December 1914

December 1

The siege of Kraków has begun. Already heavy siege guns other Russians are bombarding the organizations and one of the suburbs of the city is reported to be in flames. Dispatches from the front tell the smashing advance other Russian troops through the Austrian territory and the defeat of the Austrian German forces hurled forward to stop their advance. The advances move forward in spite of the intense cold, which is hampered the rapid movement of troops.

On the Western front, there is nothing new to report. The reported retreat of Germans on the Flanders front has not been confirmed, fighting today is the fiercest it's been since the battle began.

Word has been received from Montevideo Uruguay that a big naval battle between British and Japanese Gardens against a German squadron is imminent. Shipping along the South American coast is at a standstill. The two fleets are now in close proximity and engagement will be a decisive one.

December 2

According to reports received from Copenhagen, the majority of German warships assembled at the Kiel Canal have put out to sea and great activity prevails. Work on new submarines is being pushed. All this is believed to be in preparation of a German attack on England if the Germans should take Calais.

Additional news of the great battle in northern Poland continues to be sketchy, and with both sides claiming success, his apostles say how the battle is going. Of its intensity, however, there can be no doubt. Fighting for their very lives, and the knowledge that a great defeat would end the German offensive and compel the Germans to fall back on their own frontiers, the German troops succeeded in breaking through the Russian forces near Lodz, and at other points along the line had been able to hold her entrenchments against all Russian attacks. While the German flanks are still being harassed by the Cossacks, the Russians are now no longer in a position to gain his sweeping victory they anticipated.

The Western front has seen a renewal of German artillery attacks at several points along the Franco-Belgian lines. The Schelling is especially heavy on the Aisne, where the bombardment of French trenches is proceeding without cessation. Many military experts believe the Germans are simply making time in the West, awaiting the outcome other great battle in progress inn Poland.

The eighty-eighth and eighty-ninth list of German casualties has been posted in Berlin, containing the names of 17,689 men killed, wounded and missing. This brings the total of German casualties up to 644,762 since the beginning of the war this summer.

December 3

Although it cannot be said with official authority that the Germans have started as yet of what is believed by many to be the final dash for Calais, the resumption of severe fighting in the western theater war gives color to that belief.

The Kaiser, according to reports, has decreed that the French coast town must be taken by December 10, and recent shifts of the German forces in Flanders and the arrival of heavy reinforcements indicate that an important movement there is underway or imminent.

According to Amsterdam, another British fleet is reported to have put into the North Sea and his line off Ostend.

December 4

All reports agree that a northern Poland the battle is still undecided, and fiercely contested with the Germans making desperate efforts to resume there for a moment in the direction of Warsaw.

The State Department confirmed reports that the United States government has made a formal protest against the dropping of bombs from zeppelins on cities occupied by noncombatants to the various European governments, particularly Germany.

Official explanation by the Turkish Minister of war was made Ambassador Morganthau wherein he expressed regrets that the indifference of the helmsman of the launch of the cruiser Tennessee to two black shots fired from the Turkish ports at Smyrna to warn the boat of mines, made it necessary to fire a third shot.

The American steamship St. Helens, which sailed from New York on November 17 percent of Cisco, arrived at Colon and reported that she had been fired on by the British cruiser Berwick.

December 5

According to dispatchers from the Eastern front reports that Japanese troops are fighting the Russians has been confirmed. Expert Japanese artillerymen are manning some of the big guns in the rush artillery sections. More Japanese troops are reported to be on their way to the Russian front by the way of the trans-Siberian Railway.

I press telegram from Vienna states that a Serbian Cabinet officer has been sent to Petrograd with orders to ask Russia's permission to conclude peace with Austria in the event that Serbia's second line of defense is matched by the Austrian army currently invading Serbia.

December 7

The continuous attacks of Allied forces on the German lines in Belgium and France are beginning to produce results at many points and invaders have begun to retire.

The succession of gains by the Allies, as announced in Paris, has been borne out by official communications from Berlin. The Germans announced that they have been driven from many other lines of trenches by the heavy artillery fire of the Allies. In northern France, where the Allies began a series of onslaughts against the German trenches, the most notable progress has been made. In the region the forces of the Kaiser has slowly but surely been compelled to fall backwards towards her own frontier.

December 8

The French war office does not issue list of losses in the war, but a correspondent estimates that the French loss in dead up to November 10 was something under 100,000 men. The number of wounded and sick soldiers being cared for in French hospitals appear to have been about 400,000.

The Swiss government's Bureau for has the names of 90,000 French prisoners in Germany. Taking these figures together, the total losses of the French army is estimated to be 590,000 men since the beginning of hostilities.

The Balkans are swinging to the Allies. Romania appears ready to enter conflict on the side of the allies but Bulgaria is still holding out.

The Daily Mail correspondent in northern France describes a battle between a zeppelin dirigible balloon and three British aeroplanes, which occurred a few days ago. The zeppelin maneuvered clumsily and was unable to make use of her explosives. Bullets from the airplanes found the balloons and blow, which crumpled up. Both the zeppelin and the aeroplanes returned to their bases.

December 9

A dispatch from Petrograd says it is officially admitted there that the Russian left-wing in Poland is falling back before an attack by the Austria German forces. A subsequent dispatch from Budapest says that the Russians who invaded the Saros-Zemplin district of Hungry or in full retreat and that Austro-Hungarian troops are in full pursuit.

On the Western front, another great battle is raging in Flanders. Both armies have resumed their offensive tactics, but heavy rains and the poor conditions of the road in West Flanders have hampered the movement of troops and artillery.

December 10 (Get dec 10)

London has announced that the German cruiser Nuremberg, one of the warships which escape from English and engagement on December 8, all for Falkland Islands, and the South Atlantic, has been sunk.

December 11

According to a private message from Berlin, the Austrians in their attacks on this Serbian positions outside Belgrade used remarkable engine of war for the first time. The machine is constructed on the principles of the ancient Roman catapult, and throws barrels filled with stones and explosives at a high trajectory into the enemy's positions with terrible effect, the stones being split up into thousands of pieces and hurled over a wide area.

The range of these machines is necessarily small, but for the warfare on the Danube they have proved particularly effective. The message as that numerous transports are coming up the Danube towards Belgrade loaded with empty beer barrels for the new engine.

December 12

The reported routing of the Austrian forces in Serbia, the Borders in which country they crossed triumphantly just two weeks ago, together with the steady advance of the German center in the direction of Warsaw on this, the second German invasion of Russian Poland, dominates the war news.

The Germans have been pushing to the northeast towards Warsaw, along the railroad, and one dispatch from Petrograd estimates that they are only 15 miles from the Polish capital, while another message the Petrograd speculating on the possible fall of Warsaw, warns the Russian people that the abandonment of the city, if such a move becomes necessary should be regarded as a strategic operation on the part of the Russians rather than a decided German victory.

On the Western front, the fortunes of the Germans are quite different. The smashing driving offensive of the allies is progressing at many points along the battle lines in Belgian and France, but the most notable gains have been made in western Flanders.

December 14

The Russian army has effectively checked the German forward movement. The Germans were defeated in a determined effort to capture trenches held by the Czar’s center army and were compelled to give ground before a terrific fire of Russian field guns.

The Kaiser’s commanders committed a strategic blunder in advancing to rapidly, with the result that the Russians achieved a victory of importance through driving a wedge in the German lines, separating two wings of the invading force. This development forced the Germans to halt older columns in that region and to attempt a realignment of their troops to rent the severing of their lines of communication and supply routes.

December 15

A communiqué issued by London states that the Turkish battleship Messudieh has been torpedoed by British submarine. The official statement is as follows: "Sunday, submarine B-11, of the Royal Navy, entered the Dardanelles, and in spite of the typical current dived under five rows of mine and torpedoed the Turkish battleship Messudieh, which was guarding the minefield. Although pursued by gunfire entropy the boats, the B-11 return safely after being submerged, on one occasion, for nine hours. When last seen, the Turkish battleship was thinking by the stern."

Also from London all reports that the French are smashing all resistance on the right wing of the battle line and have crossed into Alsace and are threatening German fortresses defending Strasburg.

December 16

The Serbian army has reentered Belgrade in triumph. The Austrians, who occupy the city for only 12 days, flood across the Danube in great disorder. Serbian territory is now cleared of the enemy accepted two points.

The American Governor of the Panama Canal has requested the Navy sent destroyers to help enforce neutrality in the waters of the Canal Zone, which have recently been the scene of naval battles between the German and combined Japanese and British fleets.

In Chile, an official government communication Stacy the German cruiser Dresden left Santiago Sunday evening. The communiqué added that the British cruiser Bristol arrived on Monday, but left there immediately in pursuit of the German cruiser.

In London, the British government announced that the sinking of the British battleship Bulwark apparently was not due to a hostile act. Investigation has disclosed no evidence of treachery on the part of any person aboard the vessel, or any act by enemy. It is believed that the disaster was the result of the explosion due to the accidental ignition of ammunition onboard. 500 sailors died in the explosion.

In Paris all the streetlamps or extinguish at midnight following reports a to zeppelin dirigible balloons have been sighted heading in the direction of Paris.

December 17

Constantinople reports that the vanguard of Constantinopleen has arrived at the Egyptian border. Constantinople asserts that the uprising of Mohammendan Tribes on the Persian border are growing daily.

Reports from Valparaiso Chile state that the German cruiser Dresden has sunk a British cruiser Bristol that attempted to intercept her when she left that port, and seriously damaged another British cruiser.

Reports from Argentina state that two British warships are pursuing the German cruiser Wresden, which left Punta Arenas on Sunday.

A German fleet slip through the British defenses which I made the coast of England inviolate for centuries and bombarded cities on the Northeast coast. It was the most daring a successful exploit the German Navy has performed in war and all England is much alarmed an excited over the possibility of invasion.

There is reason to believe that the destructor raid was the first strike other great German attack the Germans have been planning for weeks - a rush of the great ships from that Kiel Canal and an attempt to ruin British commerce in the Atlantic before they were smashed by the superior British fleet.

All the German ships which took part in the raid, escaped in the fog, dropping minds behind them for pursuing ships. England is personally would rack and resentment at the attack, it is hoping the raid will be repeated. In anticipation of the other attack, the entire machinery of home defense has been put into motion

December 18

The heaviest idea the war in the East is underway as the Germans again menace Warsaw. The losses on both sides have been exceedingly heavy, and there is no sign of abatement in the fighting. The German "flying wedge" which has been preceding in the southeastern direction has shattered stubborn Russian resistance.

The campaign in Poland is now centered around Warsaw. Fast towards the reinforcements are being rushed to the scene a battle by both sides, and hundreds of thousands and then are engaged. A great deal other fighting has been hand-to-hand bayonet encounters in which the losses our norms. The artillery fire is heavy a continuous, and German Aero planes are constantly hovering over the city.

December 19

The Germans announced the 40,000 Russians having cut off from the main army enter surrounded by German forces. The Russians are said to have been trapped by a daring flanking maneuver, conducted by the German Calvary, who prevented the retreat. Warsaw is said to be panic stricken, and rumors have been circulating in the West that the Polish capital is being evacuated and that the guns of the forts that surround it have been taken away to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Germans.

The German drive, under the leadership a field marshal Von Hindenburg, is beating at the Russian center relentlessly in effort to batter down the last barrier between the invaders and the occupation of Warsaw.

December 21

The offensive operations of the allies in the West are being carried out under conditions of siege warfare there've been stubbornly opposed by the Germans, who in their entrenchments and surrounded by wire entanglements, make in advance of even a few yards a costly a matter for the attacking forces.

The general opinion of allies is that sometime must elapse before the Allies can expect to make any marked progress. Besides being in fortified positions, which could only be taken after having been thoroughly searched out by the artillery, the Germans still have more machine guns then the Allies it has been proved in previous battles these, as long as they can be successfully operated, making infantry attacks to costly to be attempted.

December 22

The latest casualty list issued by Berlin increases the German losses in killed, wounded and missing two 800,000 men. The list covers only part of the month of November and gives news for December. Travelers to reach the Hague declared that the supplies what was the German armies were equipped for war are becoming exhausted. This is particularly true of petrol. They said that Cmdr. of the ninth German army corps at Hamburg has issued a decree limiting the use of petrol and advising the use of alcohol instead.

December 23

The Russian’s claim that the German attack on Warsaw has repulsed and that the Russians have resumed the offensive on the entire front. For 72 hours Russian Germans fought a hand-to-hand battle for the possession of the ruins of Teresin. This was a flourishing little town until the Germans made their first attempt to take were so. Since then it has been captured and recaptured six times. It has been entirely racked by shelves of the opposing army.

Bulgaria has announced that agreement has been reached between Romania and Bulgaria under which Romania restore to Bulgaria the province of Dobrudja and most of the other territory which she acquired from Bulgaria as a result of the second Balkan war. This agreement has been reached without pressure from either Germany where the allies, said an official connectable Bulgarian Ministry. We shall continue to be neutral and believe that Romania, although she has no cause to fear us, also remain neutral. It has been asserted at the fear of Bulgaria alone has prevented Romania from invading Austria in entering the present war on the side of the Allies. "If Greece would return the Macedonian territory she annexed during the second Balkan war in Serbia would restore to us the Macedonian provinces she occupied, despite her agreement of 1912, the Balkan union could be reconstructed." Said the Bulgarian official.

According to reports from Berlin, the German Navy aviator Lieut. Stephen Von Prondzynski, flew over Dover, threw bombs, American ordered the position of the German fleet.

According to reports from Paris a German submarine has been sunk off the French coast in an attack upon the British trip ship. Rumor has it the submarine was destroyed by destroyers after it discharge or torpedo at the transport.

December 26

The Allied drive in the West against the German continues. At many points is progressing, wide other places along the lines, German counterattacks have slowed the advance. According to late dispatches from Paris the allies have captured another German trench and counterattacks of the Kaiser's troops against the French lines in an attempt to recapture that trench met with failure and the invaders were thrown back with heavy losses.

On the heels of the official announcement of a Russian victory west of Warsaw, common advances indicating that one of the fiercest battles of the war is in progress on the long extended battlefront between East Russia and the Carpathians. Military students of the situation construe the engagement as a new German flanking movement designed to affect an entrance into Warsaw by the "backdoor." The Germans appear to be feeling their way four week .in the Russian defenses, but the operations are made more difficult owing to the swampy nature of the valleys

December 28

With dramatic sadness the French have avenge the zeppelin attack on Nancy by sending French airplanes over the enemy's lines to drop bombs on the great German base and fortress of Metz. The French dessert that the air attack on Nancy, where two persons were killed and two injured, was without military reason. The target of the French aviators would successfully reach the German forgers were purely military and consisted of a big aviation hangars there, a military barracks, and a rare workstation where troops are being moved. According to the French are aviators displayed great skill and daring in maneuvering the airplanes from the high altitude at which they had crossed the which allowed them with greater certainty of aim, to drop their bombs on their intended targets.

On the Eastern front, the German forces in Eastern Prussia, heavily reinforced, are moving forward again in an attempt to get to the rear of the Russian army defending the Polish capital. The Russians have fallen back from Easter Russian frontier, which they had crossed the coarsely a few days ago and the advancing Germans have reacted by an important railroad line which runs southeast to Warsaw.

The Germans have been forced backwards over the border into German territory but the strategic railroads in control of the Kaiser's forces enable them to bring a fresh troops, who succeeded in checking and reversing the Russian offensive storm.

December 29

Although the eastern battle zone was swept by a heavy storm and the rainsoaked roads prevented the speedy movement of troops, there was a continuum of the offense of by both armies. Each side claims to have made advances, the Germans capturing of lying about lay trenches, why the Allied forces swept back the invaders in the region which yielded 800 yards of first-line trenches.

On Easter front, the investment by the Russians of the Austrian fortress of Kraków has again been raised. Following the discovery of an attack made by the Austrians to divide the Russian forces in Galicia.

December 30

The Russians report that the Austrian army in northern Galicia is once again in retreat, but the battle between German and Russian forces for Warsaw continues a deadlock, with advances at some points offset by retirements and others.

The Austrian army that press forward after the lifting of the Russian siege at Kraków has been cut in two and crippled and is now in danger of annihilation. Hundreds drivers, overcome by the cold weather and lack of food, are falling back in the retreat that are being made prisoners. The defeat of the Austrian army has thrown into doubt the plans of Field Marshal Hindenburg to take Warsaw in the coming weeks.

From Constantinople, reports that 14 British and French warships are off the western entrance of the Dardanelles. Apprehension was caused in Constantinople by reports that the allied fleet is apparent for another attack against the Turkish forts defending the waterway, with Constantinople as the objective. The statement was issued by Turkish headquarters in Constantinople urging the people to remain calm and give an assurance that the Dardanelles cannot be forced. Is reported that a fleet of French and British transports has joined the warships were troops for the invasion of Turkish soil as soon as the landing can be effective.

December 31

In the western arena of the war the Allies continue to claim slow progress, but the offense, start about the middle of December, has slackened. Even some of the British newspapers call attention to the marked decrease in the vigor of the French, Belgian and British trust at the German line, but they add that the reason for this quite soon will be disclosed.

In admission of an Austrian defeat in the Carpathian Mountains was issued by the Austrian government in official communiqué, which states: "the Russian army, what a week ago began an offensive campaign against our forces which have crossed the Carpathians, has been reinforced to such an extent that was made necessary for a withdrawal our Eastern front from the plain of Galica.

The Russians meanwhile, claimed that of the five Austro-Hungarian armies in the field, one has been put out of action by the Serbians, two others are retreating or Carpathians, and the remaining to will soon be compelled to seek safety in the fortress at Kraków.

Meanwhile, the Germans have claimed that they have driven the Russian Calvary out of East Prussia and that their advance on Warsaw continues unchecked.

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