ALLIES GAIN VANTAGE POINTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2340, 23 December 1914, Page 5

ALLIES GAIN VANTAGE POINTS

GERMAN COMMUNICATIONS I DANGER BRITISH AT THE GATES OF LILLE HARRYING THE ENEMY IN BELGIUM ZEEBRUGGE BOMBARDED GERMANS EVACUATE LODZ .■ ;,. ZAMBESI CASE ■ ■VESSEL AND CARGO;. CONDEMNED : It is just about a week since tho Allies operating in'-France' and' Belgium decided on taking the offensive, which movement it is clear . was undertaken to relieve the pressure on the Russian forces. The : . offonsive by the Allies has proved very effective, for. quite an extent- __ of country has been captured from the Germans. On the coast line, the . Allies have moved up from Nieuport, and according to the messages •published this morning they are witbin-a few miles of Ostend. 'The British warships are preparing the way for a further advance, as. Zeebrugge and Heyst, near the Dutch border, have been bombarded. .Wo may expect to hear of the Belgians and British being in possession of Ostend at any moment. In the Y pres-Dixmude-Roulers region substantial gains have been recorded, and the advanced British outpost endangers the line of communications of the enemy. In Northern . France and on the Right Wing of the Allies there have been some successes,.and at latest advices French troops were at the gates of Lille. On the Eastern frontier, the Russian successes are practically admitted by the Germans, who have been obliged to evacuate Lodz, to capture which they made 6uch enormous sacrifices. The evacuation ' was forced upon the'Gef'mans owing te : the fear of an enveloping movement. Further north, in. the Mlawa region, the Germans have had to fall back, and are now on the Lautenburg-Neiden-burg line, which is well within East Prussia. Thore is no mention of Cracow, the. pivot of the Russian attack, and it is obvious that the Russians are maintaining the pres-' sure there. The Austrian offensive in Galicia has been definitely checked. The developments in the Balkans are wholly in favour of the Entente Allies. Bulgaria, having given assurances of maintaining her neutrality, guarantees have been given to Rumania and Greece that they will not be attacked by Bulgaria should they determine to enter the campaign. Italy is daily getting nearer the field of hostilities. The people seem very anxious to get to grips with Austria, and- it is difficult to see how the Italian Government can avoid participating in the campaign. A casus belli appears to be available, for Turkey under German guidance is apparently threatening Tripoli, and a rupture be- . tween Italy and Turkey appears imminent. ■ There are no new developments on the naval side of the campaign. An officer with Vice-Admiral Sturdee gives an excellent account of the naval engagement off the Falkland Islands, and fairly and generously • ■ recounts the bravery of the German sailors, who went down with their ships singipg patriotic songs. There are still three German cruisers— the Dresden, Karlsruhe, and Strasburg—at large in the Atlantic, and there is a suggestion that perhaps the battle-cruisers which raided the Yorkshire coast and slunk away and escaped in the mist when the British flotilla hove in sight, may still be at large, and make another attempt at damage on the English co'ast, ' -