Russian Campaign

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 224, 1 March 1915, Page 5

Russian Campaign

GERMAN ADVANCE STOPPED, RETIRING ALONG THE POLISH FRONT. ENORMOUS LOSSES BY THE ENEMY. Press Association.—Extraordinary. Received 27, 4.55 p.m. l'trograd, February 20.

Official: A most important victory was secured at Prasasnyz. The Germans are shattered, and retreating. Received 28, 5.5 p.m. Petrograd, February 28.

Official: The enemy's losses in the Przasnysz region were very great. They were shattered by rifle fire and bayonet charges, well supported by armoured motor cars. The latter poured a machine-gun fire into the Germans at close quarters, and the enemy is retiring along the whole of this front. We captured on Wednesday anl Thursday thirty officers, twenty-six hundred inen, seven guns, eleven machine-guns, and a huge quantity of of equipment and commissariat. We advanced in the Transchovok region oil Wednesday with great success, and threw back the Germans who had crossed the Niemen. There was obstinate fighting north cf Grodno, where villages changed hands several times. German siege artillery have begun to bombard Osowice. We repulsed th ( . Germans between Robo and Edvalmo inflicting enormous kisses.

ENEMY'S FLANKING MOVEMENTS FOILED. Petrograd, February 20. The battle on the Niemen, Bohr, Narew, Vistula front, is developing into one of the greatest of the war. Aviators report that the Germans are pairing reinforcements from all their sections. Russian motor-cars near Przasnys/, did splendid service, in several instances foiling the enemy's flanjeing movements.

There was hemic fighting In the Mlawa district, between the railway and Orzye river, where a large German force repeatedly attacked a village of great strategic importance. The Russians retained the village, but only sixty defenders were not wounded. ' London, February 2G. The Daily Telegraph's Petrograd correspondent reports that the Russian military leaders expect a considerable part of the Russian 20th Army Corps will succeed in fighting its way out of East Prussia, and will rejoin the main force. Their hopes are based on the continual arrival of small detachments, which have extricated themselves from the labyrinths of the forest. Reports indicate that the German losses were greater than those of the Russians, A correspondent of the Journal des Debats declares that tile Germans lost SO,OOO in attacking the Russian positions on the, Rawka river. He adds that the Germans are gradually and implacably being worn down. Whether they attack or merely defend, their armies melt away. Their feverish activity and frightful sacrifice of life show that they realise that they arc fighting against time.

A GERMAN REPORT. Berlin, February 2fi. A wireless message states that in East Prussia the reserves are engaged in stubborn lighting. They stormed Przasnysz, which had been converted into a sort of fort, and took prisoners 10,000 men and twenty cannon,-.