Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-03-06
Great Offensive Movements
of the Teutons in East
and West Stopped
RUSSIANS GAINING
BACK LOST GROUND
British and French Fleets
at Dardanelles Still
Firing on Forts

London, March 5.-The Russian
slack Sea fleet is steaming toward
the Bosphorus, says dispatch
from Rome. The Bucharest COR
respondent of the G'orna'e
Dutalia Of Rome teiegraphs that
.he> Russian fleet has passed Bur-
gas, Bulgaria.
Should the Russian fleet attack
the Bosphorus, 1t presumably
would have to deal with the Turk
Isl! fleet, which is supposed to be
in that region, and the most power
fu, member of which is the cruiser
Sultan seIim, formerly the Ger
man cruiser Goeben.
The Bosphorus is about 18 miles
Iona and from one to one-half
miles wide. It ls defended with
modern fortifications which guard
the approach to constantnopIe at
the western end.
London, March Gwen If no de.
cisive battle developes from the pres
ent Russian offensive on the eastern
front, the allies today are advancing
the claim that the Austro- German
plans for their spring campaign in the
east have been measurably interfered
with.
"A few weeks ago, Field Marshal Won
Hindenburg, was sweeping victorious
ly through northern Poland, while in
the south the Austrians were pressing
forward both in Galicia and In the
crown land of Bukowina, Today these
roles appear to be reversed. Russian
troops are attacking along the German
line from the Niemen to the Vistula,
and although the Germans are clinging
tenaciously to their positions before
Ossowetz and at other points north OF
the vistula, their thrust toward War
saw has been brought to standstill
and they are being slowly forced back
to their own frontier.
Other news dispatches reaching Lon
don set forth that in the south the
Austrians and the Hungarians con-
tinue to fling themselves with great
bravery and even greater loss against
the Russian lines. These onslaughts
have not yet abated; the Russian gen.
eral staff declares they have brought
no gains. The German contingent in
the Carpathians has been reduced to
three army corps, according to reports
In London, which leaves the Austro-
Hungarians to bear the brunt of tho
fighting.
Sultan Flees Capital.
In the meantime the allied fleets are
slowly battering their way up the Oar
danelles, without SO far as is known
single serious loss among the ships.
The sultan of Turkey, according to a
report from Athens, already has fed
from Constantinople. This, however,
has not been confirmed and reports
from Turkish sources, notably an IN.
terview with Enver Pasha, deprecate
the seriousness Of the bombardment OF
the Dardanelles and insist that the real
defenses of the straits have not been
affected.
Britons Are Pleased.
It can be said that from the British
point of view the situation today,
wherever fighting is going on, is taken
as favorable to the allies. The South
African rebellion has been crushed;
The Turkish invasion of Egypt SEEM
ingly has been abadoned, the reports
from the eastern battle front are favor
able; no adverse news regarding the
operations against the Dardanelles yet
has been received and the blockade on
foodstuffs into Germany is about to be
enforced.
In the western arena of the war,
the Germans, judging from dispatches
reaching here, are fighting hard to re-
cover the ground lost during the last
fortnight. Near Arras they have forg-
ed ahead somewhat, but the allies re-
port progress both in the Champagne
and the ArgOnne district.