Battle of Aitkirsch

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 94, 11 August 1914, Page 5

Battle of Aitkirsch

A LIVELY CAVALRY ENGAGEMENT. FRENCH SHOW SUPERIORITY. ALSATIANS CREAM OF BAYONET CHARGES. (Received 8.50 a.m.) Paris, August 9. ; There have been lively cavalry engagements in the south, the French ;showing their superiority as the following incident shows: A German 'patrol pffienr with 22 Uhlans met a French patrol of officers and seven mounted chasseurs. The Germans hesitated, and the French officers dashling forward at full gallop killed the |German officer, and the 22 Uhlans fled in disorder, abandoning the officer's body. The Minister of War desires that the importance of the Mulhausen engagement should not be exaggerated, the fight with advance guards consisting of a division a piece. It is significant that the German!; still fear the bayonet as in the revolutionary wars. ' General writing to the Minister of War a fer.' clrys ago, said: "The men speak not of decimating the enemy with gun and rifle, but with fierce bayematv charges. They dream of bayonet charges.''

FRENCH AVIATOR WOUNDED. GERMAN HOTELKEEPER SHOT AS A SPY. (Received 9.10 a.m.) Paris, August 10. During the French advance on Altkirch, a French aeroplane was riddled with bullets, and the , aviator was wounded in the thigh, but lie reached Belfort. A German hotelkeeper at Paris was shot on account of a wireless equipment being discovered on his roof. FRENCH INFANTRYMEN SHOW MAGNIFICENT PLUCK. BAYONETS AT THE MOUTHS OF the cum. (Received 9.35 a.m.) Paris, August 9. It is officially stated', that a French brigade at nightfall reached Altkirch, which was defended,b;v i (strong ,earthworks. The French immediately as* saulted.«with"magnmccilt pluck. One infantry; |regiment with, a furious charge carried the entrenchments with the bayonet. The Germans tied, even abandoning a second line of works which might have been held. Altkiroii rang with shouts of joy when the French entered. Old men who had seen 1870 embraced. French Dragoons followed the flying Germans towards Waltheain, Lagolsheim and Illfurt, inflicting heavy loss. The Frencn losses were not excessive considering the result. ~, . < .• ; Mulhaiisen, which is not fortified,; was occupied in less than an hour, cavalry dashing through at full gallop, pursuing the (.erman reavgaard, who set fire to many buildings, especially provision shops and fodder stores. The Germans are now at Neubriesach, which is permanently fortified and commands the Rhine valley. Other accounts show that the French hayonters dashed forward like madmen to the very mouths of the guns and shovelled the Germans out of the trenches. )

GERMANY'S POSITION GRAVELY INVOLVED. MANOEUVRES ON THE MEUSE. (Received 9.35 a.m.) Brussels, August 9. The fact that two of Austria's finest ;inny corps, the fourteenth, from Immisbruiclc, and the third from Fraz, ;i re being brought to the Rhine, is re>;!rded as proof that Germany's position is gravely involved by the failure ;it Liege. The report of the surrender of seven Herman regiments is unconfirmed, but the cavalry was severely handled, losing many. The enterprise of the German scouts is amazing. One of thft prisoners said he rode seventy kilometres. The method is to ride in small parties with the object of seizing a passage on the Meuse. None of the 'attempts have succeeded. A German pontoon bridge on the Meuse was shot away, the Nineteenth and Twenty-fifth Regiments supporting the bridge builders, being mown down by quickfiring guns. Forty thousand Belgian volunteers have offeree]) alH ' have been formed into twenty special regiments.

REPORTED CAPTURE OF WARSAW. POSITION IN THE NORTH SEA. (Received 0.0 a.m.) London, August 10. A st'itemenf emanating from iluvm thai Warsaw litid been captured is regarded as ridiculous. Tlie D lily Mail -nys tint thg Biitisli fleet holds the Xorth ." .- • rnlv and .'! ; maritime approaches to tJernmuy a:.-: new closed. No fighting is reported by the Admiralty. The King and Queen have ordered it plain and simple living to bo the dailv rule at the Royal table,