RAPID FRENCH ADVANCE IN ALSACE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2226, 12 August 1914, Page 5

RAPID FRENCH ADVANCE IN ALSACE.

COLMAR OCCUPIED. PASSES IN THE VOSGES HELD. (Eeo. A\tgitst 11, 8.20 p.m.) Paris, Augiist 10. The French on Saturday night captured the passes of Bonhbinmo -and Saint Mario • through the Vosges Mountains, and they also hold Ilio summits coinniauding St. Mark-aux-Mines. . Tho Vosj»o9 Mountains slrelch along tho east side of tho Hhino.from Basel (o Mainz, a distance of 150 miles Since 1871 tho so,uth portion from Ballon d'Alcang. to Mt. Donou (with .in nrcra'n 'ickht of 3000 ft.) has becu the (rojilicr

between France nnd Germany. There is a steep full on the Rhine side and a gradual uescent towards Franco. No railway crosses the Vosges between Saveriio and. Belfort, a distance of sixtr miles, but there aro carriage roads over the passes of .Bnssiinp. the Schlucht, tho Bonhonime (from St. Die to Colmar), and tlio passes from St. Dio to St. Marie-aui-Mines. NUMEROUS SKIRMISHES ALONG WHOLE FRONT. (Rec. August 11, 9.35 p.m.) -~„.. Paris, August 10.' It is officially stated tho French troops continue to hold Feruey, Mulhausen and Altkirch. Before them is tho Forest of which is strongly held. Numerous skirmishes have taken place along tho wholo front. Both the Germnns and the French havo been' reinforced. A hundred- French wore killed and wounded in the action at Altkircii. Tho Ftart-wald, or Forest of Hart, has a length of a-bout thirty miles 'ami an average width of 6ve to ciglit miles. It stretches approximately north and south, and Mulhiiujpn lies about half way along iw oublcrn Mile,

THE TAKING OF MULHAUSEN. T . • ,„ . „ Pal " is > August 9. It is oihcially slated that when the Irench brigade advancing into Alsace iroin Belfort reached Altkirch at nWitlaJl, they found it defojuled bv strong earthworks. Tho French immediately (is. saulted with magnificent pluck. On'o iniantry regiment in a furious charge carried tho entreiichinonla at the bayonet .point. Tho Germans ilcd.v even abandoning tho second line of works, which they might have held. Altkjrcli rang with shouts of joywhon tho French entered, and old men who had seen the days of 1870 embraced the troops. The French Dragoons followed the flying Germans towards Wittelsheiin. eight miles norl.li of Mulha'usen, Tagolsheim, Mid , Illfiirt, to six and a luilf miles southwest of Tllfnrt. Heavy loss wus inflicted on tlio fleeing troops. ' The French losses were not excessive, considering tlio result. Mulhauson, which, is not fortified, was occupied in less than an hour, tho cavalry dashing through at full gallop, pursuing the German rearguards, who set firo to many buildings, especially provision shops an/1 fodder stores. The Germans are now at Nou-Briesncl), whjch is permanently fortified and coramnmls the Rhine Valley, Other accounts state that tho French soldiers with bnyonots lowered dashed forward like madmen to the very months of tho guns, and shovelled tho Germane out of the trenches ," A FIGHT OF ADVANCE GUARDS. The Ministry for War desires that the importance of the Slulhausen -engagement should not be exaggerated! it was a fight of advance guards, consisting of a division apiece. It is significant that the Germans still fear tho bayonet, as in tho-Revolutionary wars. General Joffre, Commander-in-chief, writing to the Minister for War a few days ago, said: "The men speak not of decimating tho enemy with gun and riflo, but of fierce bayonet charges. They <rr»am of tayo.net ohargo3." There have been' lively cavalry engage- ■ merits in the' South, tho Freri(!h_ showing their superiority, as tho following incident shows; .A German • patrol officer and twentv-two UW«ns (Lancers) met a French patrol, consisting of an officer and seven mounted Chasseurs. Tlio Germans hesitated, and the French officer, . dnshins forward at full gallop, killed Hie German ' officer, and the twenty-two Uhlans, fled in abandoning their officer's body! Purine the Fre-ncli advance on Altkivch n French aeroplane was r'ddlod by bnU lots. The aviator w<\* wounded in the thigh, but reached Bolfort. FRENCH onOTipy TOWN OF COLMAR. . (E«c. August 12, 0.55 a.m.) Paris, August 11. It is reported that French troops .from Mulhausen have occunied Colmar, which lies twenty-seven miles further on, on the road to Strassburg. An armoured train is repairing Hie railway between Belfort and Mulhausen. Colmar is a town of 41,600 inhabitants, and i? the capital of Upper Alsace, and tho scat of the Court of Appeal for Alsaco and German Lorraine. Colmar.is forty' miles south of Strassburg. It lies eight miles west, of tho Goniian fortress of Neu-Brcrsach. • :