, 1914-12-23

down and in the whole Of Poland the Rus
slams have been forced to retreat after fierce
and stubborn frontal battles and are being
pursued everywhere. During the fighting
in Northern Poland the bravery OF the West
Prussian Hea-inu Regiments gained a vie.
tony which cannot yet be estimated. ,
CHEAT enthusiasm prevails III Berlin on
account Of the action Of the German navy on
the cast coast Of England. A semi official
bulletin says "Ihis is still oyershadoWed
~ m enormous Russian debacle in Poland
Everywhere the houses are draped with flags
and the bells OF the chul ches are ringing inces-
sanity. At the Reichstag, where IA Red Cross
meeting was in session, word was received
from the Palace that the greatest victory OF
the war hnd been won. The schools VIII
give q holiday, 50 that the children may
celebrate the victory. The following Official
statement has been received from Vienna
and has increased the enthusiasm: "The
Ialest news permits OF no further doubt that
the resistance Of the Russian main force has
been shattered. After the defeat of its
southern wing in the battle Of Ii aanowa,
which lasted several days, Our Allies have
also gained d victory near Lodz ind the
Russians have now been completely routed
on the river Bzura. Threatened By our
advance across the Calpathions, from the
South, the enemy has begun n general
@lttleat, which they try to cover By stubborn
fighting in the regions before the Carpathi-
ans. Our troops are attacking on u line
from Grodno to Zokliczyn and along the
other parts Of our front a pursuit has
begun.
A Russian official bulletin announces: elm
the direction of MloWa our cavalry and van
guard troops ure energetical!y chasing tho
beaten Germans and several of their corps
have already crossed their frontier. During
the chase we have captured prisoners, guns
and war motorial. On the left bank Of the
Nrstula aud il Eastern GaIicia there was no
important fighting on Wednesday. During
the past week the garrison cf Plzelny8I at
tempted several sorties, but We rcpul8ed
them all, i~nfictiug heavy losses and IN ono
sortie We captured hundreds # PRISONERS
and II number Of machine guns.
The 'Daily Mai'a' correspondent at
Prtro9rad states that while the German
General Staff is using every possible menus
to reduce the Russian pressure on Ora
COW, tho Kaiser has shown great anx-
iely for the occupation Of Warsaw. This
anxiety tends TO obtain a purely political and
spectacular advantage and ends colour to the
interesting rumour that he would be glad to
seize the opportunity offered by Christmas
to propose Il Peace Conference, il he could
~ hIilINkiNC W llO DSIL Iftl4 DCOI'C w ihJl
would appear to them to be a striking sue
cess, and if he could use Belgium aud West
ern Poland IN bargaining for advantageous
conditions Of peace.
London, Dec. 19th-A Petrogrud des-
patch SAYS that before the Austro- German
claim OF u victory was made, a former MIN
lister, explaining the military situation,
stated that pubic opinion 5olidly endorsed
the decision of the General S aft regarding
the discoufinuunce of the Russian attacks
in the region Of CracoW and the yleloIug of
LODI to the Germans. 1t is now apparent
that the Austro-German aim was not the
taking or holding Of certain towns, but BY
the continuous harrassing Of the Russian
taHks and 10y means of their extensive rail
way system, to throw troops ut various
points here aud there IN in attempt to weak
en- the Russian amy, hence the Russians
decided 10 straighteu their line, abandoning
all places outside of that line, no mat
ter how important or popuIous the 20.
sitiond may be, the Russian plan being
being to conserve the Russian forces, rather
than to hold S~oosluphical points. This ex-
plains why despite the new Au,triar off N
slye from the CaiIHthians and the German
9ttap,NI hat,o4I,- FIN, Xi..t,i, ,n,l J,vr., -,