FIERGEST BATTLE OF THE WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1385, 13 April 1915, Page 4

FIERGEST BATTLE OF THE WAR.

HINDENHKUO'S FEKIOI'.S ATTACK NOTHING LIKE IT IN HISTORY.

The greatest- battle of the war was being waged early in February on the l!/.iira and Ravvka rivers to the west of Warsaw. Von Hindmtberg. easting aside all oilier considerations. was utilising all the forces of men and guns at his command lo smash his way through to the Polish capital. The losses were enormous. There had been nothing like it in modern warfare. The German onslaught, as we know, was a failure. All the accounts from lie eon. s(jond"iu s of London papers agree in regaining the battle as one of the hloodie-.i in aim whole course of the war. We ipiote the following: LIKE OR DEATH. “The Germans are attacking with the hayoimt in dense masses from ten to twenty-two men deep, under an awful shrapnel and machine-gun lire, the bodies of their slain blocking the path of their advance. “The world has never hitherto seen such fighting, and ihe fact that the Germans are resorting to these methods shows that success at this moment is for them a (pleation of life or death. The Warsaw correspondent of the Novoo Vivniya wit nested the fighting at Hiimin on this from. Tim strength of the artillery lire (tint) gnus), he says, is unprecedented, the explosions of the ’Jack .Johnsons' and of the machine guns merging into a continuous roar, which makes the earth shake.’’--Times. SENT TO THE SLAUGHTER. “Never have the Gormans been more prodigal with blood and ammunition. Eight ing goes on day and night, without cessation, hut the enemy makes use of the hours of dusk or twilight for his most determined efforts to push his infantry forward to the Russian trenches. As is pointed out here, military science is playing no pari whatever in the present tactics of Von H iudenher.g.

"Ho is relying solely on tin- reckless expenditure ol’ the lives of his sheep-like soldiers Mild a hurricane of shells to hatter his way through our Allies’ front. liegimeius lire extermiinited or Hung buck in shaken Mild useless remnants,, fresh units are rutliless’ly driven fonvanl .to take their phiees, and a constant stream of reinforcements keeps pouring up from the rear. "Whole ranks are swept away by held and machine onus, mj thru not a man remains alive or uninjured.”Telegraph. LIKE WHITE ANTS. ‘'This last attack of the Germans (■('presents something never before witnessed since breoc-hloading rilles were invented. Even a cavalry charge of the old days inadeijuatelv illustrates what the Germans attempted at JJorr.iniolf. for cavalry work was completed by infantry. Perhaps a nearer comparison is i" a tnareh of locusts, white ants, or rats on the move, the last being a terrifying thing to witness in its suggest ion of elemental impulse, ‘‘Sneh a movement the Germans attempted. On a front of seven miles the Germans moved seven, divisions oi infantry. Several divisions were mussed solid in one place on the front less than twelve hundred yards wide. They were, according to prisoners' stories, christened by the enemy ‘the div isions of death.' and have duly earned their name.”—Monday; .Post. ITGHTLVG IX PHALANX, "'Noth ilia, ilk. ihe method ol llie German advance has been seen since tiie Macedonian phalanx. This was Id men deep, and the force was irresistible, Tin' German columns are not more than eight or ten deep, but their numbers are infinitely greater than those employed in the ancient wars. The density Hi their attack formation may be estiMinted from the fact that, if the whole force advanced shoulder lo shoulder it would cover a front of some forty miles instead of between six and seven. Their advance has been brought to a standstill and they have been obliged to act- on the defensive. Their heavy tidal wave has been rolled back, leaving a ghastly trail of crimson snow where there have been losses which are reported to be enormous. -.Daily Midi.