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Show a RUSSIANS HOLD GERMANS AT BAY i . . . I FRENCH HEAVY ARTILLERY SCORING AGAINST GREAT GUNS OF GERMANS ' " Official Paris Report Announces Gains at Various Points All Along Western Battle Line Trenches Demolished Near Horn and Two Cannon Sent Head Over Heels Twelve Hundred Yards of German Trenches Won and Occupied. DESPERATE STRUGGLE TO REACH WARSAW , Russians Hold Great Force of German Soldiers at Bay Three Days of Terrible Fighting Within Thirty Miles of Warsaw War-saw and Victory Not in Sight Germans Facing Terrible Hardships Over Roads Presenting Almost Unsurmountable Difficulties. London, Dec. 21, 4 p. m. Persistent rumors are current t, that a German cruiser has been sunk off the coast of Scotland. It is also rumored that two British destroyers arrived at Leith, ts Scotland, badly damaged. There is no official confirmation of these reports. L us Paris, Dec. 21. Progress all along i- the line is claimed in the French of- :a iicial statement given out In Pans 'his afternoon There Is not one sln- 1" ) gle mention of a German success or a i- W' French repulse. a f Gains, although slight, are recorded in Belgium; between the Lys and the ia A'isne; In the Champagne country and i.i the Argonne. At one point an advance ad-vance of 1200 yards is recorded and at another the French made 500 yards. ':t Progress has been made between the Argonne and the Meuse, on the right bank of the Meuse, and on the f. lx i'Ms of the Meuse. i. The French heavy artillery is de scribed as having been successful on 1 1) e Aisne, near Rneims and else- a where. Paris, Dec 21, 2 57 p. m. '1 he French war office gave out an offi-i offi-i ial communication this afternoon as i follows: " The day of December 20 brought -a nothing of importance in Belgium, it i9 exception is made of sunif progre t. in tin- region of Lombaert.yde and ,f St. Georges, and ,it a point to the it southeast of the Inn of Kortaker. j. which is southeast of Bixschoote; thi L occupation of some houses in Warte- n lem, south of Zillebeke, and the bom- hardment by the enemy 'of the Ypres w hospital. n, "Between the Lys and the Alsne, v we have occupied a forest near the . route between Xoulettes and Souchez. h and we also took possession of all . ( the first line of German trenches be- t twer-n this highway and the rirst ) I i uses of Notre Dame de Lorette, i southwest of Loos. :e The enemy has bombarded Arras Hesvy Artillery Effective. "Our heavy artillery silenced, on '' lepeated occasions, the artillery- of 19 the enemv to the north of Carnoy, Khich is to the east of Albert This irtillery also demolished the Gorman trenches and sent head over heels ! I two cannon of a battery established near Mom which is to the southeast 'I of Carnoy The heavy artillery also I scored distinct advantages ou the ..sue and in the sector of ElhelmB. In Champagne in the region ol Prosnes. Perthes and Beausejour, as well as in the Argonne. We made along the entire front appreciable ad-vances. ad-vances. This Is particularly so to 'J the northeast of Beausejour where we y won and occupied 1200 yards of the ;. i nemy's trenches. In the forest of al LaGrurie we blew np four mind ry : aps and we established ourselves in g the positions thus made. ;r Five Hundred Yards Gained, t "Between the Argonne and the id Meuse there has been progress along !e all the front, particularly in the re- j. -ion of Yarrennes, where the brook r- of Cheppc-s has been left 600 yards . in our rear and in the region of (. Gercourt-Bethincourt. l9 . "On the right bank of the Meuse MKf have gained ground at IaCroupe, at a point two kilometres northwest of Brabant and in the forest of Con benvoye "Filially, on the heights of the n lieuae we have made slight progress In the forest DesChevaliers. to the northeast of the Fort of Coyon " o Berlin War Report Berlin, Dec 21. By wireless to l,on-lf l,on-lf don, 4 p. m.) The German war office r this' afternoon gave out an official e statement as follows: "The French attacks yesterday at I- Nieuport (Belgium) were repulsed. "Between Richebourg L'Avoue and the canal of La Basseo we attacked the positions of the Anglo-Indian Hoops, stormed and captured their trenches and dislodged them from their positions with heavy losses. We captured ono piece of artillery, five machine guns, two mine throwers and 270 Anglo-Iudlans, Including ten officers. offi-cers. The trenches we lost to the enemy December 18 near Notre Dame II de Lorette have been recaptured. Fierce French Attack. "In the neighborhood of Soualn, to ' the northeast of Chalons. French u t loops yesterday delivered a tierce at tack. In one place they penetrated our trenches, but their attack broke down under our fire They left four officer and 310 men In our hands, and MlMM a large number of dead French troops were left on the ground In front of our position. "In the Argonne we captured an important im-portant wooded hill at LeFour De Paris, three machine guns, one revolver re-volver gun and 275 prisoners. "The fierce French attacks to the northwest of Verdun have failed completely. com-pletely. The great activity shown by the French along our entire front has been explained by an army order i dated December 17 and signed by Gen-j Gen-j era .loffre, commander In chief of the French troops, which was found on a French officer. This order reads as follows- Gen. Joffre's Order. "'During three months the enemy has made numerous attacks without being able to break through our lines, i Everywhere he has been victoriously repulsed The moment now arrive? for us to make use of the weakness which he has shown After having reinforced re-inforced ourselves with men and material, ma-terial, the hour of attack has arrived We kept the German forces In check, and it is now our business to clear the fatherland of the invaders. Soldiers. I more than eer France relieg on your courage and your desire to conquer at anv cost. You alreadx have been victorious vic-torious on the Marne and on the Yser, : at Ypres. In Lorraine and in the i Vbsges, You will know how to con- quer until the final triumph ' "In the eastern arena of the war the j situation in West Prussia remains unchanged. un-changed. In Poland we continue our attacks against the positions of the , enemy " London, Dec. 21, 12:21 p m The great battle to the west of Warsaw bae ret to be fought out. Judging from the indications conveyed In recent dispatches dis-patches from Berlin and Petrogrud. It appears today to British military j observers that the German contention that General von Hindenburg had iseored a notable success over the Rus- sians must bo qualified A parallel j case is found in the recent chums of a crushing Russian victory near Lodz, which subsequently proved to be pre mature and exaggerated. The (ler man army commanded by General von Hindenburg has made a stead', ad I vance In the direction of the Polish i capital, but the Russians in falling back appear to have taken new post I tlons in strong entrenchments and in hpitp of the fact that the Invaders are within two or three das march pf Warsaw, there Is good reason to be-In be-In v-' that much hard fighting must come before It can be determined whether or not this latest attempt to occupy Warsaw will be crowned with success. Austrians Claim Successes. Along the southern frontier of EaM Prussia the Russians claim to have the upper hand, but further to the south In southern Poland, as well as In Ga-licla, Ga-licla, the leaders of the Austro-German forces declare they are sweeping the Russians before them. They assert, further, that they have cleared all the Russians out of Went Gallcla. This means that the long slegv of Cracow has been raised and, if this advance on the part of the Teuton allies al-lies continues. It may bring similar relief to the Austrian garrison at Prs-emysl, Prs-emysl, besieged by the Russians since tht early days of war. Servian Campaign Temporarily Abandoned. Aban-doned. The vigorous Austrian offensive In this arena of hostilities has neceslta-ted neceslta-ted the withdrawal of main txoops heretofore used against Servia and there are indications that the Austrian Austri-an attempts to crush Servia will, for the time being, be abandoned Fmperor William has so far recovered recov-ered his recent illness as to return to the front Here he will spend Christmas. The dispatches from Germany do not say to which front bis majesty has gone, but advices received re-ceived earlier from Berlin, lead to the belief that he has turned westward. If this is so. the battle condition; the emperor will find are far less spectacular than those prevailing in the east, for the reason that with the inception of the offensive operations of the allies on the north end of their line, little but siege warfare Is being recorded anywhere on the western I front This condition is driven home In all the official communications I whic h measure the day's srain in scant 'yards and chronicle the gain or loss Jof a trench as an achievement worthy j of note. A prominent neutral traveler, who reached London today from Berlin, expressed ex-pressed the opinion that the Germans are not thinking seriously of a Zop-peiin Zop-peiin invasion of England. ceord-i ceord-i ing to this observer, they regard the apprehension and the precautions against Zeppelin attacks taken In London Lon-don and other English cities as a great joke. Heaviest Fighting of War. The heaviest fighting in the west since the Germans made their at-I at-I tempts to force a way to the English i channel is now in progress. The I French and German statements of today to-day show that yesterday's engagements engage-ments were contested keenly along most of the front from Alsace to j Flanders and on each side claims are I made of the capture of trenc hes and I other vie toru s of Importance. oo |