FOUR GERMAN DESTROYERS SUNK

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2284, 19 October 1914, Page 5

FOUR GERMAN DESTROYERS SUNK

BRITISH CRUISER HAWKE ; TORPEDOED ' SINKS I FIVE-MINIM-GERMANS OCCUPY OSTEND PANIC AMONGST. THE REFUGEES ALLIES'' SUCCESS IN FRANCE . AND BELGIUM '.. RUSSIANS : 'OTE BATTLE •

HUGE CONFLICT IN POLAND /..■*■ The most arresting feature of the war news to-day is the sea fight off the Dutch coast, in which four of the enemy's destroyers were engaged by ihe British light cruiser Undaunted and four supporting destroyers, and sunk. As a set-off the German submarines have again raided our northern waters and torpedoed and sunk the old cruiser Hawke, which, with'the Theseuß, was on guard duty at Aberdeen. There has been loss of life, but details are not yet to band. The old cruiser sank in five minutes, and although there wa3 no time to make adequate preparations for saving life, a large number of survivors have been rescued and brought to Aberdeen. l In the Adriatic a torpedo '•'night attack on the Frenoh ships off Cattaro was forestalled by a prompt response to a wireless call for help, and the Austrian flotilla was chased, one of the enemy's ships being sent to the bottom. In the Franco-Belgian theatre of the war there are indications of important' developments on either flank of the long battlefront. Violent fighting has.been taking place northwards of Lille, which is now a . shambles, and there is a report of a stupendous cavalry battle in that neighbourhood. The British troops have been manoeuvred by train from their old entrenched position to a now battlefront — where, is not stated —but to judge from the elation of the men, a period of comparative inaction has ended, and something big is afoot. The Germans have occupied Ostend, their advent causing indescribable panic and excitement amongst the crowds of refugees which struggled for places on the steamers which were hurrying away. A Gferman aeroplano intensified tho horror of the situation by dropping bombs. As the Germans move along, so the Allies are moving up; a reference to the map will show that the Allies' extreme left flank at Nieuport is only about ten miles away. In France, towards the Centre of the Allies' right, events are moving. The Germans have resumed the bombardment of Reim3, while far fo the Right, in the /Vosges passes, the enemy has been driven back with heavy loss. Tho Frenoh have renewed active operations in Alsace; Altkirch has been occupied, while Thann and Mulhausen are dominated from strategic points In the eastern theatre a huge battle is .raging between the Russians and the'Austro-German armies;' it is a conflict of "millions, in which the Russians appear to be asserting their superiority. There is no news from South Africa, saving a brief toessage from Rhodesia revoaling a dartardly plot by the Germans, to foment a native rising against the British. Public opinion in England is demanding 'sterner measures for. enemy subjects discovered in compromising places.