GENERAL WAR NEWS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 54, 2 November 1915, Page 3

GENERAL WAR NEWS

United Puess Association. London, October 31. The Indian Government announces the termination of the British occupation of Bush ire, the Persian Government guaranteeing the security of British interests. The Frankfurt Gazette says that .Bulgaria is ready to cede all Eastern Macedonia to Greece, and Turkey will recognise Greek rights in the islands annexed in the Aegean Sea. German naval experts are anxiously paying attention as to how In heat off British submarines in the Baltic. They admit that the situation is bristling with difficulties, and. that they are unable to take defensive measures because of the proximity to the Swedish and Danish coasts. Copenhagen reports that Sweden has prohibited the export of resin and soap to Germany, and proposes to prohibit pork and bacon. Norway is acting similarly. A French wireless message states states that an explosion at Brest Litovsk killed two thousand Germans. It is noticeable that explosions are very frequent in German powder factories. The Cubcland munition factory at llenisdorf was blown up and three hundred people were killed, while a factory at Coswig was af*o blown up, 218 being killed and hundreds wounded. The German press are discreetly silent. The Echo do Beige states that Count Joseph Hempainne, who was of a wellknown Catholic family, was hurriedly executed, tin 1 Germans fearing the Pope’s intervention. New York reports fresh GermanAmerican press peace “kite-fliers.’ The Kaiser is alleged to be offering Russia fantastic terms, including Constantinople, for a seperate peace. The Times’ Washington correspondent says that Air Roosevelt, in a magazine article on “America’s Unpreparedness,” says : England affoids a lamentable example of the punishment befalling a- nation not taking its duties seriously. Her navy and soldiers are admirable, but the nation as a whole compares disadvanlageously with the French. After a year of war wealthy England has failed in her duty. Her army is inadequate and her home factories have utterly failed in adequately supplying the ai til Fry with munitions. London November 1.

The now British stool helmet is proving a success. Tt prevents wounds from hand grenades, shell splinters, and shrapnel. In one section of the trenches in the West the helmets saved thirty men. They are worn over the Balaclavas, and the men resemble Crusaders. 'An article in the Weekly Despatch says that after the Snvla landing hours were wasted when minutes were precious. The passion for drill was indulged in to the utmost, trenches were dug in useless positions, and the night marches were a muddle. The British reinforcements failed to hold Sari Bahr, which one-tenth of the number of An/.ac forces had held previously, because the new troops had never been trained for such fighting as that on Gallipoli. Xb single scapegoat can be made. Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Britain, have a consuming' desire to know who is jointly responsible with the Snvla general. , i'llord Milner, speaking at Canterbury, defended criticism ol the Government. Xo task is more obvious, he said. If we gloss over mistakes, like, say, the blunder piled upon blunder at the Dardanelles, we cannot expect improvement. Air Ashmead Bartlett, describing the German submarines’ work in the Dardanelles, says that one ol their first fruits was the Albion, which ran ashore. The enemy directed a heavy gunfire on her and shrapnel was bursting all round. The Canopus went to the rescue and finally towed off the Albion, which was hit two hundred times by shrapnel and common shell. The men on the Swiftshire arranged a sweepstake lor sighting periscopes. The fourteen-pounders were ready day and night at one moment’s notice. One day a submarine appeared about three hundred yards off the port how. The Swiftsnre gunners fired and she disappeared, ft was thought the submarine was trying to force an entrance to the Dardanelles and came up blindIv among our ships. When the alarm was given the destroyers were immediately' alert, and if by magic every battleship and transport weighed anchor and steamed at full speed away. When the Swiftsnre signalman announced that the Triumph, was listing we rushed to the quarter-deck, and while’our guns were bombarding the Turks, and theirs leisurely responding, we watched the dying struggles in silence. Tt suddenly seemed a weary.

hopeless light against invisible forces. Eight minutes after the Triumph was struck she turned turtle, floated for half an hour, and then plunged and disappea red. Berlin, October .‘ll. The Kaiser, in reply to the Prussian Cabinet’s congratulatory telegram on the live hundredth anniversary ol the' Hohenzollern reign at Brandenburg, said: With God’s guidance our history during the past half of the millennium has been wonderful. Across depths and heights my house has been raised from an electoral hat to an imperial crown, from the small mark ol Brandenburg to the centre of an empire whose strength has been so brilliantly proA - ed towards friend and foe. In the present war of nations, the greatest oi all times, I, with full humility, acknowledge with the German people that thus far the Lord lias helped ns. May He continue to assist and guide ni.\ people, who, with its princes and free towns, hold together, united and imperturbable, ready for all sacrifices through dark days and severe affliction to the bright sunlight of peace, to a now and vigorous work, to the road destined by Divine Providence. New York. November 1.

A report from Berlin states that the cold weather and the first fall of snow have killed the premature hopes of those excessively optimistic Germans who have been talking of peace by Christmas, or saying that the war .would not last another winter. There is a strong feeling, which is shared in well-informed circles, that the turning point of the war has passed, and that the Balkan campaign is bringing peace appreciably closer. The Tagehlatt says that the German people are still far from peace, and it is still less possible to-day to sec in what form peace can come. For this and other reasons there is no use m discussing what the responsible factors mav he. hut the Reichstag must not bo passed over or even reduced. Li the second place the German people, after their immense burdens, have more than merely a written right to throw the whole weight of their will into the scales through then- chosen representatives. New York, October 31.

A Berlin official message states that the French captured a German salient trench north of, De Mesnd. London. Xovember 1. The Daily Chronicle says that as a result of General .Toffre’s visit there will he comprehensive action. Xew armies will he organised winch may result in a check to the enemy equal to that of the Marne, New York. November 1. That there are indications of powerful influences behind the German plotters is shown by the ease they raised twenty-five thousand dollars lor had.