Reports and figures issued by the British War Office showed that during the fifteen months from Christmas, 1914, to April 1, 1916, no fewer than thirty-four separate aerial raids occurred in Great Britain, including those of aeroplanes and Zeppelins.  The total casualties suffered, mainly by civilians, men, women, and children, were 303 killed and 713 injured.  This record of results is interesting when it is remembered what they must have cost the Germans in money and men, in view of the comparatively small amount of damage that seems to have been done.  Germany, however, insisted that her air raids had done more substantial harm to England than the War Office would admit.

RUSSIAN ACTIVITIES IN THE EAST.

With the approach of spring in 1916, new activities began on the Eastern front, and the Russians threatened a vigorous attack on the German lines in the north “after the thaw.”  By the middle of the summer the Russians expected, according to semi-official reports, to have twelve million men armed, drilled, and equipped for battle.

On April 1 the Berlin government declared that in the Russian offensive on the Eastern front, against Field Marshal von Hindenburg, which lasted from March 18 to March 30, the losses to the Russians were 140,000 out of the 500,000 men engaged.  This campaign was carried on mostly in the frozen terrain of the Dvinsk marshes, and along the Dvina River, and the German losses were also heavy, although the Russian attacks were as a rule repulsed.

FALL OF TREBIZOND.

In Asia Minor, however, Russian successes of the winter were crowned in the early spring by the fall of the Baltic seaport of Trebizond, which was occupied on April 18.  This city, the most important Turkish port on the Black Sea, was captured by the Russian army advancing from Erzerum.  Aided by the Russian Black Sea fleet, the invaders pushed past the last series of natural obstacles along the Anatolian coast when, on Sunday, April 16, they occupied a strongly fortified Turkish position on the left bank of the Kara Dere River, twelve miles outside the fortified town.  The official Russian report said: 

“Our valiant troops, after a sanguinary battle on the Kara Dere River, pressed the Turks without respite, and surmounted incredible obstacles, everywhere breaking the fierce resistance of the enemy.  The well-combined action of the fleet permitted the execution of most hazardous landing operations, and lent the support of its artillery to the troops operating in the coastal region.

“Credit for this fresh victory also is partly due the assistance given our Caucasian army by the troops operating in other directions in Asia Minor.  By their desperate fighting and heroic exploits, they did everything in their power to facilitate the task of the detachments on the coast.”

GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES.