RUSSIAN ARMIES STILL STRIKING

Otago Witness, Issue 3183, 17 March 1915, Page 19

RUSSIAN ARMIES STILL STRIKING

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE APPRECIABLY

WEAKENING

ENEMY’S SEVERE LOSSES IN THE CARPATHIANS

ALLIES’ ADVANCES IN THE WEST

TWO STRONG POSITIONS CAPTURED

TURKISH BRIBE REFUSED BY

BULGARIA

ALLIES’ SUCCESSES. GERMANS DRIVEN BACK IN ALSACE. PARIS, March 8. A communique states: V' e captured some trenches north-west of Souain. The Germans, who had regained a footing on the hilltop west of Munster (Alsace), were driven back, after a hand-to-hand fight, with extremely heavy losses. Official : Snowstorms in the Champagne region are interfering with our opeiations. We continue to advance west of Perthes, but lost some ground between Mesnil and Beau Sejour. We gained 100 metres northeast of Mesnil, and continue our progress north of Badonvillier. AT NOTRE DAME DE LORETTE. PARIS, March 8. Details of the loss and recapture of the trenches at Notre Dame de Lorette show that the Germans blew up the foremost trenches with mines, and then expelled the French from the second and third lines of trenches by sheer weight of numbers. The French artillery bombarded the Germans for several hours next day, enabling the infantry to retake the second and third lines. Then there was a Ipll till evening, when the rain poured down. The French charged irresistibly, and a fearful struggle ensued in the darkness. There was an indescribable uproar as the French bayoneted the enemy in the first line of trenches. The Germans finally bolted to their own lines. Daylight revealed nearly 3000 Germans deM on°the field. The French losses were 1000. OSTEND BOMBED. LONDON, March 8. Official: Six British navql aeroplanes raided Ostend on Sunday and dropped 11 bombs on the submarine repairing base and four bombs on the German military headquarters. Considerable damage was probably inflicted. Commander Longmore, in charge of the Ostend raid, reports that two seaplanes returned owing to their petrol freezing. The others returned safely. WRECKED ZEPPELINS. PARIS, March 9. It is rumoured that a -wrecked Zeppelin (L 9) was sighted in the Channel a few miles from Boulogne. AMSTERDAM, March 8. Zeppelin LB, in descending because of engine trouble at Gondolas, crashed into some trees. The airship broke in two, forming a “ V.” Seventeen of her crew were killed and several wounded. The damage is irreparable. ALLIES’ OFFENSIVE DELAYED. LONDON, March 8. The Times correspondent at Paris says that the wet weather experienced since Saturday will probably delay further progress in the Champagne region. This is a pity, because it will give the Germans time to reorganise a defensive position. The French offensive began on February 28, and not a day has passed since without progress. The total advance at any one point does not amount to a mile, but each day the enemy has a more difficult defence problem to face. FIGHTS FOR RISING GROUND. LONDON, March 8. “ Eye-witness ” says that a great many attacks at the present stage aim at capturing rising ground. It is of the utmost importance to gain a position whence the enemy’s trenches, batteries, and communications are observable. The effect of artillery fire is now so great that it is almost true to say that the infantry are used more as a screen for the guns than for anything else. All offensive action is dependent on sustained and intensely accurate artillery fire. " Eye-witness ” adds that a captured

German states that the population behind the German lines live in abject servitude. They are compelled to mend roads, dig trenches, and thrash corn. They are paid in army rations, without which they would starve, as all foodstuffs have been commandeered. AMMUNITION SHORT. CALAIS, March 9. For the last three days, German prisoners state, the German batteries have been restricted to 40 shots daily unless the general of division otherwise directs. TREATMENT OF GERMAN PRISONERS. PARIS, March 8. German prisoners in France will henceforth be treated similarly to French ■ prisoners in Germany. Various privileges have been withdrawn, owing to Germany’s refusal to give better treatment to French prisoners. A CONTENTED ARMY. LONDON, March 8. The Times correspondent at headquarters in France says that the campaign is being run on a principle of generosity. If the men want anything for fighting or for their comfort they get it. The result is a" happy and healthy army. The most striking instance is the convalescent home at headquarters, where men with trifling ailments, who otherwise would be sent to the hospitaf, are turned out for a fortnight to be physically repaired. The trench diggers are working with a keenness that would make the Clyde strikers toil 48 hours a day, if only out of professional admiration for an almost perfect machine. RUSSIAN ATTACKS. PETROGRAD, March 9. Official ; Our offensive in the Suwalki i region is developing. The German offenj sive near Pihca has been checked, and a \ counter-attack begun. We surrounded an Austrian outflankiffg column in the Klaus region, and a battalion surrendered. The Russians, on entering Prasnysz (North Poland), discovered that all men ! between 15 and 16 hadv been carried off by the Germans. Many Polish peasants were dressed in uniform and placed in the trenches, the object of this ruse being to make the Russians believe that the Germans still occupied them. The enemy’s breastworks were an extraordinary sight. They consisted of furni- ; ture, sofas, beds, and boxes filled with sand and stones. ! Princess Voroniecka’s mansion, in the vicinity of Prasnysz, was taken and. retaken four times. A force of 5900 Russians occupied the estate during the last German assault, and maxims in every ! house poured forth a murderous rain, while hand-grenades were dropped on the j Prussians. GERMANS RAPIDLY RETREATING. PETROGRAD, March 9. General Eichorn’s army is rapidly retreating. It is now clear of the Augus- ! towo woods, and within a dozen miles of the German border. The valley of the Niemen is also clear of the enemy, who | have Inst touch of the force operating ! against Osowiecz. The Russians have made a slower progress in the Mlawa region, where General von Hindcnburg has a large force guard- . ing the communications. I Twelve thousand prisoners taken in East Galicia have been sent to Siberia. Four thousand Austrians in East Galicia were marching without food for three days. Before their commissariat arrived the Rusi sians appeared, and the Austrians showed the white flag and surrendered. TO BERLIN. LONDON, March 8. The Paris Journal correspondent at

Petrograd describes the unshakable determination of the Russians to expel the Germans from the Masurian region and invest or besiege Konigsberg in order to clear the read for a march to Berlin, when they will compel the Germans to engage in a general battle. AUSTRIAN ATROCITIES. LONDON, March 8. Macaulay Trevelyan has returned from a tour in Serbia. He states that when the Austrians invaded the north-west of Serbia they murdered 10,000 men, women, and children. Nearly 1000 persons were shut up in houses at Shabatz and burned alive, and innumerable atrocities were perpetrated. CETTINJE, March 8. Official: The Austrians are massing large forces on the Montenegrin frontier. They are driving out of Herzegovina and Bosnia ■ many Orthodox Greek Church families, who are suffering terrible hardships.