DESPERATE BATTLE STILL RAGING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2238, 26 August 1914, Page 5

DESPERATE BATTLE STILL RAGING.

•GERMANS FALL BACK HEAVY LOSSES , FALL OF NAMUR > /■ ALLIES HOLD STRONG POSITION AUSTRIA HUMILIATED. SERVIANS' BRILLIANT VICTORY AT DRIA ITALY MASSES HER TROOPS. The fog of war has again descended upon the Russian operations, in Germany's eastern territory, and publio attention is onco more focused upon tho Franco-Belgian fijbntier, where a great battle is raging between the Germans'and tho allied armies of Britain and France. Some idea of the magnitudo of tho operations in this tremen- t doua clash of modern armies may bo gathered from tho statement that • tho fighting extends along a front of florae- 90 miles, and the issue is a matter of several days. The ba'ttlo began on Sunday. The allied troops, after stubbornly holding the ( ground at" Namur, fell back, and fiercely engaged the Gorman line at Charleroi. As was inevitable thegreat fortress of Namur has fallen. Tho battleground at v lions, where the British troops -were operating, was fiercely contested, ' and the enemy was driven back to Hal. a distance of 25 miles, with heavy losses. The French lino also suffered, but the British losses are believed to have been slight, and our'men, cleverly manoeuvred by ~ _ their commanders, now hold'a strong position. In the southern theatre, along 1 the'line" of "the 'great frontier fortresses,'the Germane have'ad-'".* -' vanced fifteen miles' into French territory, and occupied Lunovillo and other points in tho vicinity of Nancy. The French line was broken by the weakness of one of its links, and a general retirement was deemed prudent. Tho strategy of the Fronco-German operations appears to'bo to hold the German advance in check, and severely damage the enemy by. vigorous counter-attacks,'just sufficiently long enough to enablo the Russian advance from the East to develop into i such a serious menace ns to embarrass the Gorman War Staff, and cripple the initiative of tho German armies at all points. Tho success of tho Russian advance into Austria is significantly vouched for by tho withdrawal of the Austrian Army from tho Servian campaign —an "ineffaceable humiliation," says "The Times," following upon the brilliant victory of tho Sorvian Army at the Battle of the Drina) Another item of significant import is the announcement of the mobilisation of an Italian Army, of 800,000 on tho Austrian frontier, a concentration which has involved _ the depletion of the Italian garrisons . in the west. If this announcement be correct, Italy's attitude and f intentions with regard to tho conflict are clearly hostile to Austria— and Germany. The aged Emperor of Austria is dying, and the end , i . of an illustrious career, darkened by a long and almost overwhelming succession of gloomy tragedies to the Houso of Hapsburg, is but a matter of hours. From tho sea there is no news at all.