RUSSIAN REPORTS

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

RUSSIAN REPORTS

OPERATIONS FAVOURABLE ON ALL FRONTS ENEMY LOSES HEAVILY FETROGRAD, 24th December. Official. — Our operations have been generally favourable on all fronts. The most conspicuous successes were on the Nida and the Duna-jetz Rivers, and ,also in the Carpathians. The German's advance guard made fresh attempts to cross the frontier in the direction of Mlawa. The German? on Tuesday night and all Wednesday concentrated their efforts to force the passage of the Bzura and the Rawka (a tributary o£ the Bzura, east of Lowicz), in the districts of Mistrzewice and Bolimowo ion the. Rawka. ten miles east of Lowicz), with a view to advancing upon Skierniwice (fifteen miles south-east of Lowicz). They were driven bafck beyond the rivers with enormous losses. Over a thousand were killed in the region of Skierniwice alone. Onr success was due to the pre-eminence of the automobile batteries. RUSSIAN PROGRESS IN GALICIA PETROGRAD, 24th December. Official. — There has been fierce fighting on the left bank of the Pilica. The Russians advanced, in the region of Opoczno and Tomaszow (respectively twenty miles east and fourteen miles north-east of Piotrkow). The Russian progress in Galicia continues, where 5666 were taken prisoners, and three guns and ten machine guns captured south of the Vistula. On Sunday and. Monday the Russians made prisoners of 1530 men in the Carpathians. On Tuosd-ty a fresh sortie was made by the Austrian garrison at Przerriysl, and sever.il of the enemy's detachments were annihilated and the remainder taken prisoners. GERMANS FIND MARSHY GROUND A HANDICAP PETROGRAD, 24th December. The Russians defending the Bzura, Rawka, Pilica, and Nida Rivez-s are assisted in- several districts by the marshes, which have made it difficult for the Germans to find a suitable place to cross. The Russians at one point on the Bzura allowed the Germans to cross the ford until they reached deep water. They then fell upon them. The Germans, seeing their retreat cut off, fought hard, and a ' dozen machine guns protecting the retreat caused severe execution, but the Russian sharpshooters picked off the men at the machine guns, and only three of the guns were saved. The Germans left many dead The German pressure at Sochaczew (thirty miles west of Warsaw) increases. Many of the inhabitants of Sochaczew have lost their reason owing to the terrible din of the bombardment. ENEMY CLAIMS SUCCESSES AMSTERDAM, 24th December. A 'Berlin official message states that the troops at Soldau, under General yon Heidenberg ( Mlindenberg) repelled the Russians in several days' battles, and recaptured Mlawa and the Russian positions in the vicinity, making prisoners of a thousand. There were several bayonet charges on the Bzura. In the Rawka River district the enemy's artillery was unable to come into action. The Russian losses were severe. The Russian attacks south-east of Tomaszow were repulsed with heavy losses. , LONDON, 24th December. An official message from Vienna claims successes at Laborcza (in the Carpathians, due south of the San-Vistula confluence), also in the diiection of Lisko (thirty miles south-west of Przemysl). The Russians arc also stated to have been repulsed on the River Dunajetz (near Tarnow), with heavy losses. A fresh battle is proceeding along the entire front. LONDON, 25th December. An official Vienna message states :- — We repulsed several Russian attacks in the Laborcza Valley. The enemy suffered heavy losses, and one battalion was blown up. We gained ground in the Ung Valley, and made 650 prisoners near the Uzsoker Pass and 2000 on the Lower Drina'on 22nd December. FLEEING PEOPLE SHELLED \ LONDON, 24th December. The Daily News Petrogiad correspondent states that the Germans used Bin guns against Sochaczew, and shattered the houses. The falling masonry killed hundreds of civilians, and the Germans shelled the people as they were fleeing towards Warsaw, and lulled many women and children. Hundreds of the inhabitants of Lowicz killed were under the wrecked buildings. * Among the Germans taken prisoner at Lowicz were eighty women, who had participated in the fighting in the trenches. TWO DAYS OF OBSTINATE FIGHTING > PETROGRAD, 25th December. Official. — Considerable German forces at Schonkow, near Sochaczew, on the right bank of the Bzura, were completely defeated, and a regiment was almost entirely annihilated. Six Maxims, five officers, and 515 men were captured. There has been hard fighting at Bolimovo, on the Rawka, and also on the Pilica. The Germans were everywhere repulsed. An obstinate two days' fighting has been in progress on the Nida between Wislica and Kortschin, the Russians capturing fifty-seven officers and 4000 men northward of Pintsehow. and eight officers and 600 men southward of Pintschow. They also took 1500 prisoners southward of the Vistula. The situation in East Prussia is unchanged. [Wislica and Kortschin are on the Nida, a Polish tributary of the Vistula, forty miles north-east of Cracow. The former town is five miles north of the Vistula, and the second close to the main river. Pintsehow is twenty miles north of the Vistula.]