and are strengthening and conslincting new on?s between Hcid' and Brasschaet (a fort five miles north-oat,', of Antneip). It is noteworthy thn the trenches aie so constructed as to guard stgainbt, an sMack from the northoast. A telegram from SKis states that v.-h : le the Germans are maintaining a desperate resistance, they are revevthek-so niepuring for ii retreat from Flanders. It is believed that the Germans are oncfntivling /or a f'-esh attack on the battlefields in France. Oit° uumlral tn'us nf tie op? ir^sf-H, thiough Louvain towards Fiimco. Gonri.ip r -oi'tier ( - have been f-hnt in Louv.iin fui f v'u". ■-••King to fomuit an anti-Jflililjii'V agitation ar,r.n» tli ti^ojicii. ' a Violent cannonade fARiS. 25th December. Official — Noxfch of the Lys the enemy violently cannonaded the approaches to the road hoin Ypres to Comines (eight miles south-oist of Ypres), and from Langernarck (five miles north of Ypres), but nnde no attack We have slightly piogressed before La Boiselle, north-east of Albert and south of Arvtis. ' A German night attack on the wood of St. Miml, cast of Tracy-le-Val, was repulsed. The situation is unchanged elsewhere.

ALLIES MAINTAIN THEIR PROGRESS PARIS, 24th December. Official. — The progress made in the attacks between the Mouse and the Argonne has been completely maintained. Our front has reached the enemy's wire entanglements at the south-west salient of the Bois de Forgoes, east of Oiisy ( ? Souilly, ten miles south-south-west of Verdun), and runs along the road leading to Bois do Bourenille*. JOFFRE SPARRING FOR AN OPENING LONDON, 24th December. The military correspondent of The Times states that General Joffre is plainly sparring for an opening He has a double advance enabling him to learn where best to strike and press the enemy so as to take off the strain from the Russians in the Eastern theatre of war INDICATIONS OF FRESH DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN POWER LONDON. 24th December. The military correspondent of The Times says there are indications of a fresh development of German military power by the calling up of the whole of the nation's manhood and the intensifying of activity in every industry manufacturing war material in preparation to crush the Allies in the spring or perish in the attempt. Germany has two million men in the Western line and a million in the Eastern. Her leases total a million men, and she has now in training four million. The Allies have no reason to fear a war of numbers because their population is double that of Germany, their resources aro much greater, and their spirit is at least equal. The German pi ess had recently asserted that Germany was incapable of taking the offensive, and must revise her ideas. The Austro-German forces probably did nofc reach a million and a half, and Russia should not have • insuperable difficulty in overthrowing such a force by superior numbers. She ought to enjoy a numerical superiority of over a million. The correspondent does not therefore expect General yon Hindenberg's success to be lasting, although his counter-offensive has temporarily saved Silesia, relieved the pressure on Cracow, and postponed the day of reckoning.