GERMAN ADVANCE TOO RAPID.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 707, 26 September 1914, Page 5

GERMAN ADVANCE TOO RAPID.

MORALE OF MEN BROKEN. GERMAN SOLDIER'S LETTER. . Wellington, Thursday. The following is taken from ths despatch forwarded by the High Commissioer from London, September 22nd:—So many letters and statements of our own wounded soldiers have been published in our newspapers that the following epistle from a German soldier of the 74th Infantry to his wife will be intaresting:— "I have just been living through days that defy imagination. I should never have thought men could stand it. Not a second has passed but my life has been in danger, yet not a hair of my head has been hurt. It was horrible, it was ghastly, but I have been saved for you and for our happiness, and I take heart again, although I am still terribly unnerved. "In September sth the enemy waß reported to be taking up a position near St. . Prix, near Paris. Our corps, which had made astonishingly rapid advance, of course, attacked. Steep slopes led up to heights which were held in considerable force. With our weak detachments of the 74th and 91 st Regiments we reached the crest, and came under a terrible artillery fire that mowed ua down! However, we entered St. Prix, and hardly had we done so than we were met with shell fke and a violent fusilade from the enemy's infantry. Our colonel was badly wounded. He is the third we have had. Fourteen men were killed round me. We got away oh a bill without being hit. "On the 7tb, Bth, and 9th we were constantly under shell and shrapnel fire, and suffered terribla losses. I was in a house which was hit several times. Our heavy artillery was being used for the sieee of Maubeuge. We wanted it badly, as the enemy had theirs in force, and kept up a. furious bombardment. For fuur days I was under artillery tire. It is like hell, but a thousand times worse. In the night of the 9th the order wag given to retreat, as it would have be-en mad ness to attempt to hold oar position with our few mew. The first and third armies had not been able to attack us, as we had advanced too rapidly. Our morale wag absolutely broken. In spite of unheard-of sacribfies we had achieved nothing. I cannot understand how our army after fighting three great battles, and being terribly weakened, waa sent against a position which the enemy had prepared for three weeks, but, naturally, I know nothing of the intentions of our chiefs. They eay that nothing has been lost. We retired towaris Cormontreail and Rheims by forced marches by day and night. "We hear that three armies are going to get into line, entrench, and rest and then start afresh our victorious march on Paris. It was not a defeat, but only a strategic retreat. Our first battalion, which fought with unparalleled bravery, is reduced from 12U0 to 194 men." ENORMOUS LOSSES REPORTED. London, Wednesday. Reuter's correspondent at Pariß reports that the wounded from the battlefield state that the Germans have lost so enormously that they cannot resist much longer. When Ihey were repulsed at Craonne on Sunday night they abandoned over 1000 wounded.