BATTLE FRONT.EXTENDS TO THE NORTH

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2276, 9 October 1914, Page 5

BATTLE FRONT.EXTENDS TO THE NORTH

VIOLENT FIGHTING NEAR LILLE '/^..CHANGE.'-ON-ALLIES' CENTRE AND EIGHT ' By Telegxapl—Prces Association—Copyright •■' j PaflSi October 7. characteristics' of the situation are unchanged. On the Left Wing, northward of the Oise, the action has become increasingly violent; : there is a comparative calm in the Centre, and some ground has been gained bn the northern heights of the Mouse. ENEMY--MOVES TROOPS FROM CENTRE TO LILLE. '.:■ ■;•'"-■■',' V Ostend, October 7. ' A column of twenty thousand Germans—house, foot, and • artillery, with a commissariat convoy—traversed Templeuvo towards Lille. Templenve; lies about nine miles south of Lille on the railway to Valenciennes. ■ \ Germany's operations" from Lille are intended to cover the right flank, to which reinforcements are being hurried from the centre of the theatre of war. . ' : GREAT EVENTS NEAR, ' " (Reo. October 8, 5.25 p.m.) .. ■ ■ London, October 7, "The Times," in a leader, says the faot that the Tsar has joined the troops at the front suggests that great events are near. "The advance of ithe British and French north of Soissons may mean muoh to the Germans 'now visiting France, .who have already overstayed the limits prescribed by politeness, but.M. Poincare has gone to the front and will bo in time to bid them a hearty farewell."—("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) BATTLEFRONT EXTENDING'NORTH, (Reo. October 8, 9.5 p.m.) Parla, October 7. Official.—The battle on our left' continues with great violence. The opposing fronts extend to the' regions of Lens and La Bassee, and have'been prolonged by masses, of cavalry in action to aB far as the Armentieres district. . '.••-.'-■ There is nothing to report between the-Somme and the Mouse. Lens and La Bassee are eight miles apart, and lie between Arras and Lille: Armentierea is just inaide the French border, and is eleven miles north \ of La Bassee. This extension of the, battle hugs the front in a long sweep from the eastern border of France near Pont-a-Mousson; in; the vicinity of Nancy, to the northern border a few miles west of, Lille. The length of the battlefront is approximately; 250 miles. SKIRMISHES OVER THE BELGIAN BORDER. A' (Roc. October 8, 10.30 p.m.) Ostend, Ootober 7. There were numerous skirmishes on Wednesday in the environs of Ypres iand in the southern parts of Western. Flanders. Ypres lies in Belgium, eleven milos north of Armentieres, in France, to .Which point the great battle between the Allies and Germans now extends. FORTY-ONE GERMAN OORPS ENGAGED. (Reo. October 8, 11.40 p.m.) Paris, October 7, midnight. Official.—Exoept on the two wings, where the German attacks have.been repulsed, 4here is almost a complete calm on the rest of the front. On the Left Wing the German cavalry have been held to the north of Lille, where they have been driven back, while the ground previously yielded between Chaulnes and Roye has been recovered. The message adds: "The forces engaged against us consist of twentythroe active army corps and eighteen reserve corpß, not including a number of divisions of the Landwehr and Landsturm." Royo is about 30 miles north of Compiegne. Chaulnes is 14 miles north ] of Roye. •'■ If the 23 active army corps and the 18 reserve corps are taken as having each a strength of 43,000 men, the total force opposed to the Allies in France, On this basis, works out at 1,763,000 men. The total strength of the German field army is given by the "Stateman's Year Book" as 1,250,000 combatants. To this must be added the mobile Landwehr, the .total strength' of which amounts to about 600,000. The total of mobile forces of the German Empire is therefore about 1,850,000. Behind this there aTe, according to some computations, 1,500,000, wholly or partially trained, to supply the waste of war. These figures do not include garrison units nor any part of the Landsturni, which includes all men betweon 17 and 30 who have received no military training, and all men between 39 and 45. REINFORCEMENTS FROM METZ. (Rec. Octobor 8, 11.40 p.m.) Ostend, October 8. German troops with artillery reached Contr.ti, about 20 miles north-west of Lille, on Tuesday from Mete via Liege, very tired. They were without*food for 48 hours.