Official communiques issuing from various sources convey the following ntelligence as to the progress of the war:
The news from all frontiers continues to be good.
Of the great battle that has been proceeding since September 6 on the line of the Marne in the western theatre of war, the result is summed up in General Joffre's phrase. In an order to the Army he states that the battle which has been going on for the last five days "is drawing to a close as an incontestable victory." In a message to the Minister of War the French Commander-in-Chief says: "Our victory is becoming more and more complete. We shall continue the pursuit with all our energy."
The various bulletins, including one issued yesterday afternoon, tells us that the Allies, on their left wing, had reached the lower course of the Aisne in pursuit of the retreating enemy, and in the centre they had crossed the Marne between Epernay and Vitry, while on the right the abandonment by the Germans of the country round Nancy had been followed by a French reoccupation of Lunéville.
In spite of the fatigue caused by five days' incessant fighting the pursuit by the Allies was being strenuously maintained, and the enemy's retreat had become precipitate. Everywhere the enemy had abandoned batteries of howitzers and ammunition waggons; while the prisoners taken gave a suggestion of starvation, overwork, and depression.
A statement, to some extent complementary to that of the French authorities, was issued by our Press Bureau on Saturday night giving a summary of the operations of the Allies during the previous four days.
It explains that the southward advance of the German right wing left it dangerously exposed, and that it was attacked in front and flank by the Allies on the 8th, while a French Army based on the Paris defences attacked the covering force to the north-east of Paris. Though making a strong resistance the German covering force was forced back to and beyond the Ourcq, while the main body, attacked by the British, was forced back first from the defence of the Grand Morin line and then from that of the Petit Morin line.
Threatened thus in flank and front the Germans withdrew across the Marne on the 10th. The Allies followed, and this movement compelled the enemy's covering force on the west to retreat northwards towards Soissons.
After that the whole of the German right wing continued to fall back in considerable disorder.
On the 10th and 11th 6,000 prisoners and 15 guns were captured. The enemy was reported to be retiring rapidly across the Aisne, while the British cavalry on Saturday had reached nearly to Rheims.
With regard to the centre of the Allies' line it is stated that no impression was made on the enemy, until the 11th, when he began to give way and eventually abandoned Vitry, a portion of his forces being driven northwards towards the Argonne forest.
The Third French Army captured the entire artillery of a hostile army corps. The enemy was reported to have suffered gravely in moral, as well as to have sustained heavy losses in a retirement that extended along the whome front.
In an order to the troops found at the headquarters of the 8th German Army Carps is recorded the statement that "everything depends on the result of tomorrow "- i.e., the battle that began on September 8 and that has ended in a precipitate German retreat.
A later bulletin from Paris reports that the German cavalry on the Allies' left seems exhausted and offers only a feeble resistance to retreat. The German forces occupying the Argonne have begun to give way.
From the Galician frontier the news of the desperate fighting that has been going on for 17 days between the Russians and the Austrians, reinforced by the Germans, is not less satisfactory.
The Russian Commander-in-Chief reports that his armies have gained a complete victory.
The main army of the enemy, which has been operating at Krasnik, near Lublin, is reportod to be broken and to be surrendering in large bodies. The surrenders had on Saturday reached the total of 200 officers and 30,000 men, with many guns.
As our Petrograd Correspondent puts it, Russia has now scored the decisive victory over Austria, which is the more signal because strong German forces have shared in it. The battle has lasted seventeen days. On the side of the enemy 40 divisions of infantry, 11 divisions of cavalry, several militia brigades and German divisions, with 2,500 guns, has been overthrown.
In Belgium the Belgian Army based on Antwerp has taken the offensive, driven back the Germans, captured many prisoners, and reoccupied Louvain.
From overseas comes the news that on the 11th a naval landing party from the Australia Squadron captured Herbertshohe, on the island of Neu Pommern, in the Bismarck Archipelago. The attack on the wireless station inland was resisted, but guns have been landed and steps taken to complete the operation. An officer and two seamen were killed and three were wounded.
An additional list of casualties in connection with the loss of the Pathfinder includes the names of five missing and of one wounded.
Short additional lists of officers with the Expeditionary Force killed, wounded, and missing were issued on Saturday.