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Show I Russian Black Sea Torpedo Boat Squadron Shells Turkish Coast GREAT FIGHT IS DEVELOPING ALONG THE YPRES BATTLEFRONT Battles Increasing in Intensity and Rivalling Attempts of Ger-n Ger-n mans to Break Through to Calais Last Fall Ypres Tar- J get for Huge Seventeen-inch Missiles Losses 9 Among Civilians Liable to Be Heavy Both Sides Being Strongly Reinforced Traffic Stopped Between Holland and England. 1 ALLIED WARSHIPS BOMBARDING FORTS Stiff Engagements in Belgium Germans Repulsed With Heavy Losses Large Quantities of Asphyxiating Bombs Thrown by Kaiser's Troops Force French to Retire Allies Take Many Prisoners West of Ypres Russians Drop Bombs on German Positions British Trawler Blown Up in North Sea. FRENCH TROOPS CAPTURE NEARLY HALF MILE OF GERMAN TRENCHES Berlin, April 23, via London, 5:30 p. m. The German admiralty today gave out a statement reading as follows: "The German high sea fleet has recently cruised repeatedly repeat-edly in the North Sea, advancing into English waters without meeting the sea forces of Great Britain.' Grimsby, England, April 23, 1 : 40 p. m. The Grimsby trawler St. Lawrence was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea yesterday by a German submarine. Two members of the crew were killed. Seven survivors were brought here today by the trawler Queenstown, whose skipper reports that the submarine fired on his vessel while engaged in rescuing thei crew of the St. Lawrence. Paris ADril 23. via London. 3:35 D.I which the Germans had mounted a m The French war office this aft-tirnoou aft-tirnoou issued the following statement state-ment 'Yesterday evening there were fair-lj fair-lj lively engagements in Belgium. In the bend of the Ys-sr to the north of Dixmude Belgian troops repulsed an attack against the Chateau of Vicotjue and. inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. ene-my. To the north ol Ypres the Ger mans b empluvinj: Lire (juantities of asphyxiating bombs, the effect of which was felt for a distance of two kilometers behind our lines, forced us to retire in the direction of the Yser canal Many Prisoners Taken "Towards the west, and in the direction di-rection of Ypres towards the south, the enemy attack was checked Vigorous Vig-orous counter attacks enubled us to regain ground and take many prisoners. prison-ers. "In the wooded alley near St M1 hiel, by an attack to the cast and west of the positions previouslv captured, cap-tured, we took seven hundred meters ot trenches and made about 100 prisoners, pris-oners, including three officers " Petroerad April 23, 12:40 p. m The Russian Black Sea torpedo boat squadron bombarded the Turkish coast between Archava and Artaschin on April This fifteen-mile strip of const in which was located the quarters quar-ters of the Turkish army operating In this region, was swept with Bhell and the barracks and provisions stores wrre Ignited and destroyed. A lar" number of Turkish roast wise vessels laden with ammunition and supplies v, as sunk. Turks Thrown into Panic. Turkish land forces were initialing sortie under cover of their artillery' at the same time They were thrown into a panic by the unexpected bombardment bom-bardment from the sea and thpir supporting sup-porting pruns were immediate! silenced. si-lenced. On April 2d all thp Turkish efforts to start an offensive in thja retrlon ceased. Only minor engagements are reported report-ed to exist on the Prussian front. Near Momel the seaport at the northern north-ern extremity of the east Prussian prpvluce, a Russian mounted force lrslu:d with a German patrol and the Germans were driven back. In the region of Ossowetz a scattering scat-tering rifle and artillery lire is a daily occurrence. Airships Are Active. The greatest activity appears in the aircraft service. A Russian aero1 plain of the Tlya Monrametz type driven b four separate motors and capable of carrying the weight of sixteen six-teen men. has raided the Polish tow;is of Mlaa near the east Prussian frontier fron-tier and Plock on the Vistula German Ger-man aeroplanes likewise daily citf le about the Ossowetz fortress, thouch they are kept at a distance by the Russian Rus-sian guns. One Russian aviator dropped a i'cmb on n German arm transport ne?r Kopet'.a to the northeast of Os I owft7. ami ai observation point at L-opatuvatz, in the same vicinity, on powertul electric reflector, also was destroyed by a bomb number of skirmishes are report ed to have taken place at various points on the right bank of the Vistula Vis-tula river The result of the fighting ws not decisive. Berlin War Statement. Berliu. April 23. via London. 5 10 p m There was given out in Berlin todav an official report on the prog ress of hostilities reading. "In the western arena of the figlit ing, during the evening of yesterday, we advanced from our front at Steen-straate. Steen-straate. east of Langemarck, against the positions of the enemy north ami northeast of Ypres With a rush oui j troops moved forward along the line as far south as the hills of Pileten and ! east of Doin. At the same time they forced their way, after a stubborn fight, across the Yser canal at Steen straate and Het Sas, where they established es-tablished themselves on the western bank of the canal The villages of Langemarck, Het Sas and Pileten were taken. At least 1,600 French and British Brit-ish soldiers were taken prisoners and thirty cannon. Including four heavy British guns fell into our hands. Fierce Artillery Battles. ' Between the Meuse and the Mo-I Mo-I selle the active fighting yesterday i again became more lively. The ar-; ar-; tillery battles were especially fierce at ( ombres, St Mihiel and Apremont, as well as at a point to the northeast of Flire Infantry attacks on the part of the invaders following in the wood between Ailly and Apremont. The French penetrated this region into certain sections of our foremost 1 tvenches but they were partly driven out again. The fighting at close quar-t quar-t ters still continues, i 'The village of Lmbremeuil. to the I west of Agricourt, which had been taken by us and which was set on ' fire by the French with their shells. ' has been evacuated by our outposts. The hills to the north and south of of Embrenieuil were retained "The situation In the east shows no change." Russian Airships Drop Bombs London April 23. 10:15 a. m. A Reuter dispatch from Petrograd says; "There was much activity yesterday yester-day on the part of Russian airships. One dropped fifteen bombs on PlocK Several German boats on the Vistula were struck as were the railroad station sta-tion and truins. "Two other machines bombarded the railway station at Mlawa and the-German the-German aerodrome at Sanniky. Considerable Con-siderable damage was done to German Ger-man trenches." Review of War Situation. London. April 23. 12:16 P m.- The British forces have shown no disposition dispo-sition under the repeated rushes f (he Germans, to relax their grip on hill No. 60 upar Ypres and the fight nc in this locality todnv shows signs oi developing along the wide front with increasing intensity, even rival ing the attempts of the Germans to break through the British lines last fall. The city of Ypres, whose historic structures were shattered by German projectiles last October, again Is the target of heavy shells Huge seventeen-inch missiles are now being used and unless the civilian population has fled or is taking to its cellars, the losses among the people must bf heavy. There has been a lull in the Ger man counter attacks, according to the British official report given out this morning, but It is assumed thai both sides are betng strongly reinforced rein-forced and the tone of the British communication indicates that the ls-suo ls-suo has not yet been finally decided No official explanation is forthcom ing of the stoppage of traffic between England and Holland. One theory Is hat thic Ic n ktrnlto simorl sit anlos and another that the area Is belnc; cleared for a naval station The latter lat-ter explnation seems Incomplete, how ever. In that, if steps were being taken to clear ships from a marine war zone, vessels running to Scandinavian ports also would be held up. Although Great Britain Is silent Germanv apparently is expecting land operations noar the Dardanelles and it Is common knowledge that troops o-f the allies are being landed In European Eu-ropean Turkey BrltlBh Warships Enter Straits. The assault on the Dardanelles has been renewed, although it Is not apparent ap-parent whether the allied forces are read- to begin the expected general attack. at-tack. Four British warships entered the straits yesterday and bombarded the Turkish forts which were subjected subject-ed also to indirect fire across the peninsula pe-ninsula from the Gulf of Saros. The result of this fighting has not been disclosed. Bombardment of the Turkish forts at Smyrna Asia Minor, also is believed be-lieved to have been resumed There is nothing to indicate, however, that any move has been made toward an attack by the forces landed from the Gulf of Saros. such as Is expected to accompany the next effort on a large scale to win the Dardanelles Italy and Austria Confering. A lone conference betwen the Italian Itali-an foreign minister and the Austrian ambassador at Rome is accepted as a sign that negotiations are still under way between Austria and Italy A Petrograd dispatch says that Russian Rus-sian aviators inflicted considerable damage by attacks on German positions posi-tions at several points. Bombs were dropped on Plock and Mlawa, Russian Rus-sian Poland several German boats on the istula river were struck and German trenches were damaged. |