The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-08
The Emperor of Russia An nOunces He Has Taken Command of Russian Armies in Message to President POincare
NOT CLEAR WHETHER GRAND DUKE HASBEEN
 ELIMINATED OR NOT
Had Gained Worldwide Fame by Fabrication of His Army From German Ring-The Teutons Must Have Port of Riga

Paris, September 7.-(4:S0 p. m.)-In . message to President Poincare Elm peror Nicholas announces that he has placed himself in command of all Rus sian armies.
 The message was sent from Tsarskoe- Selo, the Emperors residence near Pe- trograd, under date of September G. It follows:
 Tn placing myself today at the head of my valiant armies, I have in my heart. Monsieur Presidente, the most sincere wishes for the greatness of France and the victory of her glorious army. NICHOLAS.'
 President Poincare sent the follow ing response today:
 '1 know that your majesty, in taking command of your heroic armies intends to continue energeticall until final vic- tory the war which has been imposed upon the allied nations. I address to your majesty in the name of France my most cordial wishes
 HAMMOND POINCARE."
 
 Since the outbreak of the war Grand Duke Nicholas, cousin of Emperor Nicholas, has been in command of the Russian armies. In this capacity he has achieved fame and military critics have rated him as one of the ablest generals of the warning nations. Although the grand dukes armies have suffered a long series of reverses since the be- ginning of the great Austro- German Of : fensive movement in May, their leader has been credited with conspicuous strategic successes during this period
 The grand dukes main accomplish ments were the extrication of the bulk of his forces from the Austro- German enyeloping movements in Galicia, and later in Russian Poland, when he again drew out his armies, this time from the, dangerous Warsaw salient
 The message of Emperior Nicholas to President Poincare does not make it clear whether Grand Duke Nicholas has been superseded by the Emperor.
 During the last few weeks there has been severe criticism of the conduct of the war by the Russian authorities but cable dispatches have shown no criti- cism of the grand duke.
 Russians Holding Own
 London, September 7.-Q0 p. m)--The news that Emperor Nicholas had placed himself at the head of his army, which he announced in telegram to Raymond Poincare, President of France, and the visit paid by the French commander in chief, General Joffre to the Italian army, foreshadow. it Is believed in military cir cles here. stirring events in which the armies of all the allies will cooperate.
 It is decared that the Russians ai- ready are nearly, if note quite, holding their own against the Austrians and Ger mans whose advance at most points has been stopped. In places the Russians are on the offensive.
 Riga remains the danger point. but the fact that the Russians continue to occupy the town after the Germans have ad- vanced to Dvina. southeast of Riga, leads military writers to conclude that the Rus sians feel reasonably sure of their ability to defend the river and in time to push sufficiently far westward to relieve the pressure on their forces on the shores of the Gulf of Riga.
 Westward of Dvinsk and Wilma the Rus sian offensive has held the Germans for more than week and to the military observers those two towns seem fairly safe unless the invaders can bring up strong achievements East and south east of Grodno the Russians have taken up new positions across the River St. Clara and it's tributaries and are protect ing the network of railways which run eastward and northward to the interior.
 To the southeast again among the. for ests and swamps on the northeastern edges of the Pripet marshes a great bat tie is in progress between the army of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and the troops of the Russian center. Amid the marshes the German field marshal. sMackenzen, is working hard for a decisive. result. He reports that he has taken two Russian positions
 Fighting in South
 Still another battle is being fought for the triangle of Notifications further south, of which Robno and Dubna remain in the hands of the Russians.
 The Austrians and Russians face each other across the Sereth river in Galicia where the fighting is continuous. The stands which the Russians are making suggest that their supply of munitions Is ample. A Petrograd correspondent says the ammunition shortage of the Russians has been corrected and that while the pro- duction Is slow 1t is incessant and grow ing in activity and method.
 For the thirteenth successive day the allies have bombarded German positions in the west, only varying their artillery activity by occasional air raids sapping and mining operations and bomb throw ing Success rests first with one side and then the other. . Similar activity is noticed on. the part of the Austro-German army along the northern frontier of Servia, where the on the Rivers Save and Danube, pre- sumably preparatory to a new offensive movement.