Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-02-19


HERMAN ANT1-AIR CRAFT GUN.
But Liege, Namur and Antwerp were
needed to convince d0nbters that it
was a practical weapon for the field.
Improved methods of transportation
make it possible to get to the movable
firing line engines that would formerly
have been restricted to Notifications.
Test of Mar Aviation.
The aerial warship has yet to prove
its efficiency. bombs have been drop
ped, but without %intiicting damage that
would put a battleship or fort out of
commission. The fact is u bombs
have been In use for over Il century,
and the results of getting hem into
the air and down ON a ship or fort
have not been serious. What might
have been had the anti-air craft gun
not been brought to perfection will
probably never be demonstrated. The
torpedo which the submarine uses with
such effect shows what happens when
a bomb is put In the right place. Air
ships thousands OF feet in the air have
little chance Of dropping a bomb in
just the right place. The aeroplane is
precisely what a limited class of think
ers believed it would prove to be-a
good scout-sometimes.
The aeroplane Is credited with nav
ing revealed to the Germans the obsta-
cles that lay in the way of General Won
Kluck's dash 70 Paris ON the Sd OF
September. 1t may also have revealed
to the French that Won Kluck was
headed for their. capital and enabled
them to put the obstacles In his path.
The motor truck OF auto machine in
any form has proved II success and
revolutionized transportation in the
fighting zone. Armies have often
moved suddenly upon paths which the
enemy little suspected they would
take. and the motorcar enabled them to
make speed unheard of in former
wars. Russia's motor artillery checked
the Germans on the Bzura river, Po-
land. In the December campaign.
The Situation In December.
Attempts by the allies in September
TO turn the German intrenched line on
the Mouse and Aisne in France led to
a second campaign in Belgium. TIE
Germans swung their right westward
from Antwerp. which they captured
Oct. z. to the channel coast. From Os-
tend southwark to Arras the fiat coun-
try was fought over until it came to a
deadlock.
In December the Germans drew off
troops to send to Poland. and the battle
waned in Belgium until the end of the
month. Germans were also sent from
eastern France. and in their absence
the French again invaded Alsace. re-
covering in mid December German ter.
ritory taken and then lost in August.
Hostilities began in July between
Austria and Servia. Austrian invasion
was repulsed. and Belgrade held out
until Dec. 2. On the 18th Austria evac-
uated Belgrade. and the end of the
month found the plucky Servians on
Austrian soil opposite their capital.
Early in the war Montenegrins In
vaded Dalmatia. and French warships
supported their attacks upon Cattaro.
but the port remained in Austria's con-
troll at the end of the year.
Japan's activity ceased with the cap.
ture in November of K%iauchau. China,
which the German population had de-
Tended for over two months with valor
equal to that of the Belgians at the
other edge of the continent Turkey,
entered the conflict in November and
at the close of December claimed VIC
tories along the Caucasian border. as
well as naval successes in the Black
sea. AS in the northern and western
lighting zones. conflicting claims of OPP
posing sides on the Turkish frontier
cannot always be reconciled. Elise
where in this review is given an outline
Of operations between Austro-G Germans
and Russians to the end Of 1914