Show PROGRESS OF THE WAR A week of quiet in the war was sue ceeded by a week of intense activity On the sea and land important f ght ing took place Early in the week the Germans an nounced that they had occup ed Lodz n Poland a oity of 400 000 inhabit ants and a great indnstr al center Th s forced the Euss ans back close to a railroad running between Warsaw and Cracow The loss of this ra lroad would deprive the Buss ans of the r principal means of supply in southern Poland. Having taken Lodz the Qer mans sought to cross the railroad I ne cons derably to the south of that c ty at Piotrkow Th s movement is st 11 in progress and f it succeeds the Bus s ans probably w 11 be fo ced to bus pend the r operat ons against Cracow and to retreat to the vie n ty of Tarnow and even Przemysl In the last few days however the Euss ans have been able to check the Oerman advance all along the line and now cla m to ha e defeated two different armies advanc ing upon Warsaw One came from the vicinity of Thorn and the other from Mlawa Both the Euss ans and the Austro Germans have adopted the policy of press ng forward their left wings Th s brings the Euss ans in contact with Cracow and the Germans n contact w th the Warsaw region The Germans met w th good success early n Decern ber n advanc ng their left toward Warsaw but if they are checked in th s region the Eussians can continue to advance their left n the region of Cracow and thus be able to continue the nvasion of Hungary and the Ger man province of Siles a It has been necessary for the all es in x ranee auu iei uui lu eAeri. in creased pressure upon the enemv so as to keep the Germans from send ng re nforcements aga nst the Euss ans The French and Engl sh therefore ha e d splayed cons derable activity in the last week The gains of the French have not been considerable but they have occupied the attention of the Ger mans along the ent re 1 ne and have created a lively diversion by a threat ened invasion of Alsace On the other hand the Brit sh forces have advanced j to Boulers th rteen and a half miles northeast of pres and thus are able to take D xmude in the flank and rear Unless the Germans can defeat th s move they w 11 be compelled to aban don the D xmude 1 ne and fall bacl cons derably farther nto Be gium The Br t sh advance has a double purpose It seeks not only to keep the Germans f ghting but to force them back from tho Belgian coast and if pos bio to make them abandon the submar ne base at Zeebruzge This would be a great advantage to the Engl sh as the r operat ons have been ser ously nter fered w tl by the attacks of German submar nes in the channel One of the most remarkable examples of recovery after defeat has just been d splayed by the Servians if the r cla ms are to be cred ted About ten days ago the Austnans defeated the erv ans w th great loss and occup ed Belgrade W th n a week after tl s defeat tho Ser ans led by the mon ar h V ng Pete returned to the at ta an 1 forced tho A str ans to flee Tho Serwans captured thousands ol oners and many guns Th s v c tory b apt to disarrange the Austr ans plans ser ously once more and t gives Serv a a new lease of 1 fe The most nterestm" event of the war last week was the sea f ht be tween the English squadron under Ad m ral Sturdee and the German raid ng squadron under Adm ral von Spec About six weeks after h a victory over 4dm ral Cradock s sh ps Von Spee sa led from the Pae f c nto the At lant c and was ntercepted near the Falkland Elands by a powerful Eng lish sq adron The names of the Eng I sh sh ps have not yet been made pub 1 c but the were superior in range and gun power and perhaps even in speed to the Gem an sh ps Von Spee s squad ron comprised his flagship the Scharn ho st ts s ster ship Gneisenau and three 1 ght cruisers Le pzig Isurnberg and Dresden The three first named sh ps were sunk between 7 30 a. m and noon last Tue day The Nurnberg was pursued and sunk in the evening of the S8me day The Dresden escaped and took refuge in some inlet on the coast of the Argent ne republ c The German loss in men was almost 8000 whereas the English lost only seven men killed and four wounded Other naval operations were re ported during the week but they seem to be veiled in considerable obscur ty The English newspapers printed a story about a German submarine at tack on the admiralty harbor near Do er The 6tory went that three Ger man submarines were sunk but this has not been confirmed Two other German submarines are reported to have been sunk in another attack far ther to the north but th s report also is unconf rmed A dispatch from Ath ens stated that a Turkish gunboat was sunk by a m ne in the Bosphorus |