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i i 1 i 1 j , , i , , : EUROPEAN WAR DEVELOPMENTS. i Berlin announces that the great battle in west Poland is in full progress. Otlieial reports say tliat no decision has been reached, and no definite de- tails are known of the titanic struggle, which far 1 overshadows the conflict on the west front. The I engagements previously reported eastward of the ! Mazurlan lakes, at Soldau, Lipno, Wloclawek and Cracow, seem to have been -merely preliminaries to a general engagement aloug the whole line. The German bulletin mentions fighting northward of Lodz, while the Austrias report the advance of their army northward from Crocaw, and it is evident that the dual armies and the Russians are engaged in the center along a north and south line. Hence it seems that the Teutonic allies are leveling a concentric attack from three directions against the Russian forces. Newspaper critics interpret conditions as generally favorable to the Austro-Gcrmans and assert that the Gennau advance beyond Mlawa and the vicinity of Plock has eliminated danger of an In-vasidn of East and West Prussia except by such cavalry forces as are operating northward of Eyd-tkulmen. in East Prussia, on the Russian border. These, however, are only raiders. Maj, Moraht, the military critic of the Tageblatt, declares that Gen. von Hindenbergs advance south of the Vistula has exercised effective pressure on the whole Russan right wing and deflected it southward from its natural line of retreat on Warsaw. The chief fighting is now proceeding to the southeast and east of Kutno, between Lodz and Lowicz, on the Bezura river. Tremendous pressure is being exerted on the al lied line from Vpres southward to La Bassee. in France. It now appears that Aruientlercs may be leveled as Nienport and Dixniude have been in the attempt of the Germans to find a weak, spot in the lines of the French .and British through which to break through toward the coast. A portion of the city already has been destroyed by the bombardment of the Germans, and a large section of the place is in flames. The British troops north of Arras have launched vigorous counter offensive movements, against the Germans. A constant artillery lire has been kept up, and determined charges by the Germans repulsed at the very brink of the trenches. The British "have then endeavored to advance, but their forward movement has been slow aud uncertain. Quiet reigned Thursday iu West Flanders. The sudden and violent comiug of Winter caused a suspension of hostilities. The Yscr region now has a temperature like that of the New England coast on a bleak, windy December day. In this weather the armies are compelled to live in .a devastated territory, where there are no houses to give shelter or warmth. Physical numbness, not military exhaustion, has caused the temporary lull Iu the battle. Many cannon and automobiles have been lost in new inundations. Public interest in London is now largely centered in the battle between the Russians aud Germans between the Vistula and Warta rivers in Poland, as It is believed the result of the fighting there will have a marked effect on the operations elsewhere, and on the duration of. the war. All that is definitely known is that the Russian advance guard, consisting largely of cavalry which advanced to the German frontier after the battle at Warsaw, met superior forces of the enemy and has been compelled to fall, back more than half the distance covered in the advance. The Germans are sending strong forces of men and guns into the country between the two rivers, where the battle must be fought. The Germans evidently are hoping that in this confined area the Russians will not be able to deploy their enormous forces to advantage as they have done iu practically all the previous battles. Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian commander in chief, however, can choose Ills own ground for the battle, and it is probable he will select it a far away from the Germau lines of communications as he can. In Galicla, before Cracow, and In East Prussia the Russians are pushing their advantage, apparently disregarding the fact that their center has been colnpelled to fall back. Tiie .French. oilieial communication says that Thursday there were hardly any infantry attacks cu the part of the enemy In Flanders and that their artillery activity also was largely reduced. The text of the communication follows: "The day of Nov. 19 was marked by an almost total absence of infantry attacks on the part of the enemy: at the same time, their artillery Are was much less violent than on the afternoon of Nov. IS. To the north the weather has been bad and snow has fallen. All the region of the Ysor canal to the east of Dixmude is invaded by the waters. In front of Ramscapelle we have withdrawn from the water two 10.5 centimeter mortars abandoned by the Germans. There has been a fairly intense artillery tire to the south of Ypres. On the center there have been no important actions to Report. In the Argonne three vigorous attacks on the part of the enemys infantry have been repulsed. On our right wing the Germans have reoccupied the destroyed section of Cliauvoncourt. Farther to the east we have made some progress." The following official communication was issued from Riissiah general headquarters: "Qn the left bank of the Vistula the action has developed during the last few days in two regions- on the front between the Vistula and the Warta and on the line between Czenstochowa and Cracow. These combats have taken on a character of extreme ferocity, presenting generally a continuous offensive and defensive alternately. In East Prussia our troops are attacking positions strongly established. East of Angerburg the German trenches are supplied with triple wire entanglements. We have taken possession of some of these iHisitious, seven versts. about live miles cast of Angerburg, and the passage between Lakes Bouvelno and Yrklpy, capturing nineteen cannon,, six rapid lirers and several hundred prisoners. In west Galicia our offensive continues." A preparation which, it is said, will stop almost Instantly the flow of blood from a wound has been invented by Prof. Theordor Kocher of Berne, who was awarded the Nobel prize for surgery iu 1912, nud his assistant, Dr. A. Fonce. The new preparation is called coaguleu. It is in the form of a powder and is dissolved in. water before being applied to a wound. The discoverers of coaguleu have made a gift of their invention to the armies iu the field and have sent large quantities of the powder to the surgical headquarters of both the German and French armies. The discovery Is regarded, by medical men as likely to save the lives of thousands of soldiers, since It cau be applied by untrained hands, so that the wounded man himself or his comrade might use the solution. Strong Russian forces that readied the region of Soldau in. their recent advance from Mlawa into East Prussia have been driven back sixty miles to. the river Rug. it was announced at. Berlin, and the German troops in their pursuit are approaching the fortress of Novo Georgievsk, northwest f . Warsaw. Though a battle is in progress along the entire Hue in Russian Poland, the chief fighting is believed to be along the Bzura river southeast of Kutno and west of Lowicz. The latter town is an important junction point, and its capture by the Germans would give them two routes by which to advance again on Warsaw. The German troops have repulsed a French attack iu the neighborhood of Verdun, France, and the Russian retreat in northwestern Poland continues, according to an otlieial communication issued by the German general army headquarters. The. text of the oflicial statement reads: "In West Flanders and in north France no appreciable change in the situation has taken place. Heavy rains and snows, which first soaked and then partly froze the ground, have made our movements difficult. A ! French attack at Combre to the southeast of - Verdun was repulsed." News from the Adriatic says that the French ; cruiser Waldeck Rousseau has sunk another .ais-trian submarine. The enemy seems. to have made a special effort to attack this warship. During a recent cruise of only four days the cruiser had to 1 run quite a gauntlet of aeroplane, submarine, and torpedo boat attacks. It not only came through ! them unscathed but with the honors on its side, for 1 besides sinking the submarine it chased and badly 1 battered a flotilla of seventeen hostile destroyers. The British official press bureau has issued the following report from the general commanding force operating on the Shat-el-Arab river and in the Per- sian gulf: "On Nov. 17 our troops drove out of an entrenched position about 4.500 of the- enemy, cap-i hiring two guns and many prisoners, camp oquio- ment" and ammiiuition. Our casualties were three . officers killed and fifteen wounded and In the rank and file thirty-five men were killed and about 300 wounded." Great masses of German troops are being poured Into Russian. Poland in support of General von Hin-I denbergs attempt to crush the Russian forces thrown back after their advance toward Thorne. It is nd- initted at Petrograd that the German troops have now advanced approximately fifty miles Into Russian territory. The czars troops have retreated in good order before them, although desperate lighting has marked the line of retreat. , There is no doubt that Russian and Turkish t squadrons met Iu a long-distance duel off Sebas-. topol, and both claim to have had the better of , the encounter. According to the Russian report. I the former German cruiser Goeben, now attached , to the Turkish navy, was damaged, while the Turks ; assert that a Russian battleship suffered severely . and that the other Russian warships were com-r pelled to retire. The capture of Ypres. Belgium, appears to be j the real objective of the Germau forces in that theater of the war, but continued lioihbardnient of , the British and French forces and numerous infantry assaults liave failed, Ths information s 4.-- i 1 I ! vanced in a descriptive account from British headquarters in France by an eyewitness of operations along that part of the great battle Hue. The London Daily Chronicle asserts that the new war loan already has been oversubscrtlieil aud that the applications are still pouring in. According to the Chronicle, the amount spoken for aggregates ,000,000,000. The total loan amounts to ,750, 000,000. The German steamer Luxcr, which was detained at Colonel, Chile, for loading 3,000 tons of supplies for the German fleet, slipped out of the harbor at night, despite the refusal of clearance papers from the Chilean authorities. A strong protest will lie made to the Germau government. A terrific storm on the Adriatic Sea has compelled the allies fleet to abandon the blockade of the Austrian coast and stand out to sea to avoid being driven upon the rocks. Snow covers the mountains on both sides of the Adriatic. A Renter dispatch from Vienna gives this official statement: "The battle in Russian Poland progresses favorably. Our troops have captured 7.000 prisoners, eighteen machine guns aud several field guns." Subscriptions to the Austrian war loan during the first two days aggregated about 70,000,000, the announcement of Austrian victories over the Servians, it is stated, having greatly stimulated public investments. Berlin announces that the German fleet has succeeded iu partially closing tin; harbor of Llbau. Russia, through the sinking of ships, and also has bombarded important military positions. A dispatch from Berlin gives the official announcement that Maj. Gen. von Voights-Rhctz, quartermaster general of the German army, has died suddenly from heart failure. Servia is taking steps to remove the government from Nish to Uskub if it becomes necessary, according to an Athens dispatch to the London Daily Chronicle. The British House of Commons passed the bill for the supplementary army estimate, which provides for an additional army of 1,000,000 men. The. Hamburg-American liner Ekbataiia, a steamer of 5,000 tons, has been sunk in the Persian Gulf.
