Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1914-12-18
AUS7RIANS
RETIRING
Vienna Admits Re-
verse in Servia.
SUFFERING IN POLAND
Opposing Armies Driving Each
Other Back and Forth.
London, Dec. 15.-The Serv-
ians, after fierce battle, have
reoccupied Belgrade, according
to a Nish dispatch to the Reu-
ter Telegram company.
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:. ':' Is ..' = = :, - -
Tie Austrians occupied Belgrade
Dec. 2, after having besieged it since
July 20, bombarding from batteries
near Semlin and from monitors on
the Danube. A large portion of the
city was said to have been destroyed
by the fire of the Austrians.
When war was declared the Servlan
government moved from Belgrade to
Kraguyevats and later went further
south to Nish, where it remains.
One of the features of the official
news is the candid admission by the
Austrian government of the defeat OF
the Austrian army in Servia and ap-
parently of the abandonment OF its
third attempt to invade the territory
of it's small Slav neighbor.
While attributing the failure to the
enemy's superior force, as all govern
ment bulletins explain failures, the
Austrian war Office announces plainly
an extended retirement, and heavy
losses.
New decisions and measures con-
sequently will be taken to repel the
enemy" says the Austrian statement.
Pressing Home Their Victory.
The Servians claim to be pressing
home their victory with more cap
lures of prisoners and to have driven
part of the invading army across the
Drina river.
The Austrians claim that they are
driving down the northern slopes OF
the Carpathians the Russian invaders.
who last week were in occupation OF
several towns south Of that mountain
range.
Poland is fast becoming another
Belgium in point of suffering, while
the opposing armies drive each other
back and forth, occupy and reoccupy
cities and villages and intlict upon
the inhabitants bombardments similar
to those suffered in Belgium and north
ern France.
More than 500 Polish towns have
been ruined. according to various &C
counts from the correspondents. Each
army accuses the other of footing and
cruelty. The fight of the civilians
from LODI was one Of the most tragic
episodes of the war, while one CORE
spondent pictures the fate of Kalisz as
a repetition of Louvaine, with the
slaughter of 400 civilians and the
sacking of the city.
Blood Kindred Fighting.
A distressing feature of the fighting
in Poland lies in the fact that the
blood kindred are pitted against each
other. There are several hundred
thousand Poles in the Russian ranks
and several hundred thousand more in
the ranks of the Germans and Aus
TRANS.
The Germans claim a distinct gain
in their position in Northern Poland,
although they are not believed to be
as near Warsaw as the report last
week indicated.
The French war Office reports artil-
lery engagements in which they had
the better of the Germans and small
advances at various points. particular
~ in the neighborhood of Verdun and
st. Mihiel, in accordance with General
Jotfre's famous scheme of "nibbling
at them" Bulletins deny these claims.
however.
The troops in France and Belgium
are suffering from plague OF mud
and damp, which causes them greater
discomfort than did the cold at the
end of November, with it's hardships
of frozen feet and hands. and effect
ually vetoes any movement on big