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Show PROGRESS OF THE WAR The siege of Antwerp was practicaLy tie last stand of the Belgian army The fall of that city placed Belgium, tem poranly at least in the power of the German empire Only Ostend and a few square miles in the western part of Belgium are still in the hands of the Belgians and the allies At the same time the allies have pressed across the border from northern France into Bel ginm and are contesting with the Ger mans the possession of thai tiny king dom The fall of Antwerp has about rt something extremely pathetic and yet magnificently heroic For two months the Belgian army has been battling with the mighty power of Germany in defense of liberty and independence. By the law of nations and the honor of international compacts Germany had no right m Belgium The Belgians might still be enjoying comfort and riches had they agreed to surrender liberty lib-erty and independence They chose honor and destruction rather than dis comfort and slavery and their fight will go down into history as an example and an inspiration to all people who love liberty and hate oppression The siege of Antwerp began with preliminary operations against Termon de Ghent and Malines about three weeks ago and ten days ago the Ger mans forced their way to the outer line of forts surround ng Antwerp The Belgians were able to hold out only ten days aga nst the 1 g guns of the ka ser despite the r desperate f ghting The success of the Germans w II be generally accepted as proof that no modern fort f cat ons can ong w th stand modern art llery It is 1 kely that the Belg ans still hold some of the forts the ne gb borhood of Antwerp but nloubtedly these w 11 be reduced quickly It appears that the Zcpjel ns played a cons lerable part in the siege of Ant werf espec ally in d rect ng the f re of the German art 1 ery at n ght They are sa d to ha e performed th i work s w II that the results n the Belgian forts and trenches were appall ng The fall of Antwerp will release a German army of perhaps 100 00( men v,h w II be able to io n w th General vo Kluk n an effort to shake off the f ank ng m r nent of tl a 1 es n n rth rn 1 ran Th only hope of bp is or t e flank n no ement ur ntnu J h ip of t nfo mcnts 1 Tan e pro a ly has exha ute 1 ts suf r of reee es an I m pt ook t 1 ng d r t Por g f r any a 1 I t nal for n Perhars the expo a t n h t I ng md w II all upon I ort I gn f r i ' to b rt i Ger many yeit that a d rat on of I w r I (. ag nit many was I expo at n Th t n r a hn n r Htf I n a t v h e s v r t Tl on y a a ag to the a 1 es ( h t hey have I a y hel 1 th Ge mans ho k and r e I nt 1 h f om a ry ng o t n n I nlon f n e I k th the x o r bp a n I be n ft hp thp ts a n t an I 1 k t l K I n n v n n i I n n A p an n r Russians have dr ven the Germans back into East Pruss a and have effectually frustrated the advance on Warsaw In Galicia and southern Poland the Aus trians and Germans have made several demonstrat ons against the liuss an army as if to ra se the s ege of Prze nvsl b t t a apparent that no lm portant battles have been fought and it s probable that Przemysl is still be ng bes eged by the Buss ans The czar has no siege guns as heavy as those used by the ka ser against Antwerp and the efforts to take Przemysl may oc cupy many days and perhaps weeks In the sea operat ons the Germans have lost a destroyer and the French two torpedo boats The torpedo boats were wrecked by a coll sion in the Med terranean The German destroyer was blown up by the English submarine E-9 m charge of Lieutenant Command er Horton whose submarine destroyed the German cru ser Hela a few weeks ago The destroyer had emerged from the n outh of the Ems river and was in the vicinity of the Holland coast when the submarine launched two torpedoes one of which found its mark. The destroyer sank in a few minutes but most of the crew were saved by a Ger man cruiser An English air squadron made a raid into German territory and dropped bombs at Dusseldorf and Cologne. At the latter point their work was lnef fective, but at Dusseldorf a bomb dropped 5o00 feet from an aeroplane struck the Zeppel n shed and destroyed one of Germany s big airships The Japanese have made progress at Kiaochow They have se zed several important German positions and it is said, have planted their s ege guns on a mountain which dominates the entire stronghold If this is the cose the bombardment of Kiaochow is probably under way Belated news came last week of an attack by two German cruisers upon the French colony at Papeete where they sank a French gunboat and shel ed the c ty and forts. The most decisive achievement dnr ing the week, undoubtedly was the capture of Antwerp by the Germans Even if the French now extend their flanking movement north clear through Belgium they cannot envelop the Oct man right. If they are to succeed in their operations they mnst p eree the German line at some point It is reported from Petrograd that King Charles of Rumania is dead He began to show signs of illness immediately imme-diately after his efforts to align Bn mania with Germany and Austria were thwarted by the Slav party and it will not surprise the world if it should transpire that the king was done to death by assassins. |