The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-13

London, seS uary 12-s:1o D. m,-Au eyes are SFs ast Prussia, where the Ger man ay.op nder personal observation, if not mmand of Emperor William. has Selled the Russians to cvacuate th Q ~stions east of the Mazurian lakes tire to their own territory.
 Tn Russians refer to this as strategi- cal retirement, but the German official communication intimates that the appear ance in this district of strong new Ger man force surprised the Russians and that the Germans captured 26.ooo prison- CTS. 20 cannon and 30 machine guns. in addition to lot of war material. If the German statement Is true the Russian re- verse apparently is almost as serious as that which the Muscovte forces suffered in the same place early in the war.
 Thought Retirement Wise
 Before the German official communi- cation was received in London military men looked on the retirement as a wise move, declaring that it would compel the Germans to fight the battle on Russian territory and away from their strat- egical railways The army which the Germans flung so suddenly into East Prussia is ,believed to have numbered 200,0 coo men and to have been made up of soldiers who have been fighting on the Bzura and western fronts and of units of the new army trained in Central Ger many.
 Thn huxr v.n< sA1 ,ffa sive in Russian Poland on the right bank of the Lower Vistula and have occupied the town of Sierpec, northwest of Flock. Thus the chief battle ground in the east has been transferred from the lines west and southwest of Warsaw to the north.
 Battles in the carpathians continue, but the general staff of neither of the con- tending forces gives much information concerning the fighting.
 Lull Continues in West
 The lull continues in the west where fighting is confined to artillery duels and a couple of infantry attacks in the Ar sonne and northwest of Verdun, in which the Germans claim successes.
 A British eye witness in report of observations on the western front, says the British artillery arm has been greatly SITenStneneO ana .cla1mS that IL mas gained the ascendency over the Germans. There have been many reports that new and better guns were being constructed for the. British and these apparently now are in service.
 Airmen have been extremely active. Thirty British delivered attacks on the German position in Belgium, while Ger man aviators have dropped 100 bombs on Verdun. It has been urged that an att tack by large numbers of aeroplanes is the only way to make them effective, and both sides seem to have adopted this plan as is indicatd by today's British raid and the attack by German aircraft over Dun kirk some days ago.
 Germans Celebrate Reported Victory
 Berlin, February 12-(Via London, Feb ruary 13, 1:17 a. m.)lFlags are being dis played in the streets of Berlin in cele- bration of the report of Field Marshal von Hindenburg's new victory in East Prussia.
 News that the Russians were being driven from the Mazurian lakes district surprised the people of Berlin, their at tention having been long concentrated on the Warsaw front.
 Persons in the confidence of high mili- tary officers knew, however, that Won IIindenburg had quietly gathered strong force for an offensive in East Prussia.
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