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Show FIGHTING ALONG ' AUSTRIAN FRONT Austro-Germans Begin Offensive Offen-sive on 300-mile Line Hope to Drive Russians. Germans Move Forward Near Sochazew Over Fields Strewn With Dead """Many Frozen. Petrograd. via 1 ondon, an. 2 p. m. There has been pronounced activity ac-tivity along the entire Austrian front of 300 miles during the last few days. This is regarded here as marking the initiation of the plan for an Austro-Cerman Austro-Cerman offensive movement, which is believed to have been adopted recently, recent-ly, with the object of clearing the Russian Invaders from Bukowina, eastern Galicia and northern Hungary In Galicia, between the riers Vis-toka Vis-toka and Jasiolka, approximately thirty miles east of the Dunajec, General Gen-eral Brojevitz, commander ol the Fourth Austrian army, has undertaken a forward movement In the direction of Przemysl. Whether this is an attempt to relieve Przemysl, which has beeu under siege for several months, or to force the Russians to withdraw from Bukowina. Is not yet clear Simultaneously attacks are recorded on the Russian positions on Bukowina, In the vicinity of lumpu-lung. lumpu-lung. and in the south Polish provinces prov-inces of Radom and Kielce, along the line from Inowlodz to Konskle and j thence to Sobkow. where heavy artillery ar-tillery engagements have occurred. "Northward there appears to h;ie beeu little change. Northwest of Warsaw, from Radzanowo to Dobr.yn. on tho istula, the Germans are still on the defensive. On the left bank of the Vistula, west of Warsaw, and along the Rawka, the Germans are stubbornly attempting to advance. Between Be-tween Borgimow and Gumin, twenty-five twenty-five miles west of Warsaw, desperate hand to hand fighting Is reported. The village of Borgimow has changed hands several times as the armies surged back and forth. At last reports re-ports It was not occupied by either side, as neither of the opposing forces is able to hold it. Germans Use Shields. "In this fighting the Germans put into use improvised steel shields, which were moved forward for the protection of trench diggers Behind these shields the diggers worked until un-til two lines of trenches had been pushed to within a few hundred yards of the Russian positions. So close, and accurate was the firing that a hat hoisted on the point of a bayonet invariably would be riddled with a shower of bullets from the opposing trench. Fighting of this character went on for days with no noticeable advantage for either side No less stubborn in the action on the line between Granow and Kurd-vanov, Kurd-vanov, southeast of Sochazew. In this vicinity the Germans are said to have moved forward in the open, over fields strewn with dead, many of whom had died by freezing. The progress made here, as the fight went on between the lines of trenches wras slight Neither tho Germans nor the Russians wore able to get in moro than a few j'ards. |