Page
THE WAR.
BATTLE OF VERDUN.
GERMANS CONCENTRATING FOR ANOTHER BLOW.
300.000 MASSED ON NARROW FRONT.
RUSSIANS STILL DRIVING TURKS.
ZEPPELIN RAID ON ENGLAND: MANY CASUALTIES.
TURKEY DESIRES PEACE.
GERMAN INTRIGUE IN CHINA: AN OMINOUS DISCOVERY AT SHANGHAI,
FRANCO-BELGIAN FRONT
- ĮTARONGT, REUTER'S AGENCY.} SOLID MASS OF DEFENCES. REGIMENT AFTER REGIMENT WRECKED.
PARIS, March 6th, 2:13 p..
[THSCCOR RECTAR'8" SOENCY.]
THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8ră, 1915.
300,000 GERMANS ON NARROW
FRONT.
PARIS, March 7th,
12.25 p..
The Germans have accumulated 300.000 mer on a narrow frant for the second
The line on which the French are so bril liantly holding up the Germans is the first phase of the battle of Verdun
of three lines covering Verdun,
It starts from Vacher-nu-Villo and
crosses the Poivre crest, the Douaumont "plateau and the villages of Vaux and Dam- loup, forming practically a rectangle, aver seven kilometres deep.
The Germans have wrecked. regiment after regiment on this solid mass of de-
tonces. VIOLENT BOMBARDMENT ON THE MEUSE.
PARIS, March 6th.
3.30 p.m An official message says:We bombard- ed important points in Argonne
There has been no infantry action north- of Verdun, but there has been a violent bombardment on the left bank of the Mouse, together with an intermittent action at Douaumont,
SIGNIFICANT GERMAN
ADMISSION
AMSTERDAM, March 8th.
A Berlin communiqué admits the evacna- tion of a portion of the ground won at Thiaville "before the massed encircling fire of the enemy."
LORD NORTHCLIFFE AT VERDUN.
INTERESTING REVIEW OF THE BATTLE.
LONDON, March 7th. Lord Northcliffe, who has been an a risit to Verdun, in a striking review of the battle in the Times, states that the French losses were insignificant, whereas it is known that the German third and We bombarded the enemy's communica eighteenth Carps were entirely spent. The
tions in Wecyre;
MUTUAL MINE SPRINGING.
PARIS, March 6th. 4.20 p.m. A communique states: Last night we sprang a mine north-east of Vermelles. To-day the enemy sprang a mine near the- Hohenzollern redoubt, but no attack fol lowed, and we had no casualties.
The artillery has been mutually active about Albert, Hulluch and Ypres,
GERMAN ATTACK IN CHAMPAGNEZ. we
PRECEDED BY JETS OF LIQUID FIBE
PARIS, March 7th. £20 a.m.
A communiqué stutes:-The Germans in Champagne delivered an attack, which was preceded by jets of liquid fire, against our
seventh Reserve Corps lost. half, and the fifteenth Corps tree-quarters of their available strengths by the evening of the 3rd inst. There were likewise spent port. of the 113th Division, the fifth Reserve Corps, and a Bavarian and Ersatz Division.
(THROCOR REUTER'S AGENOT.)
TURKEY DESIRES PEACE-
TALAAT BEY INITIATES NEGOTIATIONS.
PARIS, March 6th. According to the official daily review, it
THROUGH REUTER'S AGENUT.] GERMAN INTRIGUE IN CHINA. SHELLS FOUND IN WELL AT SHANGHAL
SHANGHAI, March, 6th, On the French Concession the polic: found in a well, on the premises of a
NAPIER PAPERS. TALES TO DISCREDIT ALLIED OFFICIALS IN ATHENS,
A section of the Athens press has been full of excitement,
When Colonel Napier and Captain Wil- son were taken from the Greek steamer
ia reported that. Turkey is considering German, eight cases of Hotchkiss shells of y's hands. What purport to be copies;
peace negotiations, on the initiative ef Talaat Bay,
(THROTCH REUTER'S/ AGLEDEN.] THE MAGNIFICENT FRENCH, STORY BY AN EYE-WITNESS
LONDON, March 7th. Mr. Warner Allen, describing the opera
tions
a Verdun, says that despite the con- stant bombardment the damage to the town is comparitively small The enemy aims especially at the gates, hoping to catch the actorilorries, He watched twenty, thirty-six and eight inch shells explode in an uncomfortably email radius. but the insouciance of the French troops along, that sholled rond was a marvellous testimony to the strength of their nerves. The German advance, nt such tremendous cost, represents almost zero, and from n A Saloniks telegram states that a great strategic point of view they are no nearer utiny is reported from Smyrna, owing to Verdun than they were in January 1015 the hardships being suffered by the troops They have only regained the ground whichd thair hostility to the Germans.
the French took between January and April last year. Never have the French troops fought in a more magnifiąonė man. er than during the grim relirements. Two Divisions held up two German Army Corps for several hours, and the enemy paid for every yard ́s hundred-fold. In a state of utter fatigue on the third day when, under a storm of shell, a few con- ways were coaching advanced positions, the men fought on dogged's, without food and without drink.
RÚSSIAN: FRUNT,
||TRBOUGH EBUTER'S AGENCY.]
BUSSIANS BOMBARD
TREBIZOND.
SEVERAL ENEMY VESSELS
DESTROYED. '
PETROGRAD, March 6th. Russian destroyers bombarded Trebizond and destroyed several vessels in the har bour. The Turkish batteries replied, but
without avail.
RUSSIANS LAND AT ATINA.
AND FORCE TURKS TO EVACUATE
POSITIONS.
PETROGRAD, March 6th.
ENVOYS SENT TO SWITZERLAND.
ROME, March 6th. The Corriep Della Sera says that two Turkish Envoys have been sent to Switzer land to negotiate with the Allies.
GREAT MUTINY AT SMYRNA.
LONDON, March 6th.
THE ZEPPELIN RAID ON
ENGLAND.
THREE AIRSHIPS DROP 46 BOMBS:
MANY CASUALTIES.
LONDON, March 6th. An official statement siya:--It is believed that three Zeppelins participated in last night's raid, and that they look various courses, appareatly uncertain as to their
aringa.
The area visited included Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Ruland, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk. Essex and Kcut.
About forby bombs wage dropped. Three men, four weer, and five children were killed, and thirty-three persons injured
The material damage consisted of two | terraces destroyed, and one office, a public house, a cafe, several shops and a block of almashouses damaged.
CRISIH AT CONSTANTINOPLE:
CONSIDERABLE ANTI-GERMAN
FEELING,
ATHENS, March 7th,
a size useful for arming merchantmen.
This German was recently prominent in connection with the seizure of a large con- signment of small arms destined for India.
Other discoveries are anticipated. ⠀
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
Spetsia and made prisoners by a German or Austrian submarino some dispatches which they were carrying lell into the one- of a aquber of these documents, private as well as officia); "culled at random," aro first instalment of what-tho published press describes us "souзntional revela- tions." More are promised.
They hear evidence of having been care- fully prepared and edited for Greek con sumption under the able auspices of the German Press Bureau.
The only document of the whole present
CHINESE TELEGRAMS.sories which can at all he said to be an thontio is a, dispatch from the British Minister at Athens to the Foreign Office. It contains a resume of the political situa tion at the time of writing, and encloses neopy of, one of the many joint Allied Notes presented to the Greek Government At the moment of the presentation of the Allied demands,
THE REBELLION,
LOYALISTS ROUTING THE INSURGENTS,
Pextso, March 6th.
An official announcement states that the Kwangtung troops on the 2nd inst, occupi ed Pok-yi, o the western border of Kwangsi. after stubborn fighting. rebel casualtics were heavy.
The loyalista lost twenty,
Another official announcement
The
states
that the Loya'ists attacked the rebels at Kao Ling-sz, in Husnan, on March 3rd. After desperate fighting the insurgents were dislodged from a plateau and fed, leaving 400 killed. The Government success at Sui-fu is confirmed, and the city is now in the possession of the Loyalists.
Over 1,000 rebels were killed and over 130 were made prisoners.
APPEAL TO PATRIOTISM.
PERING, March ath.
A mandate has been issued appealing to the patriotism of the country in view of the critical situation, and urges the people tu sacrifice personal opinions and party differences in order, to preserve the nation.
APOCRYPHAL PAPERS,
In a second docament published the secretary of the Legation professes to write to a friend at Washington, and semarks, inter ala: We must dethrone the King and make Venczeles, who is said to have done so much for us. President of the Greek Republic, but unfortunately the King is be oved by the greater part of his army."
Another choic extrast to fathered on an emple of the Legation here. It is to the effect that the writer detests the Serbs and loves the Bulgars. He says: "In the event of England being victorious she will chase the Bulgar from Macedonia, which for a second time, has been won by the shedding of Bulgarian blood. In this caso it will be might, not right, that will The Entente Power seemn triumph, bent on pushing the Balkan States, one after another, towards destruction.”
Much of the rest of the matter pub- lished, which is declared to have been ob- tained from private letters seized in the Foreign Office bag captured, is simply meaningless twaddle and local gossip by anonymous writers, who discuss the atop page of the wheat and coal ships in a spirit of nigh glue..
URITISH MINISTÉR'S VIEW,
I called on Sir Francis Elliot, the Bri- tish Minister. to-day to obtain his views on the subject of the Presa publications, writes Mr. M. H. Donohoe. The Minister said. I never give interviews, and do not perarit the name of his Majesty's Minis ter to be quoted by a newspaper, but think this time, as the Legation is directly. concerned, I may make an exception to the generaj rule,
ел
"The authors of the revelations have prepared a mixture which contains a gram- ine of truth and a gallon of fiction. It is
be en so highly diluted with fiction as to The Government fears the THE NEW DOMESTIC LOAN tirely innocuous. For example, extracts from my dispatch are correctly quoted. It was a perfectly legitimate document, which cannot be distorted or twisted into veiled insinuations against Gfeeco or its Govern ment.
The situation at Constantinople is be coming worse. jofluence of the supporters of the fate A communiqué statei:-Under heavy
Yussu fiz-Zeddin, and the increasing anti- fire from the fleet, troops on Saturday
German feeling It is believed that night, were landed at Atinn, which is sixty
General von Sanders is visiting the Kaiser five miles custward of Trebizond. Extend-in reference to this. Preachers at the ing rapidly south they forced the Turks to evacuate their positions in this district, capturing 982 prisoners, two guns and On Sunday morning they munitions. occupied the village of Mapavri, midway The latter between Afina and Rizeh.
place is forty miles cast of Trebizond, NAVAL ACTIVITIES.
(TERONGA REUTER'S AGENCY..
BRITISH STEAMERS SUNE.
LONDON, March 6th. The British steamer Hotbesty has boen
The prisoners come from all parts of the Empire. One relates that his Com-sunk. pany, on February 21st, consisted of 200 rides and four officers. On the 22nd it Ltd.
Mosques are denouncing the Germans and the Young Turks,
GREECE AND THE WAR.
CONSTANTINE AND VENEZELOS RECONCILED.
CAIRO, March 6th, According to privato information from Athens. M. Venezolo, has had several in- terviews with King Constantine, with whom he is now reconciled.
A political crisis in Atheng is considerej imminent.
The Rothesay was a reseed of 2,007 to, built in 1891 for the Rothesay Steamship CSPANISH LINER IN DISTRESS.
LONDON, March 7th,
The British steamer Masunda has been
sunk
NEARLY 400 PASSENGERS
MISSING
numbered 70 rifles and one officer, None of the prisoners estimated the losses at less than a third of the total effectives, and it can safely be assumed that the German losses were at least 100,000. The prisoners COUNT DOHNA GIVEN IRON urias, from Barcelona for Buenos Aires. have horror and misery so clearly depicted
in their countenances that no other evi- dence is required of the tragedy through which they have passed,
Lord Northcliffe pays a tribute to the
All the crew were saved,
CROSS.
SEQUEL TO " MOEWES? ACTIVITIES.
AMSTERDAM, March 6th.
A Berlin telegram says that Commander
LONDON, March 6th. The Spanish liner Prince Pede of As-
struck a rock off the South American coast, Three hundred and thirty night; passengers, and 107 of the crow are missing.
BIG BRITISH LOAN IN AMERICA.
LONDON, March 8th,
PEKING, March 6th. Regulations for the new Domestic Loan will be submitted to the Tsun Cheng-yuan
As for the other letters published,
on Tuesday. The issue price is 94 per cent.which, it is stated, were also found in the captured bag, they speak for themselves. and the interest has been fixed at six per 1 can officially say they did not emanate from any official or employé of this cent... The loan will amount to $20,000,000
Legation. and will be secured by the derived from wine and tobacco taxes. It will be redeemable in three years.
revenne
WHAT KING CONSTANTINE PROPOSED.
1.19
#
To put it very plainly, all this talk about M. Venezelos and the Republic, as well as the partially disrespectful referénco to the King, ore without exception an issue of falschoods, invented oad circulated for propagandist purposes. They bear tho ASTONISHING REVELATIONS, unmistakable trade mark of their country of origin; otherwise said, they were 'made in Germany.
The sailed exposures" are cleverly timed to coincide with the publication at Salonika, by General Sarrail's instructions, of selections seized in the correspondence of the consular representatives of tho Central Powers and their Allies which re- vealed the action of the system employed against the Allied Armies. At all events, the German-supplied revelations serve a plausible pretext for a bitter tirade on the part of certain newspapers against the Entente Powers,
The following is an extract from an in- terview with Dr. Korofilas, a friend of M. Venizelos, published in the Lausanne Gazete
BRITISH EPIRITS RISING. EFFECT OF THE GOVERNMENT'S DEMANDS FOR MUNITION PURPOSES
"In the course of the last few months," said Dr. Kerofilas, "I have often had occasion to meet M. Delcasse, whose pro- Bu garjan views approached fanaticism, Even after the loan of 200 millions con- tracted by the Bulgarian Government in Germany, M. Delcasse continued to tell roo that ho considered the intervention of Bulgaria in favour of the Alies was not only probable but certain. He has never
A local wine and spirit merchant sends wished it understood that he would ex-
us (says The Straits Times) the following clude all possibility of a collaboration extract from his London letter of January between Bulgaria and Greece. He thought 27th The supplies of gin buvo become that one of these two Fowers ought to be so extremely limited in view of the enor- sacrified, and that it was the second wen tioned and not the first, and that for the very simple reason that the geographical situation of Greece placed her at the will.
ed all peril from thst quarter,
But there is more, and what I will tell you cannot be denied. King Constantine, who is now accused of pro-Gormon sym- pathy, was the first to propose to the year, and this will take up almost the en tire out-turn of all the British distilleries, Quadruple Extente that plan of war which This fact bears cut our previous remarks now is adopted by it. In February 1915,
to you on the subject and affects equally at a Council of War in the palace at
whiskies, British brazdies and gins, Athens, at which the King of Greece, his French Government have made siteilar re- Commander-in-Chief and Genera! Pauquisitions on the French hrandy distillers, were present the King declared to the which has resulted in the shortage and seri- French General that the attack on tho
positions near Maisons. While the enemy splendid French efficiency and thorough Count Dohna is aboard the Moewe, and on our right was held up by our curtain ness, and the vast supply of shells and that there are 103 Indians among the cap According to the Daily Telegraph's New of the Allies, and in consequence eliminat stock to supply the requirements for his
of fire and was unable to leave his tronches, ammunition. He saw in one road alone a
convoy of 2,000 moters. All the organisers are young men, and General Petain, as a simplifier, resembles the lato Lord Roberts, Lord Northcliffe, describing the deplor
he succeeded in penetrating our left at a small portion of our advanced trenches. The French in Arganno exploded a mine at Courts Chausses, destroying a German fort and causing an enormous crater, of wich the French are organising the south-able condition of the German prisoners, re-
era lip. The enemy; under cover of the explosion of a mine near Haute-Chevan ches, gained a footing at some points in our advanced lines, from which they were immediately ejected.
tured sailor.
Count Dohna has received the Iron Cross (1st Class), while the crew receive the 2nd Class Cross.
Count Dohna has been ordered to meet the Kaiser to report on his adventures.
As previously mentioned, the Count, a few years ago was on the China Station, oud is known to mans in tongkong)
MORE GERMAN SHIFS SEIZED.
LONDON, March 6tb. Portugal has seized four German steamers at Madeira;
GENERAL:
York correspondent, arrangements have virtually been concluded for a new big British loan,
CONTROLLED MUNITION
WORKS.
LONDON, March 6th. Mr. Lloyd George announces that there are now: 3,05% controlled munition estab Lishments.
FRENCH NEWSPAPER
SUSPENDED.
latos a French officer's opinion:“ What a pity the Highlanders cannot meet these fellows in a fair fight, and then the war would be over in a month." The prisoners zre miserable creatures. They are badly West of the Meuse, after a violent bom-
trained, many have been transferred from bardment-lasting the whole morning, be tween Bethencourt and the Mense, the Flanders, and all are glad to leave the Germans launched a strong attack against neighbourhood of the frightful English. foros situated in our advanced line. They Lord Northcliffe cosclude: Ly stating that succeeded, after a violent encounter. in it is impossible to estimate the duration capturing a village. Intermittent artil- of the batte between the French and the lery activity is reported from the Meuss enemy. Although the odds are three to region, and a bombardment in the region of Fresnes. The French artillery seriously on the spirit of the Germans is RLoqual damaged the enemy's organisations west of to dislodging the French from their formid-stewards on passenger ships are not exempt Baker, ex-Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, St
Pont-a-Mousson.
able positions.
(THROUGH RECTED'S AGENCY-]. SHIPS STEWARDS NOT EXEMPT,
Londos, March 7th.
The Board of Trade announces that
from military service.
LONDON, March 6th. M. Cimmerceau's newspaper I'llomme Enchaine has been suspended for a week.
AMERICA'S NEW WAR SECRETARY.
WASHINGTON, March 6th. President Wilson has appointed Mr
cretary for War,
mous quantities which are being com mandeered by the Government for munition purposes that he has nothing like sufficient (mentioning a certain firma) own brand, He informs us that the Government have stated that their requirements are likely to be 30,000,000 gallons of proof spirit this
The
Dardanelles, was a colossal error and thus rise in the prices of bulk brandies also, enly way to reach Constantinople was to affecting particularly of course the cheaper
qualities. attack Bulgaria and cut off its communica tions with Turkey. King Constantine, to execute this proposal, put forward tw? conditions, first. that the Allies guarantee the integrity of Greek territory; second, that they should lond to Grzech material help by sending 150.000 men. The Gree's Army world by ready to advance into
According to the a'mich, it is said in certain quarters in Tokyo that or the oven- rion of the recent visit of the Grand Duke George Michailowitch, Russian and Japanese views on Orientat affairs were discussed and brought into harmonious? agreement. As a result, it is furthe General Pau apurova of this plan. stated, nrg:tiations on the proposed con which he found excellent, and he did not clusion of an albance between the two fail to Jasist on its action when he recountries have been started in Petrograd. turned to Paris, but the pro-Bulger sym- 13. Sazonoff, the Buss an Foreign Minister, nathies of M. Deleanse and Sir Edward and Baron Motong, Japanese Ambassador Grey frustrated it. Then I ask you after in Petrograd, have already had severat
negotiations are proceding in a very what I have told you, how can it be said interviews on the matter. It is added that
favourable manner.
that King Constantine is in favour of Cer many1