ld ally of Rossbach"--which must surely have
inspired Hindenburg himself with a feeling of jealousy and sense of
soreness--turned out to have been altogether premature, and of the nature
of shouting before they were out of the wood.

For a fortnight or so the fighting in Poland continued to be of a very
confused kind, the telegrams from both sides being most contradictory, but
on the whole the advantage seemed to remain with the Russians, who
recorded their victories in very striking figures of killed and captured
during their defence of several rivers tributary to the Vistula on its
left bank. Hindenburg the redoubtable--the only General worth a rap (or a
"damn," as Wellington would have said), according to the German officer
already quoted--promised to let the Kaiser have Warsaw as a Christmas
present; but, according to all present appearances, he is no nearer the
capital of Russian Poland than his comrade von Kluck (who is now said to
have been superseded) was to Paris on the day of his being tumbled back
from the Marne.

<sc>London: December 28, 1914.</sc>

[Illustration: A PRINCELY INDIAN GIFT: MOTOR-AMBULANCES PRESENTED TO THE
KING FOR THE FORCES BY THE MAHARAJA SCINDIA OF GWALIOR.

The Maharaja Scindia's munificent Christmas gift for the soldiers
and sailors consists of 41 ambulance-cars, 4 cars for officers, 5
motor-lorries and repair-wagons, and 10 motor-cycles.--[_Photo. Illus.
Bureau._]

__________________________________________________________________________
THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914--[Part 21]--9

[Illustration: SHELLED, BURNED OUT, AND FINALLY TAKEN BY STORM: ALL THAT
REMAINS OF THE FAMOUS CHATEAU OF VERMELLES.]

Less than three months ago a charming French country mansion amidst its
beautiful gardens and park, all that remained at Christmas of the Chateau
of Vermelles is the shell here shown. Fate made the Chateau, with the
small adjoining village, for upwards of eight weeks a disputed tactical
point between the Germans and the Allies, a narrow strip of only 150 yards
of ground intervening between the trenches. The Germans held Vermelles
from October 16 until early in December, fortifying the Chateau and
grounds. They had to be shelled out By October 21, the Chateau was only
smouldering walls, and French engineers were mining approaches to it. Then
an English