BRITISH COASTAL TOWNS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2336, 18 December 1914, Page 5

BRITISH COASTAL TOWNS

RV fTOMAM RATTFI? • rRfIKMQ ENEMY'S VESSELS REPORTED : sunk AN UNOFFICIAL STATEMENT TURKEY YIELDS TO ITALY ■ Interest in the operations on land is overshadowed for tho time being by the news of a German naval raid upon the East Coast of England. Profiting by the fact that the^ British blockading lines are necessarily widely extended, a squadron, consisting of five battle- . cruisers and a number of armoured c ruisers, besides smaller, craft, crossed the North Sea, under cover of darkness, and bombarded towns upon the Yorkshire and' Durham coasts in the early morning. The resultant loss of life was chiefly amongst civi Hans. At one placej West Hartlepool, shore batteries replied and damaged the attacking ships, but elsewhere the towns were undefended, and the German bombardment ■ therefore constituted a flagrant biench of The Hague Convention. On being pursued by a. British patrolling squadron, the' Gorman ships- , beat, a: hurried retreat, and apparently got clean away. No panic was caused in the bombarded towns, but detestation of the cowardly and murderous tactics pursued by the G ennans has been freely expressed. In Belgium the Allies are making oontinuous progress. Their advance on the northern flank has been assisted by a fleet bombardment of the German positions at Westende. Minor successes are reported at different points on the French line, nofably in Alsace. The position . in Poland has undergone little change, but there has been heavy fighting on the Vistula on fairly even terms. In the south the Russians have checked the Austrian advance from the Carpathians. Several reports from diffWent quarters tell of a rising spirit of revolt on the part of the Austrians against their German Allies. Servia is stated to be now entirely cleared of Austrians. Turkey has acceded to . Italy's demand for the release of the British Consul illegally seized in the Italian Consulate at Hodeida, and saddled responsibility for the incident upon a, local official.