GERMAN ONSET AT YPRES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2461, 14 May 1915, Page 5

GERMAN ONSET AT YPRES

■ TERRIFIC ATTACK ON , BRITISH LINE ENEMY'S MASSED BATTALIONS • HURLED BACK BATTLE OF LA BASSEE . GERMANS OUT-MANOEUVRED HUN ATROCITIES PROVED' BRITISH COMMITTEE'S REPORT THE LUSITANIA CRIME , The Allies' battlefront from the Belgian coast down towards Arras is one long flame of artillery fire, under cover of which a series of terrific battles, attacks, and counterattacks is being fought to decide the main question as to whom shall control the Calais road, and incidentally, the essential questions of the possession of Ypres, La Bassee, and the German defences in front of Lille. The German assault on tho British line was a voritable avalanche of men and shells, and the enem.v, by sheer weight of numbers, pierced it, but no advantage occurred, and tho German battalions were literally pitch-forked out of their positions at the point of tho bayonet. Mean- ■ , while, Ypres i 6 safe, and the Yscr lino still holds. News from tho Eastern theatro is scanty; the Russians aro successfully dealing with tho German raid iiit-o tho Baltic province around Libau, while in tho Carpathians the German offensive is at present directed in frontal attacks on the Russian fortified positions on the Wisloka line, which positions, it is stated in a Russian communique, aro gradually being occupied. Public feeling over the sinking of the Lusitania is growing more intense, and there has been a series of dangerous riots in London and other- English towns. An American Note has been sent to Germany. ■ In the Dardanelles a desperate battlo is in progress, arid the Turks aro being hard pressed. GRIM CONFLICT AT LA BASSEE PANIC IN THE ENEMY'S LINES GERMANS PREPARE TO DEFEND LILLE (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) \ London, May 12. The battle at La Bassee threatens to be bloodier than that at Ypres. _ It is reported that during a desperate struggle in the last two days the British several times penetrated La Bassee suburbs along both the Bethuno and Festubert Roads. A large squadron of aviators succeeded in blowing up important works behind the enemy's line, and destroyed a large quantity of supplies. This created a panic, of which the British immediately took advantage. It is reported that the Germans were driven back to Harbourdin, along the Lille Road, but they re-formed and captured part of the lost ground. The enemy has completed twelve rings of strongly fortified entrenchments outside Lille, facing the Allies. Sanguinary Struggle Developing Along Whole Line, The fighting, from Arras to the sea, is developing into a sanguinary struggle. There is no official news, bub there is too much evidence that it has been terribly costly. All news is entirely favourable to the Allies. Hopes are running hich that the Germans have been checked along the Yssr, although floods no longer stop their advance. The enemy resumod the attacks on Ypres on May 10 with reckless disregard for life. Everywhere there was appalling slaughter. The British Tenewed' the attack on Aubers Ridge, driying out the Germans from the villages of Aubers and Fromelles, and gained a footing on the ridge, where they wore checked. Furious fighting continues. The Germans' extensive and successive earthworks masked machine-guns in ingenious concealments. Fighting with desperate courage and carrying cut bayonet charges with ■unusual dash, the British, with aggressive valour, helped the French to the southward, where the Allies were already established on a ridge owing to the French recapture of the villages of Vormelles, lost in December last. ENEMY RECOVERS PORTION OF THEIR LOST TRENCHES, i , . „m, „ , . Paris, May 12. A commumquo states: "The Germans, during a counter-attack last night recaptured from the French part of. tho Loos and Vermelles trenches, taken yesterday. We maintained our gains-.elsewhcre." ' VIOLENT FIGHTING NORTH OF'ABBAS. (Rec. May 13 8.40 p.m.) rim • i Tn_ , London, May 13. Omcial.—Jtagagemeuts # north of Arras continue with extreme violence. Th© enemy, "reinforced during the niplit. delivered several counter-attacks without result. They sustained particularly heavy losses at Nouville Saint Vaast, over two hundred dead Germans being found in a cemetery. "We progressed east of CJarcncy, airl took live hundred prisoners, making fcur thousand since Sunday." THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES GLORIOUS STAND BY THE BRITISH LINE. ("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) (Rec. May 12, 6.35 p.mO _ „ , . London, May 12. -The Times correspondent in North France reports that, t'lio third hattie for the possession of commencptl on Saturday. "The eneniy massed heavy artillery on the Ypres front, confident that this would effoct a cleavage of our lines. His heavy losses had taught him the formidableness of tho task. Still, 'Ypres jit all costs' was the prevailing order. "It was a furious bombardment. Tho air was filled with gases, and in hand-to-hand fighting the Germans sacrificed life in the most reckless manner. "The British held the line against tho avalanche with difficulty, the gloriously terrible_ features of the battle recalling tho days of lions. "Welcome British reinforcements arrived on Sunday! at the moment of the most violent attacks. The enenjjr boing l exhausted, our lino was reset. Tbis was made possiblo by a vigorous Allied offensive further south, in which tho Germans, were defeated. Our lossos were heavy, but theirs were heavier. "Ypres has not been takon, and tho door opening to the coast remains barred." < THRICE THREE THOUSAND GERMANS KILLED London, May 12. Renter's Paris correspondent st-pt"s that a wounded officer, referring to the taking prisoner of three thousand Germans, remarked: "We killed thrice that number." Another declared that 111911, v Gnrmnnis mi ciirrrndpJ'ing now fail on Olsir kiieus) and beg for meroy and pardon. The officers act similarly,

"THIRD COSTLY FAILURE OF THE ENEMY" The High Commissioner reports:— 1(Q . T , London, May 12, 10.10 p.m. air John Jirench reports that east of Ypres on Tuesday another Gorman attack south of the Menin Road was repulsed. This is the third costly failure of the enemy in this neighbourhood yesterday." TERRIFIC BATTLE DESCRIBED BY "EYE-WITNESS"

RACING INFERNO OF SHOT AND SHELL. HOW THE BRITISH SAVED YPRES. (Rac. May 13, 8.40 p.m.) „„ , . London, iky 12. Witness" writes:— "The Germans mado a big concentration before Ypres on Saturday under cover of a violent bombardment. The battle commenced at ten o'clock in the morning with a feint on the Ypres-Poolchapelle Road, the real intention Ul ?.rp? break °ur front in the vicinity of the Ypres-Roulers railway, i ■j,' l ®. Germans penetrated our front near Frebenberg (four miles northcast of lpres). Wo counter-attacked between Zonnebeke Road and the, railway, but tlie enemy's machine-guns soon checked the gallant advance of our men, t P' m '' en ®my attacked through the woods south ?ci -it 6111 ? while fresh troops in massed columns threatened our left north of Ypres. -The most desperate fighting ensued. The enemy graduho? i! U i S J sllO ' 1 a s ' !ort distance, despite repeated counter-attacks. . . Ihe fighting lasted throughout the night, with ever-increasing fury. It is impossible to say at what hour the line was broken, but at one time the iv® 1 ]?- s ln f nn trv poured through aloni? the Poelohapelle Road as far as Wieltje (one and a half miles west of Frezenberg). There was also, at nine 111 ovelllll Si a considerable gap on our front round Frezenberg. Counter-attacks were quickly organised at both points. The Germans on the east of the Salient were driven back to Frezenberg, where they mado a firm stand. Our counter-attack on the north-east salient at one o'clock on Sunday morning was more successful. We swept the enemy out of Wieltie with the bayonet, leaving tho village strewn with German dead; then we pushed on and regained the lost ground northwards of Wieltje.

Climax of the Battle. "The fight surged to and fro throughout the night. The sky was lit up cimi? es m K«ne and the blazing village and farms. There was a comparative lull, on Sunday, which 'enabled us to reorganise and consolidate on our new line. But the climax of the battle was reached in the afternoon, when the Germans launched five separate assaults on the east salient. Masses of. infantry were hurlerl south of the Menin Road in absolute desperation,'hut were beaten off with corresponding slaughter. a At one point five hundred of the enemy advanced from a' wood, hut not °£ S iiu rrf lian escaped. Tlie Germans at 6.30 endeavoured to storm the grounds of the Chateau Hooge. north of the Menin road, but the attack was broken under our hail of shrapnel. The around was literally heaped with dead, and. finally the enemy was unable to renew his efforts. . "Germans were seen stripping British dead in abandoned trenches, and were afterwards noticed to be dressed in khaki.

"The British losses have been comparatively slight. The Germans presented such a target that tlie action resolved itself into pure killing.

Whole Area Trembles With the Artillery Fire. # "Meanwhile an attack was developing at the Qunichy brickfields ruins, at Givenchy and Aubers Ridge. The.bombardment commenced at daybreak on Sunday, and soon the whole air was quivering with the rush of the largor shells, the earth shaking with the concussion of the guns. "At six o'clock our troops advanced between the Bois G,renter and Festubert, and stormed the first line of trenches north of Fromelles. "There was hand-to-hand fighting with baronets and hand-grenades, but we held our position the whole day. causing Germans very heavy losses when they repeatedly endeavoured to recapture the position. "Our advance north of Festuhert mot with considerable opposition, and was not pressed.

"Meanwhile, the French had remarkable successes north of Arras, advancing two to threo miles in a few hours.

"The British losses were nccessarilv heavy, owing to the nature of the fighting.

"Tito Ypres attack was due to a knowledge that we and the French wero preparing to advance. The attacki nt La Bassee and north of Arras -were intended to forestall our offensive- 1 Their failure' was due to the splendid endurance of the British troops, who held thoir lino under a firo which a<*ain and again hlott-ed out whole lengths of defences and killed scores. But "tho thinning band of survivors always built up the parapets and steadily awaited the next onslaught."