Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-26

pest.
French Report.
! Paris, Dec 24-The French war Of
fec this afternoon gave out an official
communication which reads as fol-
lows:
| From the sea to tho Lys we made
progress by sapping operations in the
! dunes and we repulsed an attack in
front of Lombaertzyde. At Sewartelen
to the southeast Of Ypres we occupied
/ group of houses and we drove back
as far as the southern part of this vii
lage a counter attack of the enemy;
this was done in spite Of very spirit
ed fire from the German artillery.
"The Belgian army pushed forward
certain detachments along the right
bank of the User to the south Of Dix
nude and organized a defensive work
protecting the head of bridge
"In the region of Arras the fog still
made all operations impossible.
"To the east and to the southeast Of
Amiens, especially In the suburbs OF
Lassigny, there have been artillery ex-
changes.
'In the region Of the Aisne the
zouaves,. during all day yesterday held
back brilliantly number of attacks;
they remained masters, at point near
the road Of Puisleine, of the German
trenches occupied by us December FL.
| "In Champagne we strengthened the
positions taken by us in our advance of
the night before in the region of Cra-
onne and RI Gins.
I'm the vicinity of Perthes, all the
! 0f 1,o
! positions conquered by us December %
were successfully repulsed To the
northwest of Mesnil-les-Hurlus. we &C.
cupied German trenches for distance
, of 400 yards and drove back a counter
attack. The Germans endeavored to
take the offensive in the direction Of
Vile -sur-Tourbe, but our artillery dis
| persed them.
TN the Argonne we took possession
of piece of ground in the forest Of
La Grurie and in the vicinity of Baga-
telle we repulsed German attack.
"In the region of Verdun the preva-
lence Of fog made impossible the con-
duct of any operations of Importance
The enemy delivered a counter attack,
but without success, in the forest Of
Consenvoye.
I'm the forest of Apremont our artil-
lery demolished and caused the enemy
to evacuate several trenches. In the
Woevre district the French artillery re-
duced certain German batteries to 81
lence.
"In the region of Ban De Sapt, to the
northeast Of St. Die, our infantry ad-
vanced with rush and established
| itself on the territory thus gained
There is nothing to report from
Upper Alsace.
"Russia-On the Bzura river, the
Germans have maintained themselves
In two positions. On the contrary, at
point north of Sochaczew, they were
driven back to the river which flows
to the southwest of this town. Their
efforts to dehouch from Bolimow re-
suited in failures. At the present
time the Germans are attempting to
cross the river Rawka to the southeast
of Skierniewice.
ITO the south of Rawa the Ger
mans are resisting stubbornly pro-
nounced Russian offensive movement,
being delivered along the northern
bank of the river Pilica'
German Official Report.
Berlin, Dec. 24-(By wireless to Lon
don)-The official communication issu-
! ed by the German general headquar-
, ters staff says:
THE enemy did not renew his at
! tacks in the neighborhood of Newport
yesterday. At Bixschoote we took 23O
!! prisoners on December %.
| The enemy was again active yester-
| day in the neighborhood of Chalons.
, Infantry attacks followed a fierce artil-
! lery attack made by the enemy in the
region of SUSAN and Perthes. These
were repulsed.
! "A trench kept under continuous ar
| tillery fire by the enemy was lost by
us but was recaptured in the evening.
! The position was abandoned after this
successful counter attack because
parts of the trenches had been almost
! levelled by the fire of the enemy's ar
! tillery.
More than one hundred prisoners
were left in our hands.
In the east we have assumed the
offensive and are advanced from Neid-
enburg and Soldau in East Prussia
We have repulsed the Russians after
several days fighting at Mlawa north
ern Poland, and the enemy's positions
at Mlawa again are in our hands. More
than 1000 prisoners were taken in
these battles.
I cat the confluence Of the Bzura and
Rawka rivers, fierce bayonet attacks
took place at many places. The artil,
= lery could do little on account of the
miserable weather.
'The Russians suffered heavy losses
on the right bank of the Pilitka river,
in the district to the southeast of Tom.
aszow. The Russians attacked fierce.
ly several times but were repulsed by
the Austro-G German armies, with heavy
losses.
Further to the south the situation
generally is unchanged
FRENCH RATTTESHTP