MASSED ATTACK BY THE GERMANS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2412, 18 March 1915, Page 5

MASSED ATTACK BY THE GERMANS

ENVELOPING ATTEMPT FRUSTRATED BRILLIANT ENTERPRISE BY THE BRITISH Bj Telegraph—Press Association—OopyrisM. t ' Paris, March 16. The Germans, smarting under Prince Ruprecht of Wurtemburg's defeat at Neuve Chapelle, violently bombarded Ypres and Saint Eloi on Sunday last. The Wurtemburgeis, strongly reinforced from Liege and Ghent, advanced on Saint Eloi in dense masses, and by nightfall threatened to envelop the British, who yielded ground under heavy fire. Reinforced during the night, the British retook the village and most of the outside trenches on Monday morning. THE FIELD-MARSHAL'S BULLETIN. , London, March 16. Sir John French's bulletin states: The capture of l'Epinette was tho result of a brilliantly-esecuted enterprise, advancing our lino three hundred yards on a front of eight hundred yards. The enemy, on the evening of March 14, after a heavy bombardment and a mine explosion, rushed some of our trenches south of St. Eloi. We recaptured them nest morning. The Flying .Corps has had further successes, a train at Don station being blown up on Saturday. (Rec. March 17, 8.10 p.m.) London, March 16. Sir John French's bulletin says: "Judging by the number of dead wo counted the German losses from March i 0 to March 13 at Neuve Chapelle cannot be less than from seventeen to eighteen thousand." HEAVY CASUALTIES AMONGST OFFICERS. (Rec. March 18, 0.15 a.m.) ' , , , , London, March 17. The British casualty lists already show that 191 officers aro amongst tho casualties at Neuve Chapelle fifty-nine of whom are dead. i TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER AT ST. ELOI DESPERATE BATTLE DESCRIBED. (Rec. March 17, 10.15 p.m.) , ' ' , ' Rotterdam, March 16. Huge batches of German wounded are arriving at Ostend, Bruges, and Roulers. They state, that the fight at St Eloi (south of Ypres) was a bloody and determined affair. Every fort and every street corner was a death-trap, and tho dead were piled so high in tho streets that they served as barricades for the living. t The British fought stubbornly against heavy odds, but were well supported by artillery placed on a low hill. The Germans were mowed down, but the British wore driven, back to the small canals by sheer woight of numbers. The German triumphs were short-lived. British reinforcements hurried up and were flung into the village, which was carried with tho bayonet. Tho slaughter was terrible. . The Germans replied by summoning more troops, which were billeted in the surrounding villages, and tho fighting raged round St. Eloi Hill x for two days.