FACT AND FICTION.
GERMAN LIES EXPOSED.
A TORRENT OF MENDACITY
On many occasions during the war attention has been called in the "Daily Telegraph" (says that paper in its issue of July 26) to the mendacious and equivocating policy adopted by the German General Staff
their official communiques in order to conceal the I;ruth from their public at home, and to deceive neutrals into the belief that the German armieß are " invincible." Since the beginning of the Anglo-French offensive this system of deceit. has become very marked, and the following particularly glaring instances may be adduced.
On July 3, ; after the British had stormed a labyrinth of German trenches on a front of seven miles, to a depth of 1000 yards—trenches, the construction of which had taken 20 months— after we had taken the strongly-forti-fied villages of Montauban, Mametz. Fricourt, and La BoiselJe, with more than 4000 prisoners and vast quantities of material, the event was dismissed by the German communique with the remark: " The Anglo-French attack on both banks of the Somme secured, generally speaking, no advantages north of the driver."
On July 7 our troops captured a further portion of the important work called the Leipzig Redoubt. They smashed the German line fit Ovillers. and at La Boisselle they advanced over a network iof trenches to a depth of 500 yards on a front of 2000 yards. They seized two woods near Fricourt,. and routed the Prussian Guards, who were hurled into the battle. The German, version was thu/& "on both banks of the Somme the heroism and endurance of our troops\ caused the enemy a day of complete disappointment. His numerous constantly-re-peated attacks were repulsed with heavy loss."
On July 8 the British attacked Trones Wood, and gained a lodgment in the southern half, capturing 130 prisoners and several machine-guns. Later on a German counter-attack broke down completely under our fire, and the enemy retired in disorder. The German version of this episode was: " The enemy made six imsucceessful assaults on Trones Copse." Later the Germans made six desperate attempts to drive us from the wood. Their first five assaults completely failed. The sixth succeeded in making a little headway, but failed to dislodge our troops. The German official communique about this day's fighting said : " The Trones Copse was recaptured by storm from the English, who had forced their way into it."
On the evening of July 10 the British captured Contnlmaison. tnking 200 mi.-r wounded prisoners of the Prussian Guard. This was described in the German communique of July 11 as " Severe fightine is taking place on the southern edge of Contalmaison," and it was not until July 13 that- it was admitted in Germany that the village had fallen. On July 14 at dawn the second phase oi" the battle began with a brilliant assault by our troops on tl;e German second system of defences, on a . fourmile front. This attack was so successful that the three important villages of Bazentin-10-Petit, Bazentin-le-Grand, and Longueval were capturod at one bound. The enemy were thrown back iv confusion, and a squadron of our cavalry was able to press through and to account for some of the fleeing Germans in the open. The British also captured the whole of Trones Wood and Delville Wood. The day's fighting was described in Berlin as follows: "The English attacked this morning in the MametzLonguoval sector, and renewed their efforts at Trones Wood. Their first attempts having been driven off with heavy loss, fresh attacks are taking place.'.; No definite admission was ever made in Berlin that the British had captured Longueval' and Delville Wood.
On the evening" of July 18, having assembled considerable reinforcements, the Germans delivered a violent coun-ter-attack on Longueval and Delville Wood with 13 battalions belonging to four different divisions, viz.: — One battalion, 52nd Regiment, sth Division. One battalion, 26th Regiment, sth Division. Three battalions, 26th -..Regiment, 7th Division. ' One battalion, 93rd Regiment, Bth ;"' Division. . , • ; Three', battalions, 153 rd Regiment, Bth Division. One battalion, 133 rd Reserve Regiment, 24th Reserve Division. Three battalions, 107 th Reserve Regiment, 24th Reserve Division. Prisoners were taken from all these battalions.
After ctespsratc fighting the enemj' managed, to gain a footing in the outskirts" of Longueval and in the northern half of Delville Wood. Notwith•Btundiitg the fact that the British oocupiition of these places liad never been admitted, the German official communique then stated that these places had been "recaptured" from the British. They concealed the fact that i 3 battalions had been used in the attack, and stated that it had been made? by two- regiments.
Even more ridiculous are the means by' which the German Great General StnfF tries to discredit the statement contained in Sir Douglas Haig's communique of July 20, that " another document shows that one battalion of the 190 th Regiment lost 980 men out of 1100, while the other two battalions of that regiment each lost more than half their effective strength." /
Tlt\ Gonnnn Great General Staff .ingeniously changed the number "190' ■ to" "119," and as the 119 th active regiment was not engaged in this battle they make the further alteration into the Reserve Regiment of the same number, which was actually (but slightly) engaged near the Ancre. Having done this, the Great General Staff then proceeds to deny the_ statement with a great show of virtuous indignation. It says: "In order to show the falsity of such disseminations and to tranquillise the Swabian home of the Regiment, it is pointed out that the total losses in the last few weeks up to yesterday, are fortunately . . ." The actual document which, reveals the facts set forth by Sir Douglas Haig is a. letter written by a man of the 190 th Regiment. 185 th Division, on July 11, 1916. The following is a verbatim translation of this letter: —
"To the front and back agnin; .always backwards and forwards. Yesterday we marched from Beaumetz to V'Mu : the: flrjv before yesfo'vlpv Prem V:>rt inpmVh to Boamnotr.: to-day, from Volii to this nlaoo; camping in the open all the tirue, with no sleep and
■ with, feet burning so that we can hardly stand up. xhe whole of the Ist Battalion, lblOth Regiment, aas scarcely 120 of its 1100 men lett. xhe 3rd and 2nd Battalions each lost more than half. Now we are again dirc'dy behind the lines, this village being fired at now and again. There is no thought of leave at present. I hope this awful business will soon stop; it is dreadful here."
Finally, the local fighting whieoccurred at various points on the British front on July 20, and everywhere achieved its objective, is described in last night's German communique as " a supreme 'British effort which everywhere ended in failure." In their efforts to adorn this preposterous fiction the Germans even implied that the British cavalry were brought into the action in an effort to restore the fortunes of the day. This is a farcical performance, as the only action in which the British cavalry have been employed as such since 1914 was in the successful skirmish on July 14, alluded to in the British official communique of July 15. .
In conclusion, it may be remarked that the German General Staff is well advised to appeal .to the German people for! confidence. Certainly the Staff has need of confidence if its stories are to be credited, even by the Germans themselves.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3559, 20 September 1916, Page 3
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1,235FACT AND FICTION. Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3559, 20 September 1916, Page 3
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