CAMPAIGN INCIDENTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2323, 3 December 1914, Page 5

CAMPAIGN INCIDENTS

HOW A BRITISH DIVISION HELD THE LINE London, December 1. Lieutenant Aubrey Fletcher, of the Grenadier Guards, who was wounded, has arrived in England. He relates that his division, 15,000. men, was ordered -to hold a front of eight miles at all costs till reinforced: "We wore faced by about 75,000 Germane, including some of the Kaiser's crack regiments," ho says. "The Germans occasionally broke through by sheer weight of numbers, but were'always driven back. We held them for ten days, when help came.- Of 15,000 Guards, only 2800 remained. My own battalion of a thousand lost eight hundred men, and twenty-eight out of thirty officers;""VORWAERTSI" PRUSSIAN GUARDS AT YPRES. (lleo. December 2, 6.16 p.m.) London, December 1. An eye-witness, describing the repulse of the Prussian Guards, says that the German- discipline was wonderful, but was occasionally forced beyond human endurance. "The Germans," he says, "wore ordered to attack our trenches across an open space of two hundred yards. After cries 'of ~"Vorwaerts!" ("Forward!"), the first 'assault was delivered and repelled. The second and third attacks were preludedwith, louder exhortations, and ■ these failed. Again came-shouts of "Vorwaerts!" but/ the shouts this time were greeted with exclamations of "Keinl' , ("NoI") And no advance was made. . . . ' ; A GHOULISH ARENA. UNDERGROUND FIGHT IN A CEMETERY. London, December 1. Reuter's agent at Calais reports that French and German troops were entrenched on opposite sides of a cemeUr.y near Lille. The French sappers* mined towards the enemy, who countermined, aud an encounter underground took place. ■ Elsewhere the Germans used tombs as trenches. The Allies, when entering a village northward of Arras, discovered thrco British guns and heaps of live British shells, abandoned during the Mons retreat. They had been brought to the village by the enemy, and again abandoned. "REVENCE FOR 1870." GENERAL JOFFRE'S AIM. London, December 1. General Joffre, in a message to the 6th French Army, says: "I owe to you that towards which all my efforts and energies have been directed for fortyfour years—revenge for 1870." A pressman who was received by General Joffre states that physical and moral vigour emanates from the Generalissimo, who said: "Only one thing matters—that is, to save the country." BRITISH AIRMEN AT WORK. BOMBS DROPPED OVERTGHENT. The Haguo, December 1. Two British airmen on Monday dropped bombs on the military grounds at Ghent, and wounded seven German, soldiers. GERMAN HYDRO-AEROPLANE . INTERNED. . Copenhagen, December 1. . 'A German hydro-aeroplane has landed at Esbjerg (on the west coast of Denmark, 15 miles from the German frontier). The two officers on it wore interned. ■ THE UNION JACK IN EAST AFRICA. A MOTLEY ARMY. London, December 1. The forces fighting in East. Africa under the Union Jack include British. j Boers, Indians, Nubians, and many African tribes. Wounded and Btrag--filers have weird experiences. . Some have spent a night among lions and ..hyenas. HUGE HOSPITAL FOR GERMAN WOUNDED. ' Amsterdam, December 1. . The "Telegra'af" states that the Germans at Courtrai requisitioned 2,000,000 francs' worth of goods. The town has been transformed into a huge hospital, but there is insufficient accommodation ■for'the wounded. 'Five thousand arrived in one day. ',: ' \ ■ AUSTRALIAN AIR FLEET THREE MILITARY MACHINES ORDERED. (Rcc. December 2, 10.55 p.m.) ! Meibourne, December 2. The Commonwealth. Defence Department ie ' strengthening tho aerial arm of the service, and has purchased an aeroplane locally, in addition to placing an order in Britain for'three military machines.