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Show BRITISH GIVEN I PAINFUL BLOW I IIT THE GERMANS I LONDON, Dec. IS The successful attack bv German warships on a con-vov con-vov in tho North sea, resulting in tho sinking of eleven vessels, as announced an-nounced in the house of commons to-dav, to-dav, camo as an uncomfortable surprise sur-prise tp the British public It Is expected ex-pected to cause a revival of the serious seri-ous criticism of the admiralty, such as at tho time of the successful German Ger-man attack on a convoy of Scandinavian Scandi-navian merchantmen in October. Added to this is the raid made off the Tyne last Wednesday by German wnr-ships wnr-ships As a result of these two expeditions, ex-peditions, one British destroyer has been sunk, another seriously damaged, dam-aged, five trawlers and eight merchantmen mer-chantmen have been sent to tho bottom, bot-tom, another trawler has been damaged dam-aged and a number of men iave been XiHed, Avounded or taken prisoner. Among the prisoners is a nephew of Viscount Grey, former foreign secretary. Danish Account of Sea Fight. According to Danish accounts, the force which attacked the convoy consisted con-sisted of four cruisers in addition to destroyers. A painful aspect of the affair, from the British public's point of view, is that apparently all tho attacking at-tacking vessels escaped and returned to their bases. Another unpleasant feature is that the British cruiser squadron detailed tq protect the convoy con-voy against surface attacks, for some unexplained reason, was not on the scene. Vice Admiral Beatty irame- ; diatelv opened an inquiry and (ho first sitting: was held-'S'estcrday; being conducted con-ducted by Vice Admirals Sturdco, do iRobek and Goodenough. Tho investigation investi-gation will be hastened as much as possible. According to the testimony of survivors sur-vivors both here and in Scandinavia the fight was of a most violent character. char-acter. The Germans poured hundreds of shots into the ill-fated vessels. Steamships in Convoy. CHRISTIANIA, Thursday, Dec. 13. (Delayed by censor.) The convoy attacked at-tacked in the North sea was made up of the following steamships: Bollsta, Norwegian, 1701 tons; King Magnus, Norwegian; Bothnia, Swedish, Swed-ish, 1697 Ions: Torlaf, Swedish (Tor-leif, (Tor-leif, S56 tons); Massacibo, Danish: Cordova, British. (There were two British steamships Cordova, each of about 2300 tons). The Bollsta was torpedoed and sank in 15 minutes. One of her boats with eleven of the crew and four passengers pas-sengers reached land this morning after being out for fifteen hours. , A lifeboat from ono of the Swedish steamers with fifteen persons also reached port, although it was blowing a gale. Contrary to the custom of tho Germans, Ger-mans, one of their destroyers offered assistance to ono of tho Bollsta's boats. I Review of War Situation. Germany and Austria-Hungary ap-. p'arently wlll lose no time In bringing about a separate peace with the Bolsheviki Bol-sheviki government in Russia, now that the armistice between the countries coun-tries has become effective. Dr. Kuehlmann, Kuehl-mann, the German foreign secretary, and Count Czernin, the Austrian foreign for-eign minister, will arrive at Brest-Litovsk Brest-Litovsk today to begin negotiations lookingHoward peace. , A semi-official statement issued in Vienna declares that the central powers pow-ers will follow up tho armistice "as speedily as possible," with peace parleys par-leys and it is added that Bulgaria .and Turkey also will join in the negotiations. negotia-tions. According to Petrograd' advices, Leon Trotzky, the Bolsheviki foreign minister, has notified the allied embassies em-bassies that peace negotiations arc' to begin and has asked them to participate partici-pate or state whether they wish peace. An informal conference of the allied diplomats is said to have reached no H definito decision on the subject. There has been virtually no change J in the internal situation in Russia. J The Bolsheviki government, in a no- H tico to foreign embassies in Petrograd, says it considers the question of pf recognition purely formal and cares H little about it. The notice declares that the foreign embassies must vise tho passports of Bolsheviki couriers or similar countesies will be refused. ( Italians Check Enemy. Except on the Italian northern front jf near tho Brenta river military opera- tjons are at a minimum. The Italians, in a desperate struggle, have been able to rotakc an advantageous position on Col Caprillc, while checking Austro-German Austro-German attempts in the region of .an Marino. The activity of inc aerial and IH artillery arms on this front continues IH to bo intense. IH Snow has fallen heavily on the Brit- IH ish front in Franco and only small isolated raids have occupied the in- jH fantcr. The gunners on both sides are active. Except for artillery work thcro has been no activity on Inc French front from St Quentin to Ai-sacc. Ai-sacc. In upper Alsace tho French have IH repulsed a German attack near Aspacu H le Bas. oo IH |