The War News.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 21 August 1914, Page 5

The War News.

A WEEK'S SUMMARY.

SATURDAY The French Government has decided . to guarantee the insurance of ships where the war risk has been paid. Thenews that the British forces have combined with the French and Belgians is officially^ confirmed. The Germans round Liege are piling their dead in heaps, and, after a short funeral service, cremating them. In an engagement 10 miles north of Namur, the Germans were repulsed with heavy loss by the Belgians. Both France and Britain have formally •» - announced war with Austria. The Russians have driven Austrians out of Sokal, an important frontier post in Galicia. The Germans are fortifying their positions in Russian Poland, and have destroyed the fords across the Wartu River. An entire Austrian cavalry brigade has been exterminated by Cossacks and artillery on the Russian frontier. Germany is said to have offered Savoy, Nice, Corsica, and Tunis to Italy as the price of her participation in hostilities . against the Triple Entente. Italy says •' No." Evidence of acts of German brutality in Belgium is being collected. Reports state that children have been shot and women grossly insulted, Barbarious acts on the part of Austrians are also reported. The boast of the Kaiser that the forts of Liege would fall without the loss of a single life as soon as the heavy siege guns were brought up has not been realised. A vigorous attack\was opened but the German artillery was all destroyed by the accurate firing from the Liege forts, all of which remain intact. The police have arrested all Germans who were in service at the hotels in Dublin, and also those along the coast. On one of those arrested plans of Dublin Bay were discovered. Two Germans caught liberating pigeons carrying messages to Germany | were shot down. i MONDAY | i It is re-asserted that Austria is despatching large supports for Germany's left wing, besides concentrating forces in Galicia. The army operating against Servia has been much reduced. It is estimated that half-a-million French troops are massed in Alsace. | The French have had the best of j numerous outpost encounters. ; The Germans have burnt many farms i in Belgium during their retreat from advanced positions. - """ in aifn1 J that the French will ! assume the offensive in KibiiZZ,-^.}^ he I object of sweeping the lost province.^ clear of Germans. | A daring French aviator succeeded in j destroying one of Germany's valuable, Zeppelins. j The Germans made an attempt to rush j one of the Liege forts in the darkness j but were mowed down by Belgian guns. I It is reported that the German com- ! mander at Liege has been killed. j An official communique has been issued preparing the public for the recep- x tion of news of a great battle which is declared to be imminent. All rumours of returned wounded and British ships disabled are baseless. France has issued an ultimatum to Holland, warning her to refuse refuge to Germans, or to be prepared for a declaration of war. The Belgians have taken over two thousand German prisoners, and fifteen j hundred have been captured by the French. In addition, many Germans are deserting and seeking refuge in Switzerland. Two well-known Socialist leaders have been shot in Berlin, where a practical state of revolution is reported to exist, owing to the shortage of food, and where the people are being gulled by false reports in the papers. Russia has mobilised 2,000,000 trotfps cm the German frontier and the sa^me number on the Austrian frontier, besides 500,000 on the Turkish, and 500,000 on the Roumanian frontiers, AH are ready to act. The enemy's offensive move- - """ -ment has been momentarily arrested. TUESDAY The Germans are being greatly inconvjnienced by the scarcity of horses, so many having been killed or captured by ths Belgians. The French took the offensive in force on Friday night along a line.of 25 miles from Saarburg, in Southern Lorraine, to Lunevaille. The French force, which was already established in the South of Alsace, has pressed forward and forced the Germans to fall back. The only condition reserved by the Tsar in his promise of integrity to Poland is the right to appoint a viceroy, The Germans occupied Dinant, south gf Namur, on Saturday morning, but were expelled later by the French, who decimated the enemy's* force. The German press is asserting that the British fleet dare not approach the German coast, since the sinking of the Amphion, for fear of submarines. The liner Lorraine arrived at Havre with 450 French reservists, after having been chased off the American coast by the cruiser Dresden, and having eludtd, two other warships;

The Japanese news bureau in New York issues a statement from Tokio that Japan intends to uphold her treaty obligations to Great Britain at all costs. Scores of British subjects and tourists have been compulsorily detained in Germany, whilst many have been arrested and imprisoned in Austria. Japan has issued an ultimatum to Germany demanding the evacuation of Kiau-Chau, and the withdrawal of German warships, by September 15. Japan promises the restoration of Kiau-Chau to China. According to the Rome correspondent of the New York Herald, 200,000 Italians are concentrating at the various places near Lake Lugano. The port of Venice has been mined, and the defences of Brindisi have been strengthened. A semi-official report states that on Sunday French warships sank two Austrian warships near Budua, one of Austria's ports in the Adriatic. A third was ignited by the French shells, and a fourth fled into Cattaro, the principal port owned by Austria in Dalmatia. WEDNESDAY The Austrians have been completely routed in the mountains near Shabats. 60 miles west of Belgrade. The enemy was put to flight and attempted to recross the rivers Save and Drina. Fifteen thousand of the enemy's troops were killed and 14 guns captured. The general advance of the Russian Army began on Sunday, a week earlier than was supposed possible. The cavalry is new everywhere in close touch with the enemy. Russian forces- have crossed the frontier of East Prussia, near' Memel, in the extreme north-east of the German Empire, and have captured Insterburg, 40 miles from the frontier. So rapid has been the mobilisation of the French that there were 1,250,000 field troops at their posts on Wednesday last, in addition to the troops in the garrisons. The military correspondent of the Times predicts that the impending big battle will not b^ fought for a week, and that the first heavy fighting may be expected at Ramillies. The German fleet is bottled up in its ports, whilst that of Austria has retired to its headquarters at Pola, where it has been secured behind mine-fields and the destroyer flotilla. A noticeable feature of the situation in St. Petersburg is the absence of the revolutionary element. The crowds thronging the streets are swayed entirely by patriotism. The Tsar is more popular than he has ever been. Crowds wait outside the newspaper offices and cheer the latest news. The people of Berlin are isolated frorn^ TnlS World. ~No mails~Havel3een received in the city during the past fortnight. The Kaiser is personally dictating the war news and articles published in the Berlin newspapers. They have tardily admitted that there was no truth in their former assertion that the Liege forts had been taken. " The seas are free to British mere hantmen, while the commercial flag of Germany is no longer afloat," is the 'text of a message from the naval correspondent of the London Times. THURSDAY The British expeditionary force, to assist the France and Belgian armies in the r campaign against the German invasion, was sent across the Channel on Friday night, but, in accordance with the request of the War Office, no publicity was given to the transportation until to-day. The arrangements for the dispatch of the force were so thoroughly made that no hitch marred the passage of the t.'oops across the Channel. The men were mobilised at the Horaa stations, concentrated at Aldershot, and thence conveyed to Dover by troop trains. Here they were embarked on the transports, which slipped quietly away to the French coast, the main body heing landed at Calais, and subsidiary forces at other ports along the Channel coast The embarkation, transportation, and debarkation of the men and stores were carried out with the greatest precision and without a single casualty. FRIDAY A fierce battle proceeding in Belgium, where the German Army is seeking to envelope the left wing of the defending forces, in order to crumple the resistance by an enfilading advance. Further South the French achieved a notable success' at Dinant, where, in a fierce engagement, they foiled a German attempt to cross the Meuse. T\\e British troops w.bo landed in France on Friday, have entrained for the front, but their destination not to be made known. In the Southern fighting area the advantage still lies with France, Germany having been di-ivwi from a number of points, including the important centre of Saarsburg. It is reported that a British destroyer flotilla got into touch with a German cruiser, but the encounter proved bloodI less, the German getting away in a haze. The Russians have driven back both the Germans and the Austrians on their frontiers, and have checked the enemys' forward movement. The Czar and his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, have ■ j to the front.