ENEMY CAUGHT NAPPING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2322, 2 December 1914, Page 5

ENEMY CAUGHT NAPPING

A SURPRISE ATTACK '...' HEAVY SCORE BY THE ALLIES THE POLAND DEBACLE TRAPPED GERMANS : ■ DESPERATELY : CUT OFF FROM AUSTRIAN ARMIES DAMNING RECORD OF GERMAN ■■ -INTRIGUE The comparative dullness of the news from the Franco-Belgian theatre of the war during the past few days is brightened to-day by the ' story of the Allies' surprise attack on the German lines at Arras. The enemy was,caught napping, and as the result lost six miles of trenches and a huge store of ammunition, to say nothing of losses in the ranks and in war material. "The TimesV military correspondent interprets recent movements of the German forces in Belgium and France to mean an early retirement to a second line of defence, 'stretching.from Antwerp to Namur, and thence on to the great fortress of Strasburg in Alsace-Lorraine. From the Eastern theatre reports . of the disastrous termination, of theS ambitious German, counter-stroke on Warsaw continue to filter, through, and although it is yet by no ' means clear that the defeat of the enemy was of bo annihilating a character as the first accounts claimed, it is'certain that the position of tho Germans is perilous in the, extreme. Their retreat is covered by_ a rearguard entrenched in strong field positions, but their flanks are exposed to harassing at-: tacks, In the South the Russians have advanced their siege artillery within range of one of the suburbs of Cracow (previous reports of the bombardment of that city and the subsequent conflagration are now ' stated to have, been premature!), and the Austrian armies have been definitely cut off from all communications with their German allies. ■ The Russians have also seized several positions in the Carpathians, occupied the whole of the Crownland of. Bukowina, and laid bare the frontier of Hungary. In the Near Eastern theatre, things are going badly with the Turks. Their troops, which are operating in the vicinity of Erzerum, in Asia Minor, have been heavily defeated, and \ the. ,/ rigours of winter are also taking a heavy toll. There has been a poor response to the German-inspired call for a Holy War. India has turned'', • - a, deaf, ear to German intrigues, Afghanistan stands, firmly, on her heu-\ tral ground, while the Negus of Abyssinia has declared his neutrality with no-uncertain voice. German intrigues, and double-shuffling aro strikingly revealed in the extracts from a French Yellow. Book'detailing the efforts and wiles of the German War Party.;