GERMAN REPORT OF VILLAGES RAZED

A dispatch from Berlin by wireless March 23 stated that according to a report received there from Cracow, the damages due to the war in Poland and Galicia at that time amounted to 5,000,000,000 marks ($1,250,000,000).

In Galicia 100 cities and market places and 6,000 villages had been more or less damaged, while 250 villages had been destroyed.  Horses to the number of 800,000 and 500,000 head of cattle, with all grain and other provisions in Galicia had been taken away by the Russians.

CHAPTER XXII

LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

Results of the Battle of the Aisne—­Fierce Fighting in Northern France—­Developments on the Eastern Battle Front—­The Campaign in the Pacific—­Naval Activities of the Powers.

With a battle front reaching from the Belgian coast on the North Sea to the frontier of Switzerland, or a total distance of 362 miles, the operations in the western theater of war toward the end of October were being conducted on a more gigantic scale than was ever witnessed before.  On both sides reinforcements were being rushed to the front.  German efforts to break through the Allies’ lines were concentrated on the main center at Verdun and on the right flank of the Allies’ left wing, above its elbow, between Noyon and Arras, while powerful coincidal movements were in progress on the extreme western end of the line in Belgium and on the southeastern wing in Alsace.  At Verdun continuous fighting of the fiercest character had been going on for over sixty days, surpassing in time and severity any individual battle in history.  The army of the Crown Prince had been unable to force the French positions in the vicinity of Verdun and the check sustained by the Germans at this point early in the campaign constituted a principal cause of General von Kluck’s failure in his dash toward Paris.

All along the tremendous battle front the allies’ lines as a rule held firm in the thirteenth week of the war, when the great conflict had entered upon what may well be called its fourth stage.  The third stage may be said to have ended with the fall of Antwerp and the subjugation of all Belgium but a small portion of its southwestern territory.  On the main front the Allies were maintaining the offensive at some vital points, while repulsing the German assaults at others.  One or two of the French forts commanding Verdun had fallen but the main positions remained in the hands of the French, and all along the line it was a case of daily give-and-take.

FIERCE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS