SPLENDID VALOUR OF THE BRITISH

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2301, 7 November 1914, Page 8

SPLENDID VALOUR OF THE BRITISH

; STORY OF THE VICTORY AT j| : ;v:V/'-V:- YPRES '; ■'■ ' FIERCE THREE DAYS' .'BATTLE ;/. r';J ; ~-. ' London, November 5. I-,■■;:■ "Jt is computed that seven , hundred ;, thousand Germans' endeavoured to |;/ break; the : Ypres-Lillo line. The- battle ■■i.Taged fiercely for. threo days,, each day ;;/presenting a different phase. The first ■■..was the enemy's' ..-general advance, ;! during -which they 1 lost appallingly. '.':; They siipcumbed in helpless droves be',.'.foro .tie British fire. Those who sur- ; yived were ambushed and fell.into con- ■; eealed pits. - The British floss was '4 elight. -■■..• ■.;"•■.- .. ■ ■",' 'J'he second phase, the next day, was ...the. storming of the British trenches, '• by ■■overwhelming' waves of Germans, "; and., the fighting of a retreat, by the for' five-miles. The; losses on iboth: sides were'enormous in tlie,hand- ;, to-hand encounters.. ~ '... .-.. • ■■.;.'■ I-; : ■; Brltieh Counter-Stroke. |:V '-The .third phase,, .on last, Saturday, p opened'with a recovery, by the British,- ■ I who displayed marvellous, endurance. j:!::'ln?the counter-attack 'they bayoneted r,:their , way through the Germans and ,'■ 'pursued theriv for fifteen miles, -until' '.they achieved a glorious victory. ;. ';The British charge resulted in such !. slaughter -that the bodies rose liko i; hedges, ; and impeded . the second and !; : ' ; third: assaults. ;. Battalion after battalr.; ion•was;hurled , forward, and the sheer !;.' momentum drove ' down pur.'.' trenches, -"outside which : we constructed .pits i , ' twenty .'feet wide and twenty-feet, deep.' ?.; These were covered with branches and r leoso; turf, like at Bannockburh.' The f. , .'Germans: poured into the pits-'■ in a Vj'tcrrent, calling out pitifully". '■.■■'"./.' : i ; Scene of Appalling Horror. ■ /'.,■ : The/scene was'one of appalling horI.'.Tor. '.Many were transfixed by" the ■ bayonets, of their comrddes who had s> previously fallen, others were shot by ty their, friends': rifles. . Occasionally,' ,a ;, : shell fell -into-. the pit, arid hundreds' wbt.'the mass were blown to pieces. iJ.Meamvhilo the-British, cavalry annihir. lated the" Germans' who tried to step Vdver'tho bodies ;iir the pits,-and. bay-;-..;:oneted those;;iyho. crossed at close quart..^'s-;'■. For' nearly,'twenty-four-,' hours■ j-. the struggle continued. .The carnage |; :Was"one-sided~ r Superior numbers comS.'pelled .tie'British'.to retire. , ' ■' ' .; On the "second; day the fighting be- ! came a melee, iu which chaos was only i 7 removed from.time to time by the sucp: tessful charge's 'of 'iiidividiial regiments ;,On the.dawn of the third day the ad- ;. vance. of the British, was. ordered.''The ;■ charge'was irresistible, and they swept ■ .everything before :them..\ >■ ... .■■-,. N ,:', Charge Scottish. ■, i 'P^ In: one of these'/the,' London' Scottish :; lerntonal Regiment received 'its.'-bajv t . tisra- of hre. The turning of the scale :: was.tlie most gallant-event of the war ;i Never have Prussia and'.the'.Prussians -suffered; such horrors, such:' colossal■ i Josses, and such irreparable damage as ;.-in this straight, fight with the British -