Ottumwa Tri Weekly Courier

VOLUME SIXTY-SEVEN

RUSSIANS STOP
'GERMANS' RUSH
Invaders in Poland Unable
to Make Any Progress
Toward Warsaw
BLOODY BATTLES AT
RIVER INEFFECTIVE
Huge Losses Go for Naught
as Troops Are Driven
Back Across Water
London. Dec. 30.-The soldiers of
Emperor Nicholas still hold the main
German armies in check and continue
to press their advantage, according to
dispatches reaching London. At the
same time they are harassing the Aus-
trians, who have been flung back over
the Carpathian mountains.
In the western arena of the war the
allies continue to claim slow progress,
but the offensive, started about the
middle of December, has noticeably
slackened, a fact which Berlin, accept-
ing the order issued by General Joffre,
the French commander-in-chief, on
December 17, as bona fide, declares
means the failure of the attempted al-
lied advance.
Even some of the British news-
papers call attention to the marked de-
crease in the vigor of the French,
British and Belgian thrusts at the
German line, but they add that the rea-
son for this quiet soon will be dis-
closed.
The Bzura river, to the west of War-
saw, has now become the Yser of the
east; on its banks the Germans have
been sacrificing thousands of men as
they did in Belgium on the Yser. The
crossing which they forced at great
cost has now been nullified, according
to dispatches from Petrograd, the Rus-
sians having driven the invaders back
to the west bank of the river.
German Report.
Berlin. Dec. 30.-The official com-
munication given out today by the Ger-
man war office says:
"In the western theater of the war
we still are fighting for the hamlet of
St. Georges, to the south of Nieuport,
which we were compelled to evacuate
owing to a surprise attack.
"Storm and cold have caused dam-
age to the positions on both sides in
Flanders and in northern France.
"In East Prussia the Russian cavalry
was driven back in the direction of
Pillkallen (four miles from the Rus-
sian frontier and south of the Niemen
river).
"In Poland: On the right bank of
the Vistula the situation remains un-
changed. On the western bank of the
Vistula the offensive to the east of
the tributary Bzura continues. For
the rest, fighting on and to the east of
the Rawka branch continues, as well
as at Inowlodz, and in the region to
the southwest of this place.
"Reports from outside sources give
the impression that Lowicz and Skier-
niewice are not in our possession. We
captured these places more than six
days ago."
French Report.
Paris, Dec. 30.--The official an-
nouncement on the progress of the
war, given out by the French war de-
partment this afternoon, reads as fol-
lows:
"In Belgium we have won a little
territory in the region of Nieuport,
opposite Polders, and to the north of
Lombaertzyde. The enemy subjected
St. Georges to a violent bombardment.
This is the position we are putting in
a state of defense.
"We have captured a German point
of support located to the southeast of
Sonnebeke on the road between Becel-
aere and Paschendaele.
"In the valley of the Aisne and in
Champagne the enemy has manifested
another burst of activity which has
taken the form particularly of a vio-
lent artillery fire to which our heavy
artillery replied effectively.
"In the Argonne we have made
slight progress in the region of Four
De Paris.
"Between the Argonne and the
Moselle there has been cannonading
along all the front, but particularly
severe along the heights of the Meuse.
"In the Vosges the enemy delivered
an attack against our positions at La
Tete De Faux; this was repulsed.
"In Upper Alsace we are consolidat-
ing our positions. Our heavy artillery
reduced to silence the German how-
itzers which were bombarding Upper
Aspach."