Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1914-12-15
Most Striking Feature of
Days News of European
War is Candid Statement
of Austrian Government
Announcing Defeat
BELGRADE HELD:
AUSTRIANS HAPPY
Point Out That Occupation
of Capital City is More
Important to Them Than
the Speedy Routing of
Troops Elsewhere
ASSOCIATED PRESS p1spArcH]

LONDON, Dec 14.-The most
striking feature of the days official
news is the candid admission by the
Austrian government of the defeat
of the Austrian army in Servia and
apparently of the abandonment of
its third attempt to invade the ter
ritory of its small Slav neighbor
While attritbuting their failure to
the enemy's superior force. as all
German government bulletins ex-
plain their failures the Austrian
war office announces a plainly eX-
tended retirement and heavy losses.
New decisions and measures con-
sequently will be taken to repel the
enemy" says the Austrian statement.
Apparently that means the Austrian
army directed against Servia will
assume a defensive line. Against its
repulse Austria balances the occu-
patton of Belgrade as an asset to
the good. The Servians claim to be
pressing home their victory with
more captures of prisoners and have
driven part of the invading army
across the Drina river Moreover,
they express confidence that they
are about to retake the capital and
expel the invaders from Servian ter
ritory.
The progress of the war in north
ern Hungary is less definite. Sun
days German wireless report. with
candor equal to that of the Austrian
bulletin, spoke of severe resistance"
which the German and Austrian
arms encountered in southern Po-
land and in Galicia. adding it is
evident the Austrian force in the
Carpathians is not numerically
strong enough to clear the Russians
out of Hungarian territory.
But the Austrians claim they are
driving down the northern slopes of
the Carpathians, the Russian in
vaders who were last week in occu-
patton 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 and occupy and re-
occupy cities and villages and in
flict upon inhabitants bombardments
similar to those suffered in Belgium
and northern France. More than 400
Polish towns have been ruined, ac-
cording to various accounts of cor
respondents Each army accuses the
other of looting and cruelty.
The flight of the civilians from
LODI was one of the most tragic
episodes of the war, while one cor
respondent pictures the fate OF
Kalisz as a repetition of Louvain,
with the slaughter of 400 civilians
and the sacking of the city.
A distressing feature of the fighting
in Poland lies in the fact that blood
kindred are pitted against each other.
There are several hundred thousand
Poles in Russian ranks and several
hundred thousand more in the ranks
of the Germans and Austrians
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. On the other hand
Russians announce a strategic re-
alignment of their forces in that field
which strengthens their position.
In the last report tonight the Aus
trians announced that they had re-
occupied the important point of Dukla
to the north of Przemysl and Cracow,
but nearer to the former and had