RUSSIA'S TASK.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA'S TASK.

j, .?<■ ■ ———— *MBSiߣ* BATTLE OF BUKOWINA. A SANGUINARY STRUGGLE. „, Peii;ograd, Jan. 9. The battle raging in the Bukowina is the fiercest in this region since the war began. German prisoners declare the cannonade worse than the bombardment on the West front in September. Certainly Russia never poured out such an avalanche of shells. ~ .. "* AUSTRIAN LOSSES. •< 108,558 IN A WEES. ' ■■WjatSsifc!. ' 3 ■ '*W£JC#&- ! ■"** * Bucharest, Jan. 9. There are 800,000 Russians, with 3500 guns, in Bukowina. The Austrian casualties ia a Week totalled 100,000". Bulgarians are hurrying from the Balkans to the Isonzo and inland garrisons. m&- 1 •

PLENTY OF MUNITIONS. GERMANS LINING UP. BIG EVENTS LOOMING. Received Jan. 10, 11.30 p.m. London, Jan. 10^ The Times correspondent at Russian headquarters states that last New Year the whole of 'the Russian army were reduced to cne shot per gun daily, and the present contrast is a matter for the heartiest congratulations. Early in October only thirteen German and two Austrian divisions assembled on the Serbian frontier, and a fortnight ago missing divisions began to reappear. There are now 245 battalions between Kovel and Lemherg, under Archduke Joseph Ferdinand and 250 battalions and | seventy-five squadrons under General Mackensen, in addition to the divisions returning from the Danube. They expect the severest blow from the Russian left flank, and are endeavoring to counter it by striking at our centre and left. The slight frost has hardened the soil, without preventing entrenching, and the Russians are capturing line after line of tho enemy's trenches.

YOUNG AMAZONS. SCHOOLGIRIS IN THE FIRING LIKE. Received Jan. 10, 8.15 p.m. Petrograd, Jan. 9. There are several well-authenticated stories of women serving in the Russian army, and the most extraordinary is that of twelve Moscow schoolgirls." At the beginning of the war the girls purchased uniforms and boarded a troop train. They reached Lemberg, where the soldiers welcomed them as comrades. They concealed their identity, but officers heard of the story and ordered thorn to be sent back, but they pleaded to be allowed to remain, offering to get their hair cut. The regiment passed tujto the Carpathians, the girls sharin ;' all the horrors of war Tare. They ad»iit that sometimes they blubbered when German shells fell, but they add that even the men were afraid. One girl, aged 15, was killed by a shell and others were wounded. One girl was made a corporal and decorated with the Cross of St. George. The girls were finally persuaded to leave the firing-line and go as nurses in the hospitals.