RUSSIANS STILL ADVANCING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3168, 2 December 1914, Page 29

RUSSIANS STILL ADVANCING.

INTREPID ATTACK OVER THE RABA. PETROGRAD, November 27. Official: Otir troops advancing from Lzura have reached Goosin. We captured Breziny and other villages in the Morga Valley by bayonet attacks. The cavalry charged the retreating enemy, and captured guns and many prisoners. The position on the whole of the Warta-Vistula front is favourable. Our successes on the CzenstochowaCracow line are of marked importance. We took as prisoners over 4000 Germans. The Russians forded the Raba neck deep amid rushing ice floes and carried a strongly-fortified position. We carried Bochnia against desperate resistance, capturing 2000 men and also 10 guns and a number of machine guns. The enemy’s retreat was disorderly near Cracow. Nov. 28 (evening). Official: The Russians achieved a decisive success at Proszowice, Brzesko, Bochnia, Wisiricz, and Bront on Thursday. They routed the enemy and captured 7000 prisoners and 30 guns (with complete teams), and 20 machine guns. A Russian battalion captured a commander, 20 officers, and 1250 men, with colours which showed that they were the remnants of the 31st Honved (? Hanover) Regiment, at Brzesko; also a motor car with several members of the General Staff. We are energetically pursuing the enemy. We progress at certain points at Lodz, and are attacking important forces in the Carpathians. UNOFFICIAL ACCOUNTS EXAGGERATED. PETROGRAD, November 29. It is officially announced that many exaggerated statements of the dimensions of the Russian victory on the Vistula are based on private letters. They should be accepted with reserve, but beyond doubt the German plan to break the Russian front failed. The Germans were compelled to fall back, suffering immense losses. The enemy continues obstinate resistance, and it is impossible to consider the operations concluded. Apparently the main Russian success was against General Mackensen northeast of Lodz. Official: General Mackensen at one time got between the Russian right and Warsaw. General Hindenberg sought to relieve Cracow by threatening Warsaw, but General Mackensen was unable to retain his position. General Hindenberg then rapidly concentrated on Wielun and tried to turn the Russian left and simultaneously turn the Russian right operating against the Austrians. the German advance near Lodz failed and the Russians, holding the Austrians firmly at Czenstochowa, began to hem the Germans in from the south, at the same time enveloping them from the north. General Mackensen was thus forced to retreat along the Vistula, but many regiments are broken and are wandering eastward of Lodz. GERMAN LEFT WING CRUMPLED UP. PETROGRAD, November 28. The battle of Koluszki is the last stage of the Germans’ desperate struggling fight through to Strykon, and they are exposed to incessant Russian cavalry charges. The Russians, knowing the difficulty of surrounding three army corps in the open country, are seeking to cut off every suppiv of ammunition. Prior to the advance the Kaiser gave audience to General Hindenberg at Thorn. He said : “ The eyes of the world are upon you.” General Hindenberg then launched a Napoleonic attack, aiming at breaking the Russian centre, and surrounding the Russians between Czenstochowa and Cracow. The army under General Francois attacked Lowicz, while General Mackensen marched upon Lodz. General Mackensen duly broke the Russian centre at Breziny, but found his three army corps cut off. General Francois, who was decisively defeated at Lowicz on Tuesday, retreated in a north-westerly direction, making General Mackensen’s position increasingly difficult. Meanwhile the Russians on Monday defeated General Wielet’s force of Germans at Czenstochowa, who had been entrenched on a line of low hills running to the Vistula. The Russians had driven a wedge into the line at Wlodwize, 25 miles south of Czenstochowa, and are now attacking the Germans’ northern section in the flank. The Russians converging on Cracow on three sides are continually capturing guns. The General Staff complains that the Germans are placing anti-aircraft, guns, machine guns, wireless apparatus in church towers, with the evident purpose of forcing the Russians to bombard ancient buildings.