FIERCE BATTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2436, 15 April 1915, Page 5

FIERCE BATTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS

| BRILLIANT ARTILLERY fIGHTING UNSEEN PERILS IN SNOWCLAD HEIGHTS (Rec. April 14, 11.20 p.m.) London, April 14. Telegrams from Petrograd attribute the Russians' success to the brilliant artillery work. vSingle guns-were warped'along mountain paths by hand, and again and again did brilliant service, firing grape shot, and risking capture by going ahead with the infantry. It was impossible tc hide the movements of the-troops, the faintest disturbance of the even surface of the snow catching the sunlight, and being visible miles away. The nights never were really dark on the snow-clad heights, and hence developed imany unconventional methods of. fighting. The Russians built snow-shelters, rifle-proof, enabling them to keep warm in the worst weather. A. feature of the fighting has been the frequency aud intensity of blizzards. Both sides attempted to steal a small advantage during the storms, sometimes at a heavy cost. _ Though a general thaw has set in in Galicia and Poland, the passes are still congested with snow, and a single false step may precipitate men, guns, and wagons into an abyss whose edges are masked by the snow. The Austrians admit that dysentery and typhus are rampant. Many of their troops in the mountains are surrendering from hunger and exhaustion in a piteous condition, and so enfeebled that the Russians have been obliged to provide" staves to enable them to walk. _ _ The chief danger to the Austro-Hunganan armies at present is the likelihood of the Russians seizing the lower sections of the valleys, where defiles converge on a river, thus making it impossible for the defenders of the passes to e rpj^'Y ustr ; anß C aptured Hill 992, north of the Tucholka Pass, but this is regarded as an isolated episode, a counter-attack to • try and force the Russians temporarily to suspend their advance to Hommonna. 1 .. Official.—"The battle in the Carpathians on April 11 and 12 developed with great intensity between Bartfeld and the Stryj. We progressed on both banks of the Ondava, south of Sztropko, and captured several heights north-east of 'i'elepotch. ~ , , _ , , . '(We have gained a victory in the direction of Uzsok, where extremely desperate fighting resulted in the capture of the heights around the villages of Bukoftz, Beneff, and Vyssokonijy, the Russians taking prisoners 2700, and capturing twenty machine ipns. ; . . . . "The enemy delivered impetuous attacks in great strength on the,heights south of Volossate, but all were repulsed with enormous losses. _ "The enemy mado furious attacks in torrential rain . and impenetrable darkness in Bukowina, on an extensive front in the direction of Lalestchiki, the Russian infantry using the bayonet successfully throughout. . "We have repulsed several attacks west of the Niemen." [The High Commissioner's report on the operations in the Carpathians is substantially the same as the official communique.] FIVE AUSTRIAN ARMIES DEFENDING HUNGARY; Petrograd, April 13. The "Bourse Gazette" says that five independent Austrian armies, under Generals Weirach, Boierovitch, Bemerroli. Panazer, and Prince Eugene Frederick, and seven German army corps, under General Lintzingcr, are opposing the Russians in the Carpathians. It is believed the Kaiser is in the rear of the Austro-German lines advising as to the operations. ■ i - '