Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1916-08-02

the German first 1iue defeuses
crumbled. When the British and
French troops advanced they re
ported that they found trenches
in which there was not a single
survivor, only the dead guarded
the silent rifles and machine guns.
German first lines we're carried
over an extent of Is miles and the
second positions pierced at certain
points but up to the present the
fighting has been indecisive in so
far as the forcing of the Germans
to withdraw their main lines is
concerned. The fighting has
been of the bitterest possible des.
cription and the reports of press
correspondents at the front TEEN
with accounts of the most amaz-
ing heroism and devotion on both
sides.
The first move in the great AL
lied offensive was not made by
the Franco-British however, but
by the Russians. On June 4 the
troops of the Emperor Nicholas
opened a tremendous assault on
the Austro-German lines on a
e-hundred-n mile front extend
ing from the Pripet marshes to
Rum ania. The Teuton lines held
firm in the north but to the south
General Brussiloff swept with ir.
resistible force through the Aus
trian defenses, tearing a great
gap about 100 miles in extent.
Through this the Russians pour
ed, capturing Czernowitz, the
capital of Bukowina and overrun-
ming the crownland. The Aus
trian losses are declared to have
been enormous a month after the
offensive began the Russians
making an official announcement
that over 100000 prisoners has
been taken and at least an equal
number killed or wounded.
AS the offensive developed the
Russians won new successes fur
ther north and at the close of the
war year are engaged in mighty
struggle for Lemburg the capital
of Galicia. The fighting has
also extended to the extreme north
in the Riga Dvinsk reg ion. but
here the Germans have held their
own ana no decisive result has as
yet been gained by either side.
In another theatre OF the war
the year was marked by other and
important Russian successes
Following the disasters on the
eastern front in the closing
months of 1915 the Grand Duke
Nicholas was removed as COM
mander.in chief of the Russian
armies aud sent to take charge Of
the operations against the Turks
in the Caucasus. After months
of preparation he began great
drive across Armenia in January
1916, which resulted in the cap
ture of Erzerum and the port of
Trebizond and expelled the Turks
from the greater part of Armenia.
After a comparative lull of some
months the Grand Duke resumed
his advance simultaneous with a
serious uprising against the
Turks by the Arabs in Arabia,
The Arabs took the sacred city of
Mecca, Jiddah and Taft, and be-
sieged Medina. the city where
Mohammed was buried and one
OF the holiest spots of the Moham
medan world. In the meantime
the Russians took Mamakhatun
and Baiburt, but these operations
haye not yet reached a definite
conclusion.
In connection with the Turkish
campaign the year saw serious
reverse for the Franoo-British
arms and less important, but
highly dramatic, disaster for the
British. The disastrous attempt
of the French and British to force
the Dardanelles and seize Con-
stantinople was definitely aban-
doned in November; 1915 and the
allied troops Withdrawn from the
6 Gallipoli peninsula. About $50
900 troops had been used in this
venture supported by a mighty
feet Six battleships, five British
and one French, were sent to the
bottom as we'll as some minor
craft and the casualties we're un-
officially reported to be almost