BAD weather and the floods let loose by the Germans over part of the country they have invaded are among the causes of the slower progress of the Allies; but still they move. The British are drawing nearer to Armentières and the French to La Fère, while they are attempting to outflank St Quentin and the St Quentin massif. While there is this delay the enemy is making haste to stabilize his defence, but it is scarcely likely that Marshal Foch will leave him at rest everywhere. The only question is where he will bring up his reserves, on which point the Germans appear to be as anxious as we are curious. Meanwhile it is of interest to note that their casualties during August are estimated at half a million, and, in the period since March 21, at one million. It is understood that they were prepared to lose that number of men in order to finish the war in the West. They have lost them, but they have not brought it to that victorious conclusion on which they counted. As we go to press, we learn, on the authority of the Daily Express, that the late Empress of Russia and her four daughters have been brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks, the Tsar’s whole family having now been exterminated. Happily the Dowager-Empress, Queen Alexandra’s sister, has been rescued from the Red Guards by the sailors of the Black Sea fleet, and is said to be in a place of safety.
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