OCR Text |
Show -V 1 H r Hun Troops Effectually Close The Gulf of Riga I I ' i ; ; ' ; ' ll 3 GERMAN DRIVE FOR l 15cj 3; RUSSIAN CAPITAL si.is SEEPlS FlVIrifiiil? 58.60' Sl Islands f Oesel and Dago Seized and Railroad t Line on Mainland Built to Point Opposite Island I ; Near Shore Land Expedition to Petro- H grad May Be Next Move., da " PETROGRAD, Ocl. 13. The Ger- ?g!9q1I 1 mans landed detachments yesterday gyjrtj on the coast of the Gulf of Tagalph, on '. (Mm tne nortn of Oesel island and near the 7jj ' village of Serro on the southern part sMll as isnd, the Avar office an-" an-" 8161 nounces. The -Russian coast battery " TfA is silenced by German areadnaughts. RW Official Russian Statement. Sjg PETROGRAD. Oct. 33. The Ger-; Ger-; i$p mans are working stubbornly to clear ' t i the entrance to the Gulf of Riga near Jfl r Courland, says todayte official state- all menL The activities of the enemy in : I landing forces were rendered difficult ? I J" nolcs constructed by the Russians k Ut find bv ba1 visibility. The garrison of ' tl K Oesel is fighting German forces which landed thnro. Thp sf ntpmnnt envc nil I measures, have been taken against the invaders. LONDON, Oct. 13. The Germans have landed troops on the islands of Oesel and Dago In the Gulf of Riga, according ac-cording to a Reuter dispatch from Pe-trograd. Pe-trograd. Oesel and Dago islands are at the entrance en-trance to the Gulf 'of Riga and provide easy access to the mainland over small intermediate islands They are off the coast of the Russian province of Es-thonia. Es-thonia. Dago island is about 200 miles from Petrograd. Its positions derives additional Importance from the fact that it, is almost at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, at the head of which is Kronstadt, which defends Petrograd. Oesel island is nearly 100 miles north of Riga which the Germans captured recently. The landing of German troops in Esthonia would threaten the out-Ilanlcing out-Ilanlcing of the Russian hue and nrob- equlHf JlljJy compel a retreat on a wide sec- . m tion of the' front if, indeed, it did not HJSjl open the way to Petrograd itself. A cotojy railway line follows the coast all the thcBjf way iron Hapsal, opposite Dago island ir'ifuSr t0 Petrsrad. Mj Oesel island, the larger of the two, iE&r is -15 miles long and has an area of llaiSr 1010 square miles and a population of 3 about 60,000. It has a difficult coast !line in the form of precipitous limestone lime-stone cliffs. Review of War Situation. While the British offensive has come to a momentary pause with the gains obtained yesterday everywhere held, a situation latent with big events has developed on the Russian front. The landing of German troops on (he islands of Oesel and Dago, at the Gulf of Riga, is reported today from "Sijll Petrograd. From the shore's edge at ! Hapsal. opposite Dago island, a rail-' 1 road line runs direct to RovaJ"the ( Russian naval base on the Gulf of Fin- ; I land, and thence on to Petrograd. The 2 islands in question, have themselves j i been bases of no little importance to 't the Russians, especially for airplane ? : activities. Their seizure would un-1 un-1 r doubtedly hamper Russian scouting ; ; "work, effectively close the Gulf of 'i ' Ruga to Russian use and apparently $ ; offer an excellent starting point for M a land expedition to Petrograd. if one m i should be contemplated by the German jm command. fV. The lateness of the season has seem- affiSr et t0 PreclU(ie anv attempt by the Teu-tons Teu-tons to make a drive toward Petro-all Petro-all grad this year. It has been pointed out, however, that such a move probably prob-ably could be carried out with comparative com-parative ease at present with the'Rus-sian the'Rus-sian armies in their admittedly disorganized disor-ganized state, whereas next spring there is a governmental promise of a Russian military regeneration after a winter's organizing work along new lines. In Flanders the heavy rain which stopped Field Marshal Haig's drive before be-fore all his objectives were attained, was continuing today, increasing the depth of the sticky mud through which the British had been struggling In their advancos. The mud evidently was hampering the Germans equally for they failed to deliver a counter-attack during the night On the French front thn chief nr.- I tivities have been in the Aisno region. The German crown prince made several sev-eral attacks last night on French posl-tions'on posl-tions'on this front. Ho was met with effective resistance by General Pc-tain's Pc-tain's forces, however, and all .the assaults as-saults were repulsed. Crown Prince Forces Defeated. PARIS, Oct. 13. German forces last night made several attacks on the French positions north of the river Aisne. The official statement issued this afternoon by the French war office says that all the assaults were repulsed. Heavy Rain Stops Fight. LONDON, Oct. 13. "There was a heavy rain throughout the night, which is still continuing." says today's official statement. "No counter-attacks by the enemy have. rlm-plnnprl thus far on the battle front. On the rest of the British front there Is nothing noth-ing to report." Germany Supplying Potatoes. COPENHAGEN, Oct. 13. Germany has offered to supply a certain quantity quan-tity of potatoes to Denmark. In exchange, ex-change, however, Germany will expect ex-pect Denmark to supply her with articles arti-cles of which she Is In need. No Famine in Poland. COPENHAGEN. Oct. 13. The German Ger-man administration of Warsaw has issued a denial of statements that famine fa-mine conditions prevail in Poland. It asserts there is an abundance of food in the rural districts and that the people in the cities are adequatelv nourished. British Gains in Flanders. BERLIN, Oct. 13. The British gains in Flanders yesterday amounted altogether to about one and one-fifth kilometers at two points where the German lines were broken in two, the war office announces. The British are said to have suffered heavily. British Seize Important Junction. LONDON, Oct. 13. Occupation bv British troops of an important junction point flanking the German line of retreat re-treat in German East Africa was announced an-nounced by the war department. The British have occupied Ruponda, and are pressing the rear guard of the enemy's ene-my's main body. |