The War News.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 11 December 1914, Page 5

The War News.

% .. FRIDAY mo*&- The NeW Zealand expeditioir W~ ary force has been safely landed in Egypt. The New Zealanders, with the Australian force, will j, assist in the defence of Egypt, || and their training there || .jr before . proceeding to the Conr'. . '• tinent. \lt *s om>ciall.y announced that mL - General Christian De Wet, who M raised a rebel force in South : Africa, has been captured. W^g There are indications of antrial of strength in Belgium. French guns have arrived Yser district. The haioikZr&e'brugee, on the Belgian > coam, where the Germans . are reported to be fitting out submarines, has been so severely damaged as a result of the boms* . bardment by British warships V . that ships and submarines a,re L unable to leave. It is reported from Copenhagen that most of the German warships hitherto at Kiel have been to the North Sea end IT"" of the canal. W SATURDAY r The Belgian towns in German W~ occupation are now garrisoned [ • by the lowest possible number of troops. Ostend is almost deserted and Antwerp is described as " a city of the dead." King George, King Albert, President Poincare, Earl Kitchener, General Joffre, and Sir John French have, met, and inspected "^ the allied troops in Belgium and Qn. in the north of France. King [*> George visited the British trenches, and was accorded an ..... -enthusiastic reception by the : '"' troops. An eye-witness describes the ' last month's operations in r Flanders as one of the most glorious chapters in British a history. The Archbishop of Przemysl says the position of the city is desperate. The soldiers and j*^-" civilian population are suffering ) from hunger. The authorities have lost control, and plundering is rife. A Russian committee is send- ■ ing representatives to the front to inquire into alleged German I atrocities. It is ■j^j^^s'tated that 1000 Russian prisonwere murdered in Austria. MONDAY The French are reported to be 'f making progress towards Altkirk I In Alsace. Swiss, reports German z preparations to resist invasion, ?f such as the mounting of guns in I Colmar, the mining of parts of | Mulhausen, and measures taken 'f to allow of the flooding of the ''U. country in the vicinity of Strashurg. r- Jn Flanders the allies have r made appreciable progress north of the Lys River. The line of I^* the Yser is secure. King George £ has decorated specially deserving :.';-t" officers and men and thanked the army "personally, 'i A Copenhagen report, based on £ an official German statement, gives the average Austro-German \ loss per day since trie war started ' four months ago, as 20,000, or an segregate of 2,400,000. Fierce fighting is proceeding the district north of Lodz. Wt/ "Moscow newspapers assert that only the remnants of the two *■■'' German army corps which were cut off succeeded in escaping. |f .^^ Three new warships have been ML V added to the British nayy —a ISS? Dreadnought of 28,000 tons, built ff for the Chilian Government, and two light cruisers. w ~ ** TUESDAY L Cablegrams from Patrograd l| show that the German armies B/*^ righting', in Poland have, within if WK-* tlTe past week, been heavily reKfe- \, in forced by the withdrawal of. \T ' troops from Belgium and France. m It is stated that in the recent |§r —""**. battle of Lodz the "Germans lost k 160,000 effective men, and that in |f j\\Q coincident operations at f " CzentQQhv/a and Cracow the [ __ Austrian* lost 10,000. HBMMSR,ecerjt reports that the Gerwere concentrating large in Flanders with a view tp; 'making another effort to break W\| through to the const are now ■i • believed to have been a blind to ■'« i-ecefve the allies while large ■ H forces were being transferred Wf'4 ' from the western to the eastern K~/ theatre of war, B^T King Geor-c lias reamed from to London. Ho has conthe Ordei" of Merit on Sir French, and the Order of U^rter on King Albert of

THE WEEK'S SUMMARY.

WEDNESDAYThe artillery duel in the Champagne region,, of which Rheims is the centre, is developing to the allies' advantage. Another desperate effort was made by the enemy on Monday to cross the floods in the Yser region. Powerful motor-boats, fitted with searchlights, and towing a number of rafts, were utilised. The Germans managed to effect a landing, but their further progress was barred by Belgians. A fierce struggle took place in the water, and eventually the Germans were driven back. The Germans claim that they have scored a decisive success at Lodz. Earlier reports of German successes which were issued in Berlin, including statements that 60,000 Russian prisoners and 150 guns were captured on November 27, and 12,000 prisoners and 24 guns were taken on December 6, are ridiculed in Russian official circles.