Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1914 — ALLIES WIN WIDE AREA ON MEUSE; LIEGE HOLDS OUT [ARTICLE]

ALLIES WIN WIDE AREA ON MEUSE; LIEGE HOLDS OUT

French Forces Outflanking Germans in Belgium. BATTLE LINES ARE EXTENDED Both Belgians and Kaiser's Forces Claim Victory at Liege—loo Germans Are Executed ae Spies at Brussels. * Aug. 11. —French troops inflicted losses of 8,000 and captured 1,700 prisoners in helping Belgians fight Germans at Liege, asserts a dispatch from Charleroi to the Dally Mail.

Purls, Aug. 11.— a big cavalry encounter has taken place on the plateau east of the Meuse and it is reported to have resulted favorably for the allies. < onfirmatlon has been received of the news of a French success at Marbehan, a village of Belgian Luxembourg, half way between Neufchateau ami Arion. It Is reported that the French are now pursuing the Germans, who are retreating. All Well With French. The correspondent is not allowed to state fully what took place, but it is certain that all is well with the French forces In Belgian Luxembourg. Belgian troops did not take part in this fighting, as it occurred in the zone apportioned to the French. The net result of the operations sb fur as known is that the German advance was stopped on the line of the Meuse and outflanked in Belgium by the advancing French masses. Equally the Germans were stragetlcally outflanked by the French Inroad Into Alsace. ‘Thus the hostile flanks are menaced and the front seriously contracted. 46,000 Germans Cross Border. Paris, Aug 11.—A great battle between the French and Germans Is reported raging near Esch, on the border between France and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Whether this Is merely another clash of outposts or whether the great armies have finally ceased jockeying for position and are in a death grapple, no one can telL It is known that a German force of ■16,000 men invaded France at Esch. It may have been but a scouting party of cavalry, screening the movements of the great army corps in the rear, or it may have been the main army. Before moving across the frontier the Germans felled trees and dug trenches for temporary fortification upon which they might fall back ts repulsed. That the fighting was not all in favor of the French is admitted by the war department, which says that a French cavalry patrol encountered a German body of cavalry, supported by Infantry and artillery, near Donguyon and was routed. Strike West of Longwy. If the Germans are really invading in force they are striking the line a little west of Longwy, and their rout of a French cavalry patrol at Longayon indicates that they have passed well to the rear of Longwy, which ia strongly fortified. Yet the reports have said nothing about fighting at Longwy.

A Rome correspondent wires that Kaiser Wilhelm, who has arrived at Alx-I.<-Chapelle to lake personal command of the field forces, is assembling 1,000,000 additional soldiers for the Invasion It was at first announced that the Kaiser was on his way to Alsace-Lorraine to see to his defenses there, but if he is at Alx-La-Cha-pelle it means that the heavy blow is to be struck in the Meuse valley to the west of Metz. With Kaiser Wilhelm at Aix and Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm before Liege, it looks as if Germany means to let the Rhine forts keep on ne defensive, and put all their strength into the effort to break open a way to Paris from the North. 1 t < French In Similar Move. The invading Germans are reported to be digging trenches, leveling trees so that ■ their artillery fire will not be obstructed and to have built wooden platforms 400 feet long for the unloading of horses and guns. Tha whole army of the lower Rhine is believed to be involved in this movement, and the battle when it encounters the French fine will be enormously Important On the Eastern frontier the French; are striking exactly the same kind of a blow at Germany. While the Kaiser is trying to cut around the French left flank through Belgium and Luxembourg and so reach Paris, the French are trying to eut the German

left flank along the border of Switzerland and so strike at Berlin The fighting In the east has been much 'heavier than was at first Indicated. 30,000 Austrians Arrive. But the presence of General Jottre, •oommander-ln-chlef of all thd French forces, in Alsace Indicates the Importance which is attached to tte opera Hons there. The situation u further complicated by the report Arrival ;of 80,000 Austrian tfbopa oh ftie fewlss .border, ready to help, the Germans. 'This announcement led to the demand •on Austria for an explanation, and ■when the Austrian ambassador admit 'ted that he had no explanation he was •handed his passports. Take Town on Rhine. The Austrian troops are from the {Fourteenth Army Corps and are under command of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. They are Intended for the German fortification at Istein, where troops are marching to meet the T'rench Invasion. The Germans tried to impede the SPYench advance by flooding the valley of the Beille river, but the water was not deep enough to stop them. They have also taken the fortified town of Neu Brelsach, lust across the Rhine from the town of Alt Breiaach. It is reported that the Germans abandoned the town with slight resistance. 100 German Spies Slain. Brussels, Aug. 11, via Paris—Belgium has been covered with a network of German spies. Six hundred already have been arrested and 100 were shot. Some of those captured were wearing uniforms of gendarmee, civic guards, soldiers and officers of the Belgian army. Many of the spies were armed, with bombs and revolvers and were ’ ridihg in automobiles bearing false numbers. They also had in their pos session telegrams and letters with counterfeit indorsements.

-«s® Fate of Liege In Doubt. London, Aug. 11. -The fate of the fortifications at Liege, where for five days a comparatively small army of Belgian troops time after time repulsed the German invaders reported to number all the way from 50,000 to 100.(W*. is still in doubt. ft is beyond question now that Gen eral von Hemmich. the German com mander. has Invested the city proper without resistence from the noncombatant citizens, but it is impossible to say with certainty that the ring of 12 forts w hich form the city’s defenses have been captured or have not been captured. Conflicting reports continue to pile one upon the other. From Amsterdam, the only city which has communication with Berlin, dispatches continue to come telling of t<iye capitulation of the forts, while the war office in Brussels persistently maintains that the forts at Liege are still intact, that they have not fallen and that they will not fall for an indefinite time. Belgians Capture B,COO Germans. London, Aug. 11.—A dispatch to the Exchange Telegraph company from Brussels says that the total number of German prisoners taken by the Belgians was given officially as 8,000.