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Show GERMAN AHACKS IW LACK FORCE London, Aug. 9, 9.45 p. m. Whilo the Austro-German armies made fresh progress today in their campaign cam-paign against the Russians, the conflict con-flict on tho western front took on new Impetus, Sir John French, commander com-mander of the British expeditionary force, reporting a fierce artillery engagement, en-gagement, in which British and French forces covered trenches at Hooge along a front of 1200 yards. The occupation of Praga, reported by Berlin, brings to a dramatic climax cli-max the first phase of the drive at the Polish capital and the region of eastern Poland, of which Warsaw is the dominating center. Praga Is essentially es-sentially a part of the capital, with great railways on roads running to Petrograd and Moscow. Few details have been received of Grand Duke Nicholas' final stand at Praga, but the Indications are that the withdrawal with-drawal of the Russians became imperative im-perative to escape from the German lines gradually drawing together in their rear. Warsaw now is the annex of a vast letter V, the arms of which are the river Narew on the north and the Vistula on the south. The German lines spread along these rivers are contracting gradually as the armies m the north and those in the south approach each other. The strip of territory across which tho Russians may withdraw to safer positions now is hardly more than thirty miles across. Besides this enveloping movement Immediately to the east of Warsaw Berlin reports a steady hammering nt the great Russian fortresses of Kov-no Kov-no and Lomza, the chief significance of which Is their proximity to the lines of railway communication to Petrograd. Pe-trograd. Novogeorgievsk is the only place west of Warsaw at which a Russian garrison remains, and Its fall seems imminent. Poles May Present Problem. The attitude of the Poles toward the new German regime is arousing deep interest, as the occupation of Warsaw unites for the first time three branches of the Poles heretofore divided di-vided among Russia, Germany and Austria. Under the Russian regime Poland has been a hotbed of disorder nnd It remains to be seen whether control of this occupied territory will bo as difficult, n. nrnhlnm tn nny. many as It has been for Russia. The official report from Berlin characterized the operations around Hooge as "a battle," but Sir John French's later report shows them to have been another trench fight preceded pre-ceded by a severe artillery exchange and resulting in tho recapture by the British of nearly a mile of trenches previously taken by the Germans. This has served to divert public attention at-tention temporarily trom the magnitude magni-tude of the German sweep in tho eastern east-ern field, but operations in tho west still lack general significance,. |