WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1314, 22 October 1914, Page 3

WAR NEWS.

BELGIAN ARMY MAINTAINS POSITION.

RECENT NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.

BRILLIANT BRITISH MARKSMANSHIP.

ATTEMPT TO REPULSE ALLIES FAILS.

PROGRESS WADE. The following cable from the High Commissioner was received this morning :~ London, Oct. 20th, 7.5 p.m. Official. The Belgian army maintained a position on line of Yeer, where they were violently attacked. Action is taking place in region of Ypres, where the Allied force was engaged. The Germans continue to hold strongly advances to Lille in the direction of Armentenieries, Fouraes and La Bassoe. The enemy vainly attempted to repulse the Allies at the Meuse. Progress was made at various points of the front on the 19th. The Paris "Figaro” states that the Germans are finding Antwerp another Moscow. Their army is not benefiting by its occupation. The Kaiser is endeavouring to obtain American recognition of his rulership of Belgium. Japan has taken possession of some more of Germany’s possessions in the Pacific.

London, Oct. 20. Details of the sinking of the four German destroyers show that by fine seamanship the enemy were compelled, to fight. They faced the odds bravely, and opened fire at a range of five miles. Then the British closed in and began a running fight. While the cruiser Undaunted devoted attention to two destroyers the British destroyers made fine practice on the others. The Loyal quickly shot down a funnel and the wheel of one, and the Lance, Legion, and Lennox battered the other. The German gunnery is described as poor, and the British destroyers were almost unscathed. After half an hour’s fighting, the first of the enemy’s craft was sunk, and at intervals the others, still fighting gamely, were sunk, maintaining their fire until the end. The battle lasted ninety minutes. The Undaunted’s first wireless on Saturday read : “Pursuing four German destroyers.” The second read : “Sunk the lot.” The skipper of a Lowestoft trawler relates that he saw the destroyers off the Dutch coast. When the British appeared the destroyers opened fire, but the Britishers’ speed frustrated the move. The Undaunted fired her forward guns, and one destroyer was blown out of the water, while the rest sank rapidl}'. The Undaunted's marksmanship was excellent. Pieces of the enemy’s ships were blown high into the air. A survivor says the crew were informed that they were going to attack Portsmouth. Several Dutch steamers witnessed the fight, and a shell carried away part of the rigging of a Dutch trawler. MARITZ’S FORCE DEFEATED. Capetown, Oct. 20. A British column captured three of Maritz’s officers and seventy men, Four officers and forty men voluntarily surrendered, and volunteered for service with the Union forces. Many others announce a similar intention. It is reported that Maritz quarrelled with the Germans, who complain of his inaction. GERMAN TORPEDQER DESTROYED. Tokxo, Oct, 21. The German torpedoer A9O, which escaped from Tsingtao in the darkness, was found aground, and was destroyed, sixty miles south of Kaiochau.