HOW THE ALLIES HELD THE LINE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2300, 6 November 1914, Page 6

HOW THE ALLIES HELD THE LINE

' THE FIGHTING AROUND I LILLE ' OFFICIAL NARRATIVE . • FIVE DAYS' DESPERATE FIGHTING The Priino Minister has received the following message:— London, November 3. An eye-witness with the General Headquarters Staff continues the narrative regarding the movements of the British Force:—After the fall of Antwerp and file release of the besieging troops, tliero was a gradual increase in the strength of the opposition met with by us until October 20, when the arrival opposite us- of a large portion of new formations and a considerable number of heavy gun's enabled the" enemy to assume j tho offensive practically against the-whole of our line, at the. same time that they attacked the Belgians between us and tho. coast. Since that date, up' to October 25, the heaviest fighting we have yet been .engaged in lias taken place, resulting in immense loss to the Germans. The German Onset. On October 21 the German formation again pressed forward in force vigorously all along ! -our line. On our right, south of the Lys, the attack on. Vin'laines was .repulsed with loss to the assailants. We were driven from some ground/close by to the north, but regained it by a: counter-attack. Still further north tho Germans i gained and retained some points. Their total casualties to the south-east of Afmentieres are estimated at over 1000. On tlio north of the Lys our centre fiercely contested.' An acti<sh'took place near Laghier, which village- was captured in the morning by the enemy and then retaken by us. ; i In this. direct-ion the German casualties were extremely heavy.. They came on with the greatest bravery in swarms, only to be swept away by oui fire. . One battalion of - their 104tb Regiment was practically wiped out. Some 400 dead were picked up in oui lines alone. Incidentally by our counterattack w© took 130 prisoners and released forty of our men, including a subaltern of artillery, who had'been cut off while observing from a point of van. tage. Oiir men were veiy well treated by their captors (Saxons), being placedm cellars for protection from the bombardment of our own guns.' On our left we advanced a'gainst tho 26th Reserve Corps near PaeseMendaelo, where we were met by a determined counter offensive, which was driven back with, great loss. At night theGermans renewed their efforts unsuccessfully: in tins quarter. They tried to: rush us; .they, came Tip in a solid line two-deep and shouted -out: "Don't fire, we. are Coldstream Guards." Oui men are used to tricks of this kind. They allowed the enemy's infantry to approach quite close, and swept them down with magazine fire. Apart from 400 dead found-near our 'lines on our centre'our patrols discovered 300 dead further out in front, killod by our artillery.. Attacks Hurled Back. October 22' saw renewed; pressure against us. _ We succeeded 1 in holding our ground in nearly every, quarter. South of Lys the enemy attacked from La Bassee -and-gained- Violaines and-an-other. point, but their effort against a third village was'repulsed by artillery fire alone, the French and British guns working together very effectively. Oil the north of the river minor attacks against us all day were'all beaten back. The Germans advanced in the evening against our centre and left,- but wore again hurled back, though they gained some of our trenches in the latter quarter.' By this time the enemy had succeeded in bringing up several heavy howitzers. , , -The troops to suffer severely were mostly of the 23rd Corps,- on their new. formation. The way their: advance was. . conducted showed lack of training and. faults in leading, which ' the almost superhuman.bravery ; of. the soldiers could not counterbalance. It was a holocaust. ' .The spectacle, of. those devoted men chanting their national song' as they marched on to certain death was inspiring. ! Ono field battery expended 1800 shells. The fighting was. confined to artillery except at night, when the Germans pressed on, only to be repulsed. In the centre, near Armentiores, our troops withstood three separate attempts of the enemy to push forward, our- guns coming into play ,with good effect. Against our left the' German 27th Corps made a .violent effort with no success. - BadI Day for the Germans. On October 23 all action south of Lys ' on our right.was continued by'artillery; several of the hostile batteries being silenced. In the centre ' the enemy's infantry again Endeavoured to force their way forward, and were only repulsed after determined-fighting; leaving many dead. North 1 ol'. Lys attacks at different'points were repulsed. On, our left it'was a bad day.for the Germans. We drove them .from the : trenches out of which they had turned i us tlio pfevious evening, captured 160 prisoners, and released our men whom they had taken. As t-lie Germans repeated the attacks our guns did great execution. They afterwards made five desperate assaults on our trenches, advancing in'mass, singing, "Die Wacht < ain Rhien." Each assault was easily beat-en -back, our troops waiting until the 'enemy came to very close be- ; fore opening fire with rifles and Maxims, causing terrible havoc in tlie solid masses.

During the fighting in this quarter on •the night of October 22 and on October 23, 'German ' losses were again extremely lieavy. We made 600 prisoners during that-time, and picked up 1500 dead, killed on the'latter day. Milch of the slaughter was due to the pointblank magazine fire of our men, whilst our field guns and howitzers, working in perfect combination, did their share .when' the enemy was repulsed. As they fell back they- were subjected to a shower of shrapnel, and when they sought shelter in tlio villages the build,ings were shattered and they were driven out by high explosive shells, and then again caught by shrapnel ae they came into the open. Allies Take the Offensive. . On October 25 it was our turn to take the offensive. This was carried out bya portion of the left wing, which advanced, gained ground, and took two guns and 60 prisoners; . Six machineguns fell to the French. In some places the troops were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Towards evening wo captured 200 prisoners. Up to tlio night of October_2s not only have we maintained our position against the great effort of the enemy to break through to the west or to force us back, which started on October 20, but we have on our left passed to the offensive. The true efforts against vis were made to a great extent by partially-trained men. Some appear to he suffering from lack of food. They arc fighting with the utmost determination in spite of the fact that many arc heartily sick of the war. Though wo have undoubtedly inflicted' immense loss upon the #inamv. thav We so far been ahje to fill

up the gaps. We have suffered heavily ourselves. From October 30 to November 1. On October 30 violent attacks were made by the enemy oil tile position occupied by the First Army Corps. Cavalry, with large reinforcements, evidently joined the enemy's lino at this point. Very heavy loss inflicted on enemy. The commander of tlio First Corps was confident of maintaining ground, which lie has since been ablo to do. The cavalry fought, whether mounted or in the trenches, to the admiration of the whole army. The Indian troops were brought into the fighting line, which had been proportionately strengthened. On the night of October 30 a strong attack on Messines was, beaten off: at one point the enemy, by dint of their masses, penetrated for a time into bur line, but an excellent counter-attack drove them back with the bayonet. The attack on the Left being so pronounced, the British line was substantially reinforced by troops from Home, ' which were moved up. General French also' brought into lino some reserves to support the threatened Wing. On November 1 our troops were attacked all along the line, but the eiiemy were repulsed everywhere, and suffered very heavy, loss. Olir howitzers demolished two of the''enemy's Biu. guns. Every account shows that prodigious slaughter has been occasioned by our artillery. The maintenance of an unbroken line, with repulses and repeated assaults, which liaVe caused in some cases the loss of whole columns, has greatly discouraged the Gorman troops, and naturally entailed loss'on the defending force. The position of the Allies has been strengthened, and reinforcements of every description have been sent to meet the attacks which are now threatened.