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Show PROGRESS OF THE WAR. After ten days of retreating tho Germans Ger-mans are seeking to establish themselves them-selves firmly in their new defenses, extending ex-tending from the neighborhood of Arras Ar-ras or Lens, through the country a few miles west, of Cambrai, St. Quen-tin, Quen-tin, La Fere and Laon. Once more warfare appears to have undergone a transformation. Heavy artillery and unlimited ammunition have at last been equal to the task of breaking break-ing through the strongest of trench systems. The Teutons, announcing their retreat, created some amusement around the world when they declared that they were luring the allies into open fighting. It looked very much as if they were imitating tho hunter who raced away from the bear and explained ex-plained to his companions afterward that he was luring the bear into camp so that they might shoot him. And yet there is something to the German statement if we may trust C. F. Ber-tilli, Ber-tilli, the correspondent of the International Interna-tional News Service in Paris. Bertilli declares tfiat the English and French artillery is now capable of pounding to pieces any system of entrenchments, indicating, in-dicating, of course, that tho Germans can be blasted out of the new line. Just at present the fighting is in the open. The Germans have retired almost al-most to their permanent defenses, but are fighting heavy rear guard actions against an enemy seriously handicapped by the devastation which the Teutons wrought before they retreated. Bridges, roads, houses, factories, whole towns and villages have been destroyed in a region which once harbored 250,000 people and in which the French and English have found only 15,000 remaining. remain-ing. In addition to crippling the country coun-try for military and agricultural operations oper-ations the Germans have carried off all men of military age and thousands of women. The allies have recovered about 900 square miles out of the 8000 held by the Germans up to the time of the great retreat They are jiow compelled com-pelled to rebuild the country, to bring up thousands of tons of supplies, big guns, hospitals, aviation depots, repair shops and all the vast equipment'neces-sary equipment'neces-sary for a modern army of millions. In spite of the handicaps the English and French have moved forward with their cavalry, infantry and light artillery artil-lery and have gained some victories in open fighting. Chief among these was the French triumph on the Somme canal in the region southwest of St. Quentin and near La Fere. The Germans were at first successful in holding the canal and even in making an advance, but counter attacks took the French across the canal and to the heights beyond. be-yond. The low country around La Fere was found to have been inundated inun-dated by the Germans, the city itsolf also being under water. During the retreat of the Germans both sides have been active in making raids. The Germans chose the Kheims and Champagne region while the English En-glish raided east of Arras. At Verdun there has been some activity on the part of the Germans. In Macedonia the Trench and English, En-glish, after constant fighting for ten days or more, have moved forward slightly in the regions north, northwest and northeast of Monastir. The French achieved an especially important victory vic-tory at hill 1248, where the battle was bitterly contested for many days. The hill changed hands several times in bayonet lighting, but at last accounts it was held by the French. The Bulgarian air squadrons, using German gas bombs, killed more than sixty persons in Monastir, most of them women and children. Greeks operating in neutral zones have given the allies much trouble lately. late-ly. By guerilla warfare they have made it necessary for tho English and French to patrol country behind the lines. While thore has been a lull in General Gen-eral Maude's advanco in Mesopotamia there has been a development of tl-c Iiussiun offensive. Tho Turks retiring before the English and Russians are ' evidently trying to concentrate at Mosul. The Moslem army facing General Gen-eral Maude has stopped at Samara, about seventy-five miles north of Bagdad, for tho purpose of permitting the Turks in Persia to escape being cut off. The Turkish army in Persia has been heavily heavi-ly pressed by the Russians and has evidently been divided. Petrograd announces an-nounces that the Moslems, after being defeated in a sixteen-hour battle outside out-side of Kerind, retreated to Kerind and made another stand, but were again defeated, de-feated, leaving Kerind in Russian hands. This force is now nearing the border of Mesopotamia and may slip through the narrow channel left for i thoir retreat on Mosul. The Russians, ' however, are pressing down from the northeast and threaten to cut off the Persian forces of the Turks. Another contingent of the Turks, evidently separated sepa-rated from the Kerind army by force or by arrangement, has been attacked by the Russians along the Shirwan river, a tributary of the Diala river which the British crossed much farther westward when they delivered their attack at-tack on Bagdad. The Russians are reported to be once more in the city of Van, on Lake Van, which is to the northeast of Mosul. They are advancing over territory which was in their possession last year. There have been some hints of a German offensive against the Russians, but it has not developed. In the Bere-slna Bere-slna region the Gormans made a considerable con-siderable advance, talcing heights, but later lost most of the captured ground. On tho Rumanian front the Germans have made a slight advance. The provisional government of Russia Rus-sia has taken tho former czar and his wife prisoners and has also imprisoned a number of the reactionary leaders. Apparently the revolution resulted in comparatively little bloodshed. Not more than 1000 were killed or wounded. Fighting is said to have stopped. So far as the world at large knows there has been no disposition on the part of any of tho army chiefs to resist the new regime. General Brusiloff, the hero of the 191(5 offensive, is reported to have announced that he will loyally support the new government. There was some resistance on the part of Russian naval officers and their men, but all the ships and naval stations appear ap-pear to be in the hands of the revolutionists. revolu-tionists. Many American lives have been lost in the last week or ten days as the result re-sult of the ruthless U-boat warfare. Three unarmed merchant ships, the Memphis, Illinois and Vigilancia, were sent to the bottom. The City of Memphis, Mem-phis, in ballast from Cardiff for New York, was sunk by gunfire. The Illinois, Il-linois, in ballast, was also sunk by gunfire. gun-fire. The Vigilancia was torpedoed without warning. The oil tanker Healdton, bound for Rotterdam, was torpedoed in the so-called so-called safe zone off the Dutch coast, although it was carrying all the marks of identification prescribed by the German Ger-man admiralty. |
