RUSSIAN ARMIES STEADILY ADVANCING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2244, 2 September 1914, Page 5

RUSSIAN ARMIES STEADILY ADVANCING

APPALLING SLAUGHTER OF THE ENEMYENGAGEMENTS OVER WlDfe FRONT IN AUSTRIA / , (Rec. September 1, 11.20 p.m.) St. Petersburg, September 1. 'Although Austria-Hungary has a million men in the field, the Russians are steadily advancing, .and are successfully holding back the enemy's attempt to outflank them in tho vicinity of Lublin, in Russian Poland. The City of Lemberg, in Galieia, is half encircled. The slaughter on the various battlefields has been appalling.. The Austrians havo- been defeated outside the fortified town of Zamose, in Russian Poland,' twenty-two miles north of the Austrian frontier. Lemberg, according to population, is the fourth city in the Austrian Empire, coming after Vienna. Prague, and Triiiste. Industrially and commercially it is tho most important city of the crownland of Galieia, of which it is the capital. It is 468 miles north-west of Vienna by rail, and is situated on tho small river Peltew, an affluent of tho Bug, in a- valley in the Sarmatian plateau, and is surrounded by hills. Lemberg has a population of about 160,000, of whom some 80 per qoiit. ar© Poles. It is composed of the inner town and four suburbs. The inner town was formerly fortified; but the fortifications were transformed into pleasure grounds iu 1811. The town contains a number of cathedrals,- and many churches, and is the seat of important educational institutions. Lublin, in Russian Poland, is an ancient city, which was of much greater importance centuries ago than it is to-day. The present town, which has about 50,000 inhabitants, is surrounded by ruins, which provo that it formerly occupied a much larger area. Of the fortifications which once defended the place nothing remains but the four gates, one dating from 1342. Situated 109 inilos by rail, S.E. of "Warsaw, on a-small tributary of the Wieprz, Lublin ranks among Polish towns after Warsaw and Lodz, and is a trading and manufacturing centre. In 1568-09 it was the seat of the stormy convention at-which the union between Poland and Lithuania was decided. In' 1702 another convention was held in-Lublin in favour of Augustus 11, and against Charles XII of Sweden, who carried the town by assault and plundered it. In 1831 Lublin was taken- by- the Russians. The surrounding country is rich in' reminiscences of the struggle of Poland for independence.