Great battle raging

Huge forces at grips

Final effort to take Ypres

There is reason to believe that the battle now reported to be raging between the Yser and the Lys is on a great scale. A telegram that we have received states that the fighting is of a more severe character than any previous fighting and if that is so its is of a magnitude and importance difficult to over estimate.

It is apparently the outcome of a coincident offensive, the Germans making their final attempt to capture Ypres as their penultimate objective, and the allies largely composed of British, setting forth upon the agreeable but deadly serious adventure of an advance in force.

Great numbers are engaged the telegram states that 120,000 Germans have been sent to Ypres an that the garrisons in Flanders have been reduced to reinforce the troops at the front .

At the moment of writing no further details have come to hand and it is not expected to have additional information for some time. Of other news, perhaps the most interesting is that following the example of the Csar, the King has gone to the front.

His Majesty travelled to France on Sunday night on a visit to the general headquarters of the British Expeditionary Forces.

While nothing of a conclusive character came to hand yesterday from the Eastern theatre of war, the news the news from the Western side was again concerned with affairs of detail.

In Belgium the Germans remain on the defensive and while the artillery work has weakened the allies have made progress in certain directions.

The allies position at Fay has been strengthened and the enemy have shelled Soissons while attacks upon the village of Bagatelle were repulsed.

The situation in the west according to the German war news is not as clear as in the East,where, by the way, to English eyes, it seems particularly obscure, but we are told that the Germans are gaining ground.

Apparently the Germans are still endeavouring to extricate themselves from the Russian armies between the Vistula and the Warte.

It is stated that Russian cavalry are pursuing the enemy who are abandoning wounded and ammunition. Further south the Russians are rapidly nearing Cracow.

Attention is specifically drawn to the general staff communique which confirms the story of a great haul of Austrian prisoners.

News from the enemy’s side claims further victories and adds that the German successes seem to have definitely removed the danger of invasion of German provinces while further south the Austrians are co operating to good effect.

A chatty letter from the eye witness with the British forces shows by how narrow a margin the Prussian Guard failed to break through the defending line during their recent onslaught and says that the enemy desisted from attacks in force. The fighting has resolved into sniping and small affairs of outpost with rifles, hand grenades and bombs.