RUSSIAN: COUNTER-STROKE DELIVERED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2397, 1 March 1915, Page 5

RUSSIAN: COUNTER-STROKE DELIVERED

GERMANS SHATTERED ONE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES OF THE WAR Petrograd, February 26. The battle on the Niemen-Bobr-Narew-Vistonla front is developing into one of the greatest of the war. The Russian aviators report that the Germans are pouring reinforcements into all sectors. ■ i Russian motor-cars near Prasnysz did splendid service, in several instances foiling the . enemy's flanking movements. There has been heroic fighting in the' Mlawa district, between the railway to Orzyo and the river, lyhere a Targe German force repeatedly attacked a village of great_strategic importance. The Russians retained the village but only sixty of its defenders remained unwounded in the fierce struggle. ° ' J '. ° . (Extraordinary Message.) ! ' (Rec, February 27, 4,55 p.m.) Petrograd, February 28. Official.—A most Important victory has been achieved at Prasnysz. The Germans hays been shattered, and are retreating. [Prasnysz, ip Russian Poland, is .60 miles north-east of Plock, and 16 miles from Ciechanowa, an important railway station in the south-east, near the Prussian frontier."! ■ HIGH COMMISSIONER'S OFFICIAL REPORT. The Prime Minister has received the following cablegram from the High Commissioner (dated London, February 27, 5 p.m.):— "Petrograd reports that supplementary information shows the great importance of the Russian successes in the Prasnysz region (fifty miles north of "Warsaw) during the last three days. The troops, courageously shattering tho German resistance with rifle and bayonet, progressed vigorously, and the enemy is now retiring along the whole front, abandoning prisoners, guns, and commissariat. The Russian armoured motor-cars poured machine-gun fire into the Germans, at constantly decreasing distances. The enemy's losses were very great." UATES7 DETAILS OF THE VICTORY, (Rec. February 28, 5.5 p.m.) . Petrograd, February 27. Official.—"The enemy's losses.in the Prasnysz region were very great "We shattered their ranks with rifie fire and bayonet, well supported by armoured motor-cars. The latter poured a machine-gun fire at close quarter's. The enemy is retiring along the whole'of this front. "We captured on Wednesday and Thursday thirty officors, twenty-six hundred men, seven guns, eleven machine-guns, and a huge quantity of equipment and commissariat stores. , "Wednesday's great success threw back the Germans who crossed the Niemen. There was obstinate fighting north of Grodno, when villages changed hands several times. "The German siege artillery has begun to bombard Ossowicc "We repulsed the Germans between Robo and Jeclvabno, injflictinn- enormous losses." -a THE RUSSIANS'LOST ARMY CORPS FRAGMENTS FIGHTING THEIR WAY BACK. . TI qi . ~ „ London, February 26. ■. J.hc Daily telegraph s Petrograd correspondent reports that Russian military leaders expect that a considerable part of the Russian Twentieth Army Corps will succeed in fighting its way out of East Prussia and rejoin the main fo'-op- Their hopes are based on tho continual arrival of small detachments, which uavo extricated themselves from the labyrinths of tho Augustowo forest. • Reports indicate that tho German losses were greater than tho Russian. THE CAMPAIGN IN THE CAUCASUS (Rec. February 28, 5.5 p.m.) , - neu-flijratl, February 87. Ofhcial.—"We havo advanced m tha Trans Gitotok region."-

THE TACTICS OF A CAGED BEAST. (K-eo. February 27, 6.p.m.) London, February 26. The "Times," in a remarks that when a great military Power like Germany is reduced to making bull-rushes alternately in the East and in the West—which may Be impressive while they progress, but never reach anywhere—"we can or.ly think of one parallel, something in a cage, the bars of which may sometimes bend under pressure, but the cage remains unbroken." —("Times" And Sydney "Sun" Services.) The Paris "Journal's" correspondent declares that the Germans lost fifty thousand men in attacking the Russian positions on the Rawka. River. He adds: "The Germans are being gradually and implacably worn down. Whether they attack or merely defend, their armies melt away. Their feverish activity and frightful sacrifices of life show that they realise that they are fighting against time." BULGARIAN PROTEST TO RUSSIA London. February 26. Bulgaria haß protested to Russia against the mining of the Danube.