THE BZURA BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 32, 8 February 1915, Page 7

THE BZURA BATTLE

INCESSANT FIGHTING DAY AND NIGHT THE THREATENED BLOCKADE NEUTRALS' OUTSPOKEN PROTESTS GERMANY PLANNING NEW RAIDS SUBMARINE DESTROYED AT ZEEBRUGGE DEFENCE OF THE CANAL TYPHOID IN GERMAN CAMPS

Germany's threat to "blockade" shipping 1 in British seas has roused the anger of the neutral countries. The Rotterdam newspaper, Kieuwe Courante, puts the case plainly in stating that Germany's warning to neutral ships looks like a. display of temper, and gives the impression of an anxiety born of feebleness, which seeks to make up in ferocity what it lacks in power. A Swedish paper declares that Germany is grossly blundering, and that neutrals cannot be intimidated or overawed by threats. The New York Herald also utters a fierce denunciation. This morning comes the announcement from Germany that the grain seizures are not for State or military use, but solely for distribution among civilians ! The fighting in the Borjimoff district, in Poland, has been of the most desperate character, military science being abandoned by the Germans in their endeavour to break through to "Warsaw, which has resulted in a reckless expenditure of. lives and ammunition. The fighting still continues, and critics declare that success in this case is a matter of life or death for the Germans. The Commonwealth's official correspondent with the 'Australasian troops in Egypt states that all the New Zealanders were engaged in the fighting on the Suez Canal, but no Australians. It is conjectured that the army of the enemy may succeed in crossing the desert, since the Germans are making tremendous efforts to build a railway to the frontier. Two New Zealanders have given up their lives for the Empire's cause— Capt. J. A. Bell, of Christchurch, and Private W. A. Ham, of Nelson. On the western front fighting continues on the La Bassee-Bethune line, and progress continues towards Ostend. The Kaiser has ordered that German lives must not be sacrificed in secondary engagements, which has given the impression that the enemy is outnumbered by the Allies on this front.