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EUROPEAN WAR DEVELOPMENTS. Petvjgrad claims that Field Marshal von Ilinden-hmgs latest drive against Warsaw is on the. point of collapse. The Russians are fighting desperately to carry out a Hanking .movement against his German army. In the territory to the west of Warsaw the fighting Is for the present chiefly In Mie nature of artillery duels at long rau.ie. The Germans have retired to the left bank of the Bzuia, whero they are-.re-entrenehlng. In general the Illation is considered improving. The Russian foi es are being prepared for another general adVan -e which it is believed will throw the euemy back ou his own frontier line of defences not later than the Russian New Year January 13. Renewed successes in the Caucasus in the Oltinik region and Important movements in Warsaw which presage the driving back of the Austro-German forces beyond the frontier, are expected at Petrograd. The righting in the Caucasus has resulted in the Russian occupancy of Merdenek, .near Sarykamyah. where the Turkish trenches were carried after a series of bayonet charges in which the defending forces lost heavily. Russian cavalry divisions are now operating in the direction of Khorasan. The Turkish defensive is stated to he strongly maintained, an 1 there have been many encounters at close quarter iu which the Russian bayonets have been used to advantage. The Turks are declared to be commit ting outrages against the native population of the villages in the territory through which they have moved, to have massacred thousands of men and women and outraged and tortured all young girls. The reports from the Austrian front declare tin-Austrian armies which were operating in southern Galiein have been completely routed. Their flight I was so precipitate, the report says, that they abandoned large quantities of camp equipment, supplies and some cannon. Io the west the Russian forward movement Is again in full swing, despite the fact that the roads and fields are again almost impassable owing to the sudden thaw. The movement against Cracow is being resumed and further unsuccessful sorties of the Przemysl garrison are reported. Russian troops which are pursuing the defeated Aus-trians in Galicia are said to have cut off a considerable number of the fugitives and their capture is expected momentarily. The retreat of the Austrian annv in Galicia along the Llsko-Sabok-Pukla-Zmigrod front Is described officially at Petrograd as more and more precipitate and disorderly. The retreating forces ar? estimated unofficially at about 175.Q0O men. The large number of prisoners taken, amounting In the last nine days to about 200 officers and 15.000 soldiers, together with forty machine guns.- is believed to indicate that the Austriaus arc-not offering- a stubborn rear guard resistance. Isolated attacks hy Germans in the region south of Skierniewlce are reported officially to be continuing unsuccessfully. The following statement from Russian general headnuarters was issued: "Today between the lower Vistula and the PIHca only fighting of small importance took place. The Germans left their trendies on the right bank of the Bzura near the village of Mistrzevioe and fell back on the left hank of the Hznra. On the river Rawka our heavy artillery Is fighting efficaciously a large number of German batteries of heavy guns. On the center between the Pillea and the upper Vistula only cannonading was heard. We made progress on the two wings. During an attack on- a German redoubt to the south of Iuowlodz we captured three machine guns. Our troops met with success while crossing the lower Nida iu the taking by storm of the villages of Starokorczin and Sonislavlee, which were well fortified. During the fighting we cap tmed forty Anstrlun officers and over 1,700 soldiers and three machine guns. In western Gallela we have made progress in spite of thc,,aniost Im passable condition of the country liiet6nuid. We have driven the enemy from the frontvandtrohniik. Sorlice-Jasllska, taking cannon and a farseniiinber-of machine guns. - Durlng.the first half ofecenibor old style calendar weenptured 50,000 AtstHa,rfs In an ofilclal statement- the Austrian govWnuc,ri "andSff-" , f claims that the Russians have again been forced back after fighting of the tlrccest character. The t .statement says: "North of the Dukla pass the Aus i trlans have avoided a scries of planned Russian attacks and have maintained their original positions. The main feature of the last two weeks fighting ! in Poland, according to a Petrograd dispatch to the Loudon Post, has been the appalling losses sustained by Germany. "For a fortnight." says-jthe Blspatch, "therfi huHfbeen no rest, 110 intermission, but one hideous nightmare of wholesale slaughter, which has terribly strained the nerves of the most .pardoned troops. The German wave poured dn the rock of Russian defense in a ceaseless sequence o attacks. The rock still stands, although an eighth of the total German force has perished. The condi Hon of tluw. Austriaus is still more hopelpss. Since the Russians latest offensive commenced they have taken 50.000 Austrian prisoners and captured many guns. If, as was estimated, Austria had- between three and four army corps on its re entry into Galicia it must have lost more than a third of the number in killed, wounded and prisoners." Rain, snow, squalls and wintry gale sweeping In from the sea are reported to have almost checked the fighting along the Belgian and northern France front. For thirty-six hours weather conditions have been frightful. As a result there are grave fears of an epidemic of sickness among the mqn who are compelled to remain exposed to the weather with only the protection of their muddy trendies, now half-filled with water. So fierce has been the storm that even the long-range artillery is silent at many points on the line. Only where the opposing forces actually have been almost iu personal touch was the lighting continuing, according to the reports received here. There is, however, minMJ nc tivlty .011 the center and right wings, where the French are steadily pushing forward. The German trenches, on the heights of the Mouse are again being shelled, and it is believed in London, opera lions are Well under way designed to retake St. Mihlel, where, the Germans have a wedge Into the French lines. The operations in the upper Alsace region have begun to overshadow all orhers in the opinion of the French military experts! They I-lleve that the long-looked for drive which Is intended to clear Alsace from the Swiss frttutier and the Rhine to StraSsbnrg and Metz h uiider wav. The German positions at Steinbach are belifif shelled.-Thelr capture would open the roadways leading to Altklrch and Mulhausen. Meanwhile the long range guns of the French picked artillery have begun shelling the German trenches around Mulhausen. "In Belgium we have won a little territory in the region of NIeuport. opposite Folders, and to tin-north of Lomhaertzyde," says the French official statement. "The enemy subjected St. Georges to a violent liomhardment. This is the position we are putting in a state of defense. We have captured a German point of support located to the southeaht of Sonnebeke on the road between Becelaeri- and Pa schendaele. In the valley of the Aisue and in Champagne tin? enemy has manifested another hurst of activity which has taken the form particularly of a violent artillery fire, to which our heavy artillorv replied effectively. In the Argoime wo have made slight progress in the region of Four i!e Paris. Between the Argoime and the Moselle there has been cannonading along all the front, but particularly severe along the heights of the Mouse. In the Vosges the enemy delivered an attack against our positions at La Tete de Faux: this was repulsed. In Upper Alsace we are consolidating our positions. Our heavy artillery reduced to silence the German howitzers, which were bombarding upper Arpach." The official German war ofiice renort dealing with the situation in the west lakes direct it sue with the : French claims of sweeping sucj-esses. On the contrary, it is claimed, that the Germans were able to gain some ground both to the southeast of Ypres and around Nienport before weather conditions compelled a cessation of the fighting. Northwest of St. Menehould the French delivered ih: series of brilliant attacks in an effort to retake tlie treip-hes from which they were dislodged some weeks ago. but were repulsed with liavy losses, the Germans taking several hundred prisoners. The French attacks in the forest of Brule, west of Apremont. have failed and the Germans now hold the French trencl-.cs there, having also captured some machine guns. , An official statement issued at Berlin says "In east Prussia the Russian cavalry was driven back in the direction of Pillkallcn four miles from the Russian frontier and south of the Niemeh rl r , On the right bunk of the Vistuln the situation e-niains unchanged. On the western bank at the Vistula the offensive to the east of the fribiittr.v Bzura continues. For the rest fighting on Kifdtn the east of the Kawka branch continues, as welLfasK at Iuowlcdz. and In the region southwest of fiilS place. Reports from onti:i.ic ocn-cs eiTy-tAjmgCa f- pression that I.owlcz and Skierniewice ahpRTh our possession. We captured these places 7niKiMi?a six days ago. Skicrniewice is far behind ouVTrTfht1,;? Detention by British authorities of the Swedish steareer New Sweden, carrying 730 tons of American copper for Stockholm, at Newcastle on December 28, and of the Norwegian steamer Sorland. carrying 000 tons for the same port, on December 28, at Leith, was reported to the state department bv the American Smelting and Refining company. The company has advised the state department It has been unable to get advices of the disposal of the shipments. The department lias made inquiries Of Great Britain. The London Daily Mails Copenhagen correspondent ays he learns from thoroughly trustworthy sources that the triple entente resulting from the recent con ference of the Scandinavian kings at Malmo will be continued after the war has ended, and tbough no, political alliance Is yet intended, it is not improbable that the understanding lwtween the three small nations eventually may result in a strong Scandinavian nation. The official communication given out bv tlie tier- man war office says: "In the western theater of the war -we still are fighting for the hamlet of St. Georges, to the south of NIeuport. which we were compeled to evacuate owing to a surprise attack. Storm and cold have caused damage to the positions of both sides in Flanders, and in northern France." Owners, of the steamship Carolyn, which sailed from Boston December 14 for Bremen witli 5.000 hales of cotton and some wool alioard. received a cable message from the British admiralty notifying them that the v -ssel had leen examined at Fal mouth, rel.-ased uimedlately and had started foi Bremen. , Lieut. Bn no Garibaldi, grandson of the Italian hero, was killed while leading a brilliant charge of the Italian voluteers in France. The charge ill which Garibaldi met his death occurred in the Ar-genne legion and resulted in the capture of two German trenches. ; A premium of fifteen guineas per cent is being paid in Lloyds in London on policies worded: "To pay a total loss in the event nf the declaration of war between Gnat Britain and: America within twelve months from date:" Berlin has received reports from Constantinople which say the Russian armies In the Caucasus are still retreating and that many prisoners and munitions of war have been captured. Rome reports that the Japanese ambassador there has stated that the rumors of an intended Inter volition by Japan in the European war theatc are unfoumjod. Five German airmen made a raid over the Polish city of Soc-haczew. .dropping forty lioiiihs, which dhl much damage to property and killed many pers.nis. An oliicial communication given out bv the Aus rian stalT headquarters admits a retreat bv the Austriaus in Galicia.
