Eastern News

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 88, 13 August 1915, Page 5

Eastern News

THE CAPTURE OF WARSAW.

United Pbess Association. London, August 12

Mr Stanley Washburn says that the capture of Warsaw undoubtedly represents the greatest German achievement in the war. It would be unfair to magnify the fact that an important citv was.'not lost through defective generalship or inferiority of troops, but the inability of the Russian lOrnpirC? to convert quickly her vast resources of war purposes. “I’ve been in and out of Warsaw constantly »» ] le S ay's, “since the evacuation started-, ’’and 'there has not been Dm slightest confusion or panic. '1 he troops^WArA (.neither demoralised nor discouraged, though they were bitterly disappointed. None wanted peace, and all were saying, ‘We must retake Warsaw, and beat the Gemans.’ If the enemy found anything valuable m the city I’ll be greatly surprised. “The army practically vacated the city on Wednesday night, thus blocking the German hopes of causing a disaster. The Allies can have the satisfaction of knowing that the Russians played the game to practically the last minute, and the last round of shrapnel. Then they retired in per-, fectly good order, leaving to the Germans an. undefended city. The armies throughout the movement acted upon a symmetrical plan, following-; f-he timetable in conjunction tvith, 1 the whole front, taking the maximum toll, from the enemy, and then escaping intact. If the Germans consider, .-shat by capturing Warsaw they have struck a. decisive blow to Russia, they should recollect. that after year of warfare they stand to-day at pr;v rticivljij Ijhc same point at which Napoleon commenced his disastrous campaign. The Russians will gladly light on, indefinnitely, and one feels a greater admiration for them than ever. In their Galician successes they were hue ; in to-dav’s trial they are superb.”

“AN EMPTY HUSK.”

London. August 11.

The Daily, Telegraph's Rotterdam correspondent Atates that, the fjrsl| Geiqnan description of tl|e entry'into Warsaw betray,, the truth that fclie, (Germans .grasped an empty husk. ■Everything of military value was destroyed, leaving .tjuj impression of a gaping emptiness, j

IA ( ‘superior-ranked German offjeer, deWTii()e,s. fhe extraordinary cluwactcq of the fighting, when the Russian rearguard, with indomitable ,courage, were-harassed from Praga. The advancing enemy, motoring into Warsaw. past scorched fields, burned farms, wrecked carts, and fresh graves, were compelled to stop and remove trees the Russians had placed across tile roadways .approaching the .sn)).ur.l»s,.,. rill Qn arriving in the city, the! 'German's found a fortres.4 bf eartherli walls.,’ with! antiquated'deWntVworks.' Endless streams ofj refugees wef'e com- 1 ing out along the loads, watching the Germans marching' in. Ei i, erjv’ l H\Hndoiv' 5 andlfalcorfy was occupied by residents, eager to see the entry ; the jcafyS crowded and shops were 1 operf.

Though the city was calm, a few hundred yards away, on the riverside, the Germans were lying behind the street barriers, hiding in corners and houses, and tiring, across the river where the Russians were entrenched. The machine-guns’ rattle from both sides was occasionally louder than the greeting from the ; heavy guns. Black smoke now rises beyond the river, where the Russians continue their destruction.

Another officer writes that the population did not sleep on Thursday night on account of the loud, explosions. Forts were blown up,, h?nd military buildings and workshops fired. At eleven o’clock in the evening the com trot of the city was given to the civil police, and the troops copuncnccd to cross the bridges in masses. 4,t f A ve o’clock in the morning the bridges were blown up, and at six o’clock an automobile, with two German officers, arrived, followed by six cavajryhien (lancers), decorated with flowers, singing Die Wacht am Rheine. The, higher officers arrived in motor cars' at midday. Russian shells and shrapnel were falling in the town on the third day after the German occupation. The occupation gave one the impression that it was a German town festival day, except that flags were absent. ON TO PETROCRAO. 1 Petrograd. August 12. Civilians are evaluating Dvinsk. and officers m Government institutions are preparing to leave. Count Mehshikiff, in an article In the Xovoe Vremysr, says the true objective of the German offensive is Petrograd. The distance does not offer any insuperable difficulties, and it is necessary to bodily recognise the fact.

POLAND’S NEW KING. London, August 11. Tlie I'Vankfurt Gazette states that Germany and Austria are not in accordance regarding Poland, Germany desires to create some Polish Prince King ol Poland, and Austria desires an Austrian Archduke.

RUSSIAN PROGRESS REPORT

United Press Association

Pefrogrud. August 12

Official; Ou the uight of August 9-10 the Germans persistently attacked, but we annihilated three German battalions. We made one hundred prisoners. Ou the whole ol the Bug front we were reinforced, and are now resisting vigorously. The Germans advancing from Cholm were driven back towards the River Ukeharka. The Austrians in the region of Strylia are using explosive bullets. CIVILIANS KILLED AT PRAGA. Herne., August 12.

During the Russo-German street

lighting at Praga, fifteen civilians were accidentally killed, and two hundred were wounded.