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EUROPEAN WAR DEVELOPMENTS. The absence of an official statement from Russia as to the extent of the victory of the armies of the czar in Russian Poland leaves the exact situation somewhat clouded. Unofficial claims continue to represent the defeat of the Germans and Austrians as an overwhelming one. It is declared that Grand Duke Nicholas armies have crushed General von Hindenburgs divided army, captured or destroyed 100,000 men, and cut off the retreat of the surviving corps. Berlin makes no acknowledgment of a defeat in Poland. On the contrary, the German war office says the forces of Emperor William at Lodz and at Lowicz have inflicted heavy casualties on the Russians, and in addition have captured 40,000 prisdners, 70 cannon, 100 ammunition wagons and 150 machine guns, and destroyed 30 cannon. The official Austrian declaration is that 29,000 prisoners, forty-nine machine guns, and a quantity of war material have been taken by the Austrians in Russian Poland. The French war office gave out an official announcement as follows: "The slackening of the artillery fire of the enemy was noted all along the line during the day of Nov. 20. Two Infantry attacks directed against .the heads of bridges, which we had thrown down on the right bank of tlit Yser. to the south of Dixmude, were repulsed easily. There was no other engagement on the rest of the front in Belgium, and as far as the Oise, nor was there any action on the Alsne or in Champagne. Nevertheless, Reims was bombarded violently during the time that a number of journalists from neutral countries were making a visit to the city. In the Argonne infantry attacks resulted iu the loss aud then the recapture of certain trenches. The men engaged in this fighting never exceeded a battalion. The ground lost and then retaken never was more than twenty-five yards. Along the heights of the Meuse und in the Vdsges there is nothing to report." The British battleship Bulwark was blown up and sunk in the estuary of the Medway river Thursday morning. Between 700 and 800 men were lost, including Captain Guy Belater, her commander, and all her officers. Only fourteen of her crew were saved. The disaster occurred within twenty-five miles of London. It is announced officially that the explosion was interior and originated in the ships magazine. The suggestion is openly made, however, that the explosion may have Jieen precipitated by a torpedo from a German submarine. An investigation will seek to determine the facts. The theory that the disaster was due to an act of treachery or the work of German spies will be one of those taken most prominently into consideration. An official report issued in Vienua says: "The fighting in Russian Poland has assumed the proportions of a continuous battle. In western Galicla our troops have repulsed the Russians. Marked progress lias been made In the fighting in the Carpathians. Near the Kolubara river, in Servla, the enemys center is in a strong position near Lazare-vatz, but we attacked and took 1,200 prisoners, three guns, four ammunition wagons and three machine guns. To the south of Ljid ? we took the eastern heights and 300 prisoners. From Valjcva our troops have advanced to Rosjovici." An official announcement given out in Berlin says: "English ships did not attack the coast of Flanders again Thursday. There have been no aetual changes along the battle front in the western arena. To the north of Laugemarck we have taken a group of houses and made a number of prisoners. Our attack iu the Argonne region has made further progress. French attacks In the neighborhood of Apremont and to the east of St. Mlhiel were repulsed." An official communication from the general stiff of the Russian army of the Caucasus says: "!n the direction of Krzermn the pursuit of the routed enemy has been terminated. In the last few days a series of engagements has taken place south of the valley of Alaschkcrt, where we have disposed of considerable Kurdish forces, who were reinforced by regular troops. In other sections no important changes have taken place." Rome advices are to the effect that nationals of hostile countries resident in Jerusalem have been arrested and are being kept in concentration camps. Their houses have been looted bv Turkish soldiers. The antl-Chrlstian agitation is" increasing. The Italian consul lias wired the foreign office urging that Italian warships be sent. All the available troops are on their way to Egypt commanded by German, officers. The German admiralty announced last night that the German fleet, is iu control of the Baltic Sea. The harbor of Llbau and other coast towns have been blockaded. The kaiser visited Kiel last week, and It is believed his arrival there foreshadows renewed activity by the German fleet, as the squadron in the Baltic Sea soon can be withdrawn, because the Russian ports will be icebound. The London Times correspondent at Kraguievatz, Servia, telegraphs that "a pitched battle in which roughly half a million men are engaged is being fought in the region of Lazarevatz. The Austrlaus are making a decisive effort to finish the operations in this theater of war and have thrown five army corps into the fighting line." The proclamation of a holy war, announced for the first time teu days ago, was published at Constantinople yesterday. It Is signed by the sultan and twenty-eight Moslem priests and calls upon the Moslem world to participate in a holy war against Great Britaiu, Russia and France. Reports of a pan-Islamic autl-BrltisU movement are confirmed by the Russkoye Slovo of Petrograd, which states that the movement had its beginning in Afghanistan. The porte states that all Arabs who are fit for military service have declared their readiness for a holy war. President Wilson has communicated unofficially to the diplomatic representatives of the United States iu the belligerent countries of Europe his disapproval of attacks with bombs from aircraft dropped on unfortified cities occupied by non-combatants. The bundesrath of Germany has decided, says a dispatch from Amsterdam, to furnish financial and medical assistance to women at the time of childbirth. This step was taken to alleviate the anxiety of husbands at the frout and to protect the coming generation. Dixmude has been recaptured by the allies and there Have been two other heavy engagements along the battle line In Franco, say the latest dispatches from the western seat of war. In her recent engagement with the Russian Black sea fleet the Turkish cruiser Goebcn lost eleven men killed. One shot, and that above the water Hue, struck the Goebcn. Lord Kitchener officially informed- the British house of Lords that the "British are in touck with Turkish forces thirty miles east of the Suez canal." The British admiralty announced that the collier Khartoum had been blown up by n mine out Grimsby. The crew of the Khartoum was landed at Grimsby. The cruiser Coronel Bolognesl has been assigned to patrol the coast of Peru, in order that the neutrality of the country be preserved. The British steamer Prime has been torpedoed and sunk in the English channel off Cape dAutifer, France.
