Eastern News

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 87, 15 April 1915, Page 5

Eastern News

CARPATHIANS CAMPAIGN.

United Press Association. Petrograd, April 14. Official: The battle of the Carpathians on the 11th and 12th developed with great intensity between Bartfeld and Stry. We progressed on both hanks of the Ondova, south of Stropko, and captured several heights northeast of Helepoich. We gained a victory in the direction of Uszok Pass, where the extremely desperate fight resulted in the capture of the heights around the village of Bukoftz, Beneff, and Yyssokonijy, the Russians taking 2700 prisoners and capturing twenty machine-guns. The enemy delivered impetuous attacks in great strength on the heights south of Yolossate, but all were repulsed with enormous losses.

The enemy made furious attacks in torrential rain and impenetrable darkness in Bukovina along one extensive front iu the direction of Lalestickiki. The Russian infantry have been using the bayonet throughout successfully. We repulsed several attacks west of the Xiemen.

EFFECTIVE ARTILLERY WORK IN THE SNOW. PLIGHT OF THE AUSTRIANS. London, April 14. Telegrams from Petrograd attribute the Russian success to brilliant artillery work. Single guns were wa'rped along the mountain paths by hand. Again and again the artillery corps did brilliant service, firing grape, and risking capture by going ahead with the infantry.

Tt was impossible to hide the movements of the troops, the faintest disturbance on the even surface of the snow catching the sunlight and being visible for miles. The nights were never really dark, and on the snowclad heights many unconventional methods of fighting were resorted to. The Russians are building snow shelters, rifle-proof, enabling them to keep warm in the worst weather. A feature of the fighting has been the frequency and intensity of blizzards. Both sides attempted to steal small advantage in the storms, sometimes at hedvy 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 waggons into the abyss, whose edges are masked with snow.

The Austrian's admit that dysentery and typhus are rampant. Many of the troops i« the mountains are surrendering from hunger and exhaustion. They are in piteous condition, so enfeebled that the Russians are obliged to provide staves/to enable them to walk.

The chief Austro-Hungarian danger at present is the likelihood of the Russians seizing the lower sections of the valleys where the defiles converge on the river, thus making it impossible for the defenders of the passes to escape. The Austriims captured hill 992, north of Tucholka Pass, but this is regarded as an isolated episode. The counter-attack at Stry forced the Russians temporarily to suspend their advance on Roumania.

AUSTRIA'S DEEP CONCERN. United Pbehs Association. (Received 8.50 a.m.) Rome, April 14. A German concentration in the Carpathians has been, held, and Austrians watched it with deep concern. If Russia sweeps into Hungary it is expected that Austria will sue for peace. DISPOSITION OF ENEMY'S FORCES. (Received 8.15 a.m.) Petrograd, April 14. It is estimated that Austro-Germans have 1,250,000 troops in the Carpathians. General Weirsch, a German, is between Cracow and Moscow, General Eugene is between the Duratz river and Bartfeld. General Boierovitch is opposite to Mezolaborcy in the Bemermoli Valley. General Lintzerger is at Beskid Pass ,and General Flauzer is on the extreme right.