The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-20
Hope by Decisive Victory
 to Be Able to Divert Troops to Meet Italy's At tack in the Event of War
REPORTS FROM ROME l CONTRADICTORY, BUT
 WAR SEEMS PROBABLE |
Russians Reported Defeated in Severe Engagements North of Przemysl by the Austro-German Troops

London. May 19.-uO.3O D. m., While Italy is confidently believed to he making final preparations to enter the war on the side of the allies, Aus- tria, who would he the direct object of her attack, Is, with her German ally, attempting to inflict such n defeat on Russia that she will he able to divert troops, If necessary, to meet her new foe in the south.
 Dispatches from Rome continue some- what contradictory, but most of them agree that Italy has decided on the sid of war. that the German and Austrian ambassadors are preparing to leave Rome. and that the consuls general of those two countries either already have left their posts or will do so soon
 On the other hand. message coming mtted new proposals which she hopes will induce Italy to remain neutral A definite answer is expected from the Ital- ian foreign office before the chamber of deputies meets tomorrow.
 Continue Attack
 Manwhile the Austrian and German armies continue massed attacks against the Russians, who are attempting to form a new line behind the River San, both north and south of Przemysl and west of the Vistula river, in southern Poland.
 These attacks according to Austrian and German reports. have met with their greatest success north of Przemysl. where the Germanic allies have crossed the river and have occupied Sieniawa on the eastern bank. They also claim to have captured positions southeast of the Aus tran fortress, while their heavy guns are keeping up a bombardment from the west.
 In southern Poland their progress is not marked, the Russians having had strong endorsements concentrated at Ivangorod which they brought into the field and checked the advance.
 1t is stated from Petrograd that the Germans and Austrans are using between 30 and 40 army corps on the 200-mile front from Opatow, in Poland, to Kolomea, in eastern Galicia.
 Break Austrian Right
 East of the latter city, in Bukowina, the Russians have broken the Austrian ex- treme right and are reported again to have occupied Czernowitz. the capital
 The sudden break in the weather in France which had been bright and dry stopped the fighting Monday but it has been resumed at several points. Between Arras and the coast and in the Woevre it appears as though the allies attacks have ended and that they are consol- idating the ground gained and awaiting German counter attacks. They are not likely to be idle long. however, as the action must be continued for the purpose of relieving the pressure on the Rus sians.
 Steady progress by the allied troops on the Gallipoli peninsula is reported although they apparently have not yet captured the Turkish positions which bar their way to the narrows of the Dardanelles. An unofficial dispatch re- ports the landing of fresh troops on the Asiatic side of the straits--a move de. signed doubtless to prevent the Turks from sending any more endorsements from the eastern to the western side
 German submarines, which have not done much execution since the sink ing of the Lusitania, have claimed an- other victim in the British steamer Dumfries sunk off the Cornish coast Norman Hill. secretary of the Liverpool Steamship Owners association, today pointed out that during the month of April cargoes to the value of $114O0O,- 900 pounds sterling were carried in and out of ports of the United Kingdom. while the value of the cargoes destroyed by submarines was 50000 pounds, or one shilling in 100 pounds