The fighting along the Vistula was fierce and prolonged for several days at a time.  The Germans made numerous attempts to cross the river at different points by means of pontoon bridges, but these were destroyed by the Russian artillery as fast as completed.  The slaughter on both sides was considerable.  On October 28 the Russian battle front reached from Suwalki on the north to Sambor and Stryj on the south, a distance of about 267 miles.  The German operations on the Vistula were still in progress and Poland furnished the main arena of battle.  East Prussia was practically free from Russian troops, save at a few points near the boundary, but they strongly maintained their positions in Galicia.

THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

After eleven weeks’ bombardment by the Austrians, the Servian defenders of Belgrade were still bravely resisting, although half the city had been destroyed.  The situation was such as to cause at once astonishment, pity and admiration.

In the open field the Servians continued to hold their own against the Austrian forces opposed to them.  Their Montenegrin allies, under General Bukovitch, were reported to have defeated 16,000 Austrians, supported by six batteries of artillery, at a point northeast of Serajevo.  The battle terminated in a hand-to-hand bayonet conflict which lasted four hours.  The Austrians are said to have lost 2,500 men, killed and wounded, while the Montenegrins claimed that their losses amounted to only 300 men.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PACIFIC

Beginning with the loss of its colonies in the China sea, Germany was compelled to witness during the first two years of the war the passing into enemy hands of practically all its colonial possessions, which more than balanced its temporary possession of enemy soil in Europe.  One by one its colonies in Asia and Africa were captured, and in these operations not only the Japanese but the Belgians assisted, the latter in Africa.

Late in October, 1914, the Japanese received the surrender of Tsing Tau, the important German city in Kiauchau, China.  The place had been battered for weeks by land and sea by the Japanese forces, and the surrender was ordered, it was said, to save the German forces and civilians from certain annihilation if a defense by the garrison to the end were to be carried on.  German warships were powerless to assist the beleaguered city, as Japanese and English war vessels had driven them far from the coast of China.

The Japanese cruiser Takachiho was sunk by a mine in Kiauchau Bay on the night of October 17.  One officer and nine members of the crew are known to have been saved.  The cruiser carried a crew of 284 men.  Her main battery consisted of eight 6-inch guns.

MAIN FLEETS STILL INACTIVE