ENEMY BAULKED ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2671, 18 January 1916, Page 5

ENEMY BAULKED ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT

CASUALTIES REACH 200,000 RUSSIANS RETAIN THE INITIATIVE By Telegraph-; Press Association—Oopyrishi Petrograd, January 16. The Austro-Germaii losses in the recent Russian advanoe on the tout-hern front wore nearly two hundred thousand. The offensive, though momentarily suspended, hampers and baulks the Germans, who .are tied down, and are aware that the Russians are able to strike again, and even with greater effect, when the moment is opportune. . ,A singular feature of the fighting at Czernovitz was that when the German regiments became panic-stricken and began to run the Austrian artillery, reversing the process to which , the Germans often resorted earlier in the war, directed their fire on to the spiko-helmeted fugitives, but the Germans feared the Russians more, and the artillery failed to stop the rout. HIGH COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. ' The High Commissioner reports: — > , , , proton, January 16, 12.35 a.m. A paragraph from Petrograd states that the situation on the eastern front is unchanged." TSAR THANKS HIS ARMIES. m, m 1 it. 1 ■ Petrograd, January 16. The Tsar, in a message to the troops, says: "In the hard struggle against an enemy strong in numbers and rich in resources, my soldiers have harassed and checked him, their breasts forming an invincible protecting shield to the Fatherland. Whatever pains and victims it will oost we must be victorious. I enter the new year with unshakable resolution." ' STUBBORN BATTLE IN BESSARABIA AUSTRIANS CLAIM SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE. t t ™ Amsterdam, January 16. An Austrian communique states: rh 6 most stubborn battle yet fought in the Bessarabian frontier region is in progress at Tororatz, east of Retrancze. The tenacious enemy advanced yesterday four, six, and fourteen deep They were everywhere repulsed. We maintained all our positions. There were over a thousand dead Russians before one of our brigades. We captured 154 guns and 10,000 rifles. STORY OF THE GREAT CHRISTMAS BATTLE AWFUL INFERNO OF SHELL-FIRE. (Rec. January 17, 8.5 p.m.) The "Daily Telegraph's" Petrograd correspondent reports that'Yhe Russians opened a stupendous battle in balicia at Christmas. "The cannonade becamo a continuous roar, and after a day the enemy left their first-line trenches, where the Russian shells were bursting liko a .shower of hailstones The Germans had five rows or wire emtanglemonts, and this area and the defences at Strypa were transformed into pits and hillocks—a scene of devas tation, littered with splintered posts, tangled wire, and mangled bodies of Austrians. "The intensity of the bombardment was without precedent. Manv were buried by the fountains of eartli which were thrown up by the explosions More were deafened, while the nerves of others were so shattered that they are practically imbeciles. "W|i«n th« filing hfld dntte their work, the «.««!«» tofad fof, ward. Many of the Austrian!, frantically waved their btodkerchiefs as a aicUal of aurreaasr.

~ , The Russian guns at Czernowitz pulverised the Austrian fortifications, winch nad been built three weeks before. Among the prisoners were thirty bermaus who had been supervising the Austrian machine-guns entrenchment sections. During the battle the roads to Czernowitz were choked with trains or Austrian wounded, many of whom died owing to their heing left in the open streets for hours m the bitter weather. Ihe lull on the southern front is due. to a rapid thaw which set in, converting the country-side into a waste of mud, rendering the transport of artillery impossible, and 1 the movements of the infantry difficult."