OCR Text |
Show f GERMANS DEFEATED AFTER FURIOUS 1 ONSLAUGHTS WITH RUSSIAN TROOPS GENERAL FIGHTING IN FLANDERS TO BE STARTED DY BRITISH FORCES Allied Troops Dominate Hills Southeast of Ypres Both Sides Lose Heavily in Battle on Northern End of British Lines War Reports Conflict German and British and French Statements Diametrically Opposed Both Sides Claim Definite Gains. RUSSIANS HOLD FIRM GRIP ON CARPATHIANS News of Eastern Fighting Lacking Whereabouts of Von Hindenburg Unknown Czar's Fleet Mines Entrance to Bosphorus Two Turkish Torpedo Boats Are I Blown Up Italy's Decision For, or Against War Believed to Be Imminent Austria Refuses to Make Satisfactory Concessions Con-cessions King Ferdinand Against Allies. i GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN AMBASSADORS AT ROME PREPARE TO LEAVE COUNTRY Capetown, Union of South Africa, April 20. Forces of trie Union of South Africa have occupied Keetaanshop, the most important town in German Southwest Africa next to Windhoek, the capital. It is an important railroad junction i and gives General Botha, the Boer leader, command of the t railroad to Windhoek, t Petrograd. April 20. via London 6:25 p. m The Russian war office today to-day gave out the following account of operations at the front: "A vigorous attack by the Germane on our positions east of Telepotch and Polen was repulsed by rifle fire and hand grenades In the direction of -J?iJX-a. lio,siil, .allaek . an the . height near dravozil was successful at the ptart, but towards evening our troops made a counter attack and re-occupied the height after fierce fighting They captured prisoners, the number of w hich Is now being ascertained. "On the eastern Roszanka chain, J near the evening of April 18, we ex ploded a mine above a German trench immediately following this, our lnfan- try attacked with bayonets and cap- it Hired the position, taking in the -vv neighborhood of 10" prisoners, as well ' as four machine guns and one bomb- ! thrower." Berlin War Statement. ,j Berlin, April 20, (By Wireless to '.' ; Sayville, N Y) German army head quarters today gave out a report on the progress of hostilities reading as follows : "German sapping attacks In the Champagne country yesterday made progress while a French attack in the Argonne north of Le Four de Paris resulted in failure. Spirited Artillery Exchanges. "Between the Meuse and the Mo Iselle yesterday witnessed isolated but spirited artillery exchanges A French attack near Flirey broke down-Near down-Near Croix des Carmes German troops entered the main position of the enemy en-emy to the west of Avrecourt and stormed and re-occupied the village of Embermenil. "In the Vosges a French attack on ij ; the Schillecker heights resulted in f , failure, while the German advance on Hartmans-VYeilerkopf gained about ' ion yards. "On the eastern front the situation :. remains unchanged." I1 The French war office this after- noon gave out a report on the prog- ress of hostilities which reads: "There have been particularly spir- 'I ited artillery exchanges In the region J of Soissons and In the sectors of J' Rhelms and the Argonne?; otherwise f there is no other news to give out ' j Secretary Kitchener Gratified. London. April 20, 4 p m War Sec- I retary Kitchener is very gratified at 1 the response of the nation to the reft re-ft cruiting calls." Chancellor of the Ex-91 Ex-91 chequer Lloyd-George told the house I of commons this afternoon. The Mi speaker added that the government I did not believe the war could be more J successfully prosecuted by means of I conscription. Iron Crosses for Soldiers. i M, Berlin. April 20, by wireless to Say- B ville, N Y. "Field Marshal Baron von der Goltz. who recently was appolnt- ed commander of ihe first Turkish I Brmy, takes 'he place of the German I- (.'iieral Liman von Sanders, who Is lj now commanding the Dardanelles U army it is officially reported that at- I rc-ndy two thousand German soldiers J born in Alsace-Lorraine have been decorated with Iron crosses. j "The Bi rl'n munii ipal utiug house I which is able to feed 20,000 unem-loved unem-loved (hiring the war, will be closed . M ;V tomorrow because there nr' now only ,H .5uo unem plowed who are In peed oi food. This mi .ms splendid ecououj- jlEr ical Improvement." Review of War Situation. London. April 20, 12.32 p m Although Al-though the German claims on the one hand and the British and French on the other are diametrically opposed in the matter of the outcome oi the battle for Hill No. 60. southeast of Ypres and near the northern extremity extrem-ity of the British lines the facts at hand indicate that this engagement was the most important along the British front since the battle of Neuve Chapelle and that it perhaps presages the expected general British acti Ity in Flanders. The British, whether or not tboy hold all the ground gained, undoubtedly undoubt-edly still dominate a part of Zand-foord Zand-foord ridge, a line of hills running southeast of pres and commanding the road from Ypres to Menin. The losses in this fighting have not been announced. Judging from dispatches reaching Ixmdon the have been considerable con-siderable on both sides. The Germans Ger-mans declare that the British made use of shells containing asphyxiating gases To this the British reply continues con-tinues to be that the Germans first resorted to this means of warfare, so If the British are now using It, they are following the example of their opponents Russians Holding Carpathians. The Russians continue to hold their firm grip on the main chain of the Carpathian!, but news of any declsie action from this arena of the fighting is lacking. The British press today Is speculating speculat-ing as to the whereabouts of Field Marshal Yon Hindenburg, the German commander on the eastern front. Some newspapers publish the burrps-tion burrps-tion that he may attempt a diversion in Poland as well as from Cracow, al though the idea Is advanced that the soggy nature of the land would seem to prevent any large movement except ex-cept at a great cost of men and material. ma-terial. Russians Mine the Bosphoru6. The Russian fleet which has been attacking the Bosphorus is reported to have taused the destruction of fcwn torpedo boat destroyers A dispatch I from Saloniki says the Russians mined the entrance to the BoHphnnis while the Turkish fleet was cruising in the Black sea and the Turkish v8 sels on returning ran into the mine field. Advices have beeu received In Ber lin that a British expeditionary force, which attempted to invade German East Africa was defeated and driven away with the loss of 700 men. The British force is snid to have landed from cruisers and transports The German losses are given as 56. The only intimation of a British expedition expedi-tion to East Africa was given at the time of the sinking of the British steamer Falaba by a German submarine subma-rine At that time It was said that among the passengers who lost their lives were a number of British officers offi-cers who were on the way to Africa Italy to Decide Soon Italy's decision for or against war is believed in Rome to be imminent. The Rome correspondent nf a Paris newspaper telegraphs that today marks the expiration of the time limit fixed by Italy for presentation of proposals pro-posals by Austria. It Is generally understood un-derstood that Austria has declined to make territorial concessions satisfactory satisfac-tory to Italy and according to this rc-jort rc-jort the German and Austrian ambassadors ambas-sadors at Rome are preparing to leave the country. Greece also is endeavoring to ar-rive ar-rive at a fixed policy in regard to the situation brought about by the war. I representative of King Constan-1 Constan-1 tiue is on hla way to Vienna and Ber- lin, probably on a political mission. King Constantino Opposes War. No intimation has been given as , .to the purpose of the mission although al-though it Is known (hat King Con- stantine. who is a brother in-law of Emperor William, is opposed to war and has set himself against the party which favors intervention on the side of the allies. Rome, April 20 Sofia is being re garded with much interest. Efforts are being made by representatives of the belligerents to induce King Ferdinand Ferdi-nand to announce his decision. The importance of the attitude of Bulgaria is recognized fully In Rome Should she side with tho Teutonic allies al-lies it would be difficult for Rumania to make war upon Austria-Hungary, for she would then be subject to attack at-tack by Bulgaria, as well as by Turkish Turk-ish troops coming through Bulgarian I territory. In this connection a prominent diplomat said today: "Once more is the fate of the Balkans in the hands of Bulgaria, Indeed, In-deed, this time her decision may have great weight on the general development develop-ment of the war." |