Official communiques issuing from various sources yesterday convey the following intelligence as to the progress of the war:
A vivid and illuminating review of the operations during the past week in the western theatre of war was issued yesterday by the Press Bureau.
It explains that no new main trial of strength has taken place, though there have been battles along the immense front which in other wars would have been regarded as of the first magnitude.
Since the battle of Cambrai, on August 26, when the British troops foiled a deadly turning movement made in enormous strength, French armies have come into operation on the right and the left of the British, thus taking off the strain.
On August 29 the French Army on the right gained a solid success; but the retirement continued, and on August 30 and 31 the British troops were frequently engaged. On September 1 there was a sharp action at Compiègne, in which "much slaughter" was inflicted on the Germans, and ten of their guns were captured. After this engagement our troops were no longer molested, though last Wednesday was the first quiet day since the battle of Mons on August 26.
In all that continuous marching and fighting the British casualties have amounted to about 15,000. A considerable number of those reported as missing are likely to rejoin the colours safely.
Our losses do not amount to a third of those inflicted on the enemy.
Drafts amounting to 19,000 men have reached the Army or are approaching.
The British troops are now to the south of the Marne. The enemy are neglecting Paris and marching in a south-easterly direction. It appears that the enveloping movement on the Anglo-French left flank has been abandoned.
"There is no doubt whatever," this official statement declares, "that our men have established a personal ascendency over the Germans, and that they are conscious of the fact. Their superior training and intelligence has enabled the British to use open formations with effect, and thus to cope with the vast numbers employed by the enemy. . . . Sir John French's report dwells on the marked superiority of the British troops of every arm of the service over the Germans. The cavalry do as they like with the enemy until they are confronted by thrice their numbers.
In conclusion, it is asserted that the war has given most promising opportunities of adding to the reputation of the British arms; "but we must have more men."
A third return of casualties, completing the statement up to September 1, has been received. It includes 85 officers and 4,711 other ranks killed, wounded, and missing. Of this number 4,607 are missing.
The names of one officer and 76 men admitted I to hospitals at home are issued.
A French official statement says that the enemy's flanking movement on the left appears to have been definitely checked. Elsewhere the situation remains the same. Maubeuge is being very heavily bombarded, but is holding out, although three of the forts have been destroyed.
According to an official statement from Paris, the enemy, carrying out a wide, converging movement, continued to leave the entrenched camp of Paris on its right, and to march in a south-easterly direction.
In the North Sea there has been considerable "liveliness."
Two vessels have been sunk by striking mines - the light cruiser Pathfinder and the Wilson liner Runo, outward bound from Hull to Archangel.
The Pathfinder struck some 20 miles off the East Coast and foundered very rapidly. It is believed that the captain and fifty or sixty of the crew of 268 were saved.
Of the Runo all the crew and passengers were saved except about twenty Russian emigrants.
A German Squadron, consisting of two cruisers and four destroyers, has succeeded in sinking fifteen British fishing boats in the North Sea." A quantity of fish was captured."
As to the position on the Russo-Austrian frontier, it is reported that sanguinary fighting continues in the neighbourhood of Lublin, where the Austrians attempted to break through the Russian lines, and were heavily repulsed with the loss of 5,000 prisoners.
Enormous quantities of munitions of war were captured at Lemberg. The rout of the Austrians, it is said, becomes increasingly manifest.
Another message from Petrograd reports the surrender of a whole Austrian regiment, and a conflict with a German division which was marching to the help of the Austrians. The Russian cavalry, it is stated, is already among the passes of the Carpathians.
There has been heavy fighting near Antwerp. The Germans attacked the south-west fortifications and were repulsed with loss.
The Foreign Office has issued the text of a declaration in which the British, French, and Russian Governments agree that, when the terms of peace come to be discussed, none 'will demand conditions of peace without the previous agreement of each of the other Allies.
The Ambassadors of the Triple Entente have formally renewed to Turkey their assurance that her independence and integrity shall be guaranteed against all-comers, if Turkey maintains her strict neutrality.
For the fourth day in succession the King and Queen visited wounded soldiers in hospital on Saturday.
The Prince of Wales's National Relief Fund on Saturday amounted to £2.240.000.