The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-12-16
BADLY OFF AS BELGIUM
People of Poland Seem to be in a
Pitiful Plight


did admission by the Austrian gov
eminent of the defeat of the Austrian
army in Servia and apparently the
abandonment of its third attempt to
invade its small Slav neighbor.
While attribut:ng the failure to the
enemy's superior force, as all govern
ment bulletins explain failures, the
Austrian war office announces plain
| w an extended retirement and heavy
losses.
New decisions and measures con-
sequently will be taken to repel the
enemy" says the Austrian statement.
Apparently that means that the Aus
TRAN campaign directed against Ser
via will assume defensive line.
Seryians Follow Up 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 progress of the war in North
ern Hungary is less definite. The
German wireless report with candor
equal to that of the Austrian bulle-
tin, speak of the severe resistance"
which the German and Austrian arms
are encountering in South Poland and
in Galicia, adding that it was evident
| that the Austrian forces in the Car
pathians are not numerically strong
enough to clear the Russians out Of
Hungarian territory. But the Aus
TRANS claim they are driving down the
northern slopes of the Carpath;ans the
Russian invaders who were last week
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 infiict upon
the inhabitants bombardments SIM
liar to those suffered in Belgium and
Northern France.
More than FIVE hundred Polish
towns have been ruined, according to
various accounts from the correspond
ents.
Kalisz a Second Louyain
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 correspondent pictures the fate of
Kalisz as repetition of Louvain, with
| the slaughter of four hundred civili-
ans and the sacling of the city.
A distressing feature of the fight
ing in Poland lies in the fact that
there blood kindred are pitted against
each other There are several hum
dred thousand Poles in. the Russian
ranks and several hundred thousand
more in the ranks Of the Germans
and Austrians
The Germans claim distinct gain
in their position in Northern Poland,
although they are not believed to be
as near Warsaw as the report last
week indicated. On the other hand
the Russians announce a strategic
realignment of their forces in that
field which strengthens their posi-
tions.
B In a late report the Austrians an
nounce that they have reoccupied
the important point of Dukla, north
of the Carpathians, on line south
Of Przemysl and Craeow, but nearer
to the former, with the capture OF
5000 prisoners.
Main Issue Unchanged
The main issue in the eastern the
ater-whether the Germans and Aus
trian armies by the German opera
tions in Northern. and Central Polan,
and the Austrians' advance across tn
Carpathians, will shake the Russian
grip from the Przemysl and Cracov
fortresses- remains unchanged.
The troops in France and Belgium
and damp, which causes them great
er discomfort tran did the cold wav
at the end of November, with its pos
tive hardships of frozen feet am
hands, and effectually vetoes an,
movements on big scale. In som
ways, however, life in the trenches o
the allies is easier than before. Sine
they have been reinforced they DON
have to spend more than two day
continuously on the firing line, where
as last month they were without res
or an opportunity to remove thei
clothing for week or more at a time
The Turkish army has rot yet as
serted itself, nor has it engaged il
any great battle. Enver Pasha ha
taken cornrnand Of the Carca sia1