Eastern Campaign

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 9 December 1914, Page 5

Eastern Campaign

I THE GERMAN DEFEAT AND RETREAT. AUSTRIAN'S GET OUT EARLY. TROUBLE BETWEEN GERM4NY AND HUNGARY. GERMANS-ACCUSED OF NEGLECT. Petrograd, December 7. Germans claim to have captured Russians as cabled on Nov. 28, and DecernDor 2 (on INovember 28 the Germans claimed _to have captured 00,000 prisoners, 150 guns and 200 machine guns. On December 2, thc.v said tlicy had taken 12,000 prisoners and 25 guna) which are purely imaginative. Tile Germans care fully conceal their ojvn losse.s, inolud ing 23 guns in a single district. , Witnesses of previous wars state that have never seen such sights as on tno roads after tlie German retreat to Strykow. At some points where we attacked the flank*), the German (lead were piled a metre high. All the inhab itants of the district are now at work burying the dead. Several German divisions, especially the Guards, were so severely tired during their efforts to escape, that they completely disappeared from the fighting line. A military critte in the Bourse Gazette commented on the small percentage of Austrian artillery captured compared with other arms of the service. The ofiicial War Messenger explains that since the second Austrian retreat in Poland, .the Austrian artillery lias invariably withdrawn before the final issue of the battle.

Tile Gazette declares that this amounts to the admission thai the Austrian bc.P;» to retreat before Jjhoy are actually .■located. The jouraal also reports that die large proportion of commissioned catcers anions the Austrian captives, which in a striking contrast to the numof German officers who fall fighting. London, December 7. The Morning Post correspondent's .lis p;u.r'h from Italy deals with the recent visit of Count the Hungarian Premier, to Germany for the purpose of informing the Kp.isvr that lie eould not ti'iarauLee the goodwill and loyalty of Hungary, unless mors attention was paid to Hungarian interests.

The Kaiser was furious and remarked "Open enemies are not always the most dangerous, The egotism of your people is likely to upset tho whole plan of campaign."

Count Tisza stuck to his point, and j three army corps will be sent to defend ( the Hungarian plains and throw back I the Russians across 'the Carpathians, j otherwise the Cabinet will resign. f An editorial article in a leading Op- \ position paper says: "All we can see is that the Premier had a big audience with the German Emperor. We are at his mercy for the safety of our country. The Germans have taken over even oar constitutional rights under the monarchy m if we were without an Emperor and had not raised an army of four.million men for tiie German General Staff to dispose of."

Amsterdam, December 7. Air official message from Berlin states that the Germans have had decisive success in repelling strong forces to the north-west and south-west of Lodz. The result of the battle cannot yet be estimated, owing to the. extensive area. The Russian losses' were very heavy. Petrograd, December 7. The Germans hombarded a madhouse in the outskirts of Lodz. tScores of lunatics jumped from the windows and many were burned to death.

PRINCE JOACHIM IX DANGER. NARROW ESCAPE FROM RUSSIANS. Received 9, 12.20 a.m. Petrograd, December 8. Fighting continues along a ninetymiles front in the Lodz district. An officer narrates that Prince Joachim (a son of the Kaiser) narrowly escaped capture at Brezin. 'When his detachment was defeated, Prince Joachim-jumped on his horse, muffled his head with his cloak to avoid identification, and galloped to the roar. Three German aeroplanes returned to succour the Prince. Russian artillery brought down two. but the third reached Joachim's detachment in the nick oi tin;', and he escaped.