, 1916-02-02

before a truly prodigious~ effort. In the
days before the war she had the greatest
feet in The world, but now she has one of
the greatest armies, and in a very short
time it will be about the best equipped
army in the world"
Paris, Jnny. 27th-The following official
communication was issued by the War
Office tonight: During the course of the
day there was considerable activity on the
whole front. In Belgium a destructive
fire directed against the German trenches
situated in front of Boesinghe and between
Steenstraete and Hetsas caused serious
damage to our adversary. In Artois, to
the east Melville ST. Vast, the enemy Mt
tempted by a counter attack to retake the
craters from which we drove him in the
course of the night, but was completely
repulsed. To the north of the Aisne
our trench guns shattered the organizations
at La Vile Bots. In the Argonne mine
fighting continued to our advantage. Be
tween Hill 285 and Haute Chevouclee we
exploded two mines. The enemy suffered
ser Gus Losses IN the struggle which follow"
ed for the capture Of The crater, one of
the rims of which we hold, One Of our
long range guns took under its fire an enc
nv convoy which had entered Mangires,
to the northwest of Etain.
London, Jany. 27th-The following official
communication was issued tonight. Early
this morning we exploded a mine opposite
Givepchy. Organized bombardments have
been carried out on several portions OF the
hostile line. The hostile artillery has been
active to-day east and northeast of Loos,
south of the Bots Grenier, north cas- Of
AlmeDtieres and northeast of Ypres. Our
artillery retaliated successfully on the hos
tile batteries.
London, Jany. 27th-General Townshend
has reported that the Turks have evacuated
their trenches at the defence at Kut-el-Amara
and have retired generally speaking
to about a mile frem the British entrench-
ments, it was officially announced here
to-day. No change in the situation
was reported by General Aylmer, com
handing the British column that has been
marching to the relief of the Kut-el- Amara
garrison.
Petrograd, Jany. 28th-The following off
cial communication was issued from General
Headquarters to-day. On the western Rus
sian front German aeroplanes continued to
make frequent lights over the Riga and
Dvinsk regions where they dropped bombs.
South west of Lake Narotche our scouting
parties encountered the enemy successfully.
They made a surprise bayonet attack on a
German detachment and put it to flight, in.
hicting heavy losses and taking prisoners.
Southeast of Kotki our scouts got through
the enemy S entanglements after destroying
them with grenades. In Galicia on the mid
die Stripa the enemy continued his artillery
fire. On the Dniester i'll the region of Us
cieczko, near the bridgehead, we attacked the
enemy with grenudes. North of the Boyana
river the enemy, after exploding three mines
in front OF our lines, made several attempts
to attack but was repulsed by our fire. eau
casus front: In The region of Erzerum we
stopped attempts by the Turks to assume the
offensive, capturing prisoners. In the region
of Melazghert we successfully encountered
Turkish d~etachments.
London, Jany. 28th-Single men of the
ages from 81 to 80 years, enrolled under Lord
Derby's enlistment scheme, will be called out
on February End.
London, Jany. 26th-The reports that Greek
Islands have been utilized in connection With
the operation of German and Austrian sub
marines were corroborated in the House of
Commons to-day by Lord Robert Cecil. "We
have reason to think that the enemy Oh seve-
rsl occasions endeavoured to utilize Greek
islands as bases for hostile operations" he
said, ''but it is hoped the measures taken by
the Hellenic Government in conjunction with
a D.:k:loo1 Ero,oL naval o,J ro;l;tor,