France.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 30, 22 September 1914, Page 5

France.

BATTLE OF THE AISNE.

THE OFFICIAL POSITION.

[By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [United Press (Association.] (Received 9.40 a.m. ) Paris, September 21.

Official.—The left wing below Soissons was vigorously attacked by 'h superior force and gave ground, which was almost immediately reconquered. On the right bank of the Oise we continued progress Northward to Rheims, repulsing M .attacks,, .In the .pentre. eastward of Rheims our attacks further progressed. In the Argoune, the situation is unchanged. In the Woevre rains rendered the movement of troops very difficult. THE TURCOS AND SENEGALESE >FICHT "LIKE HELL." MANY GERMAN OUTRAGES. London, September 20. Mr Harding Davis, war correspondent, describes the Turcos and Senegalese as the fiercest fighters of all. In the trenches taken from the Ger-

man Guards and Death's Head Hussars, the Germans showed no bullet wounds, their assailants using only the butts of their rifles and their bayonets. Man for man, no white man drugged for years with meat and alcohol is a physical match for these Turcos, fed on dates and water. They are lean, starved wolves, who more like panthers, being all muscles and nerves. The French commanders almost invariably use them to lead the charges. Captain Davis found in the trenches at Soissons German bayonets with saw-edges, though they are forbidden by the laws of, war. They bore the Government stamp, and the word "Erfurt."

A Frenchman states that while lying wounded on the battlefield, a German sergeant pointed a. revolver at him. The Frenchman shielded his eyes with his hands, but the German fired through the man's fingers and put out his eyes. A Frenchman was attending three wounded comrades when a German held the Frenchman's band in front of his rifle and blew it off.

It is stated that the young Germans display the greatest heartlessness, the older being sympathetic. Gabriel Dannanzio, who visited the battlefields of the Marne and Aisne, says -that the things he saw were so terrible that no vengeance on the Germans would be too harsh. ENEMY MADE NICHT ATTACK DURING HEAVY RAIN. London, September 21. The ground in front of the British trenches was strewn with dead. Each attack strengthens the lesson of the folly of attempting to rush the entrenched British. The enemy's night attack in the effort to pierce, the' line covering Soissons was' made during tremendous rain. It was impossible to see more than a yard or two ahead. The British were asleep, but the outposts gave timely warning, and'a hot fire thinned the advancing line. The bayonet put the issue beyond doubt. GERMANS' POSITION SECURE FOR THREE MONTHS.

Paris, September 21. The Germans declare that they can

hold the Aisne position for three months. There is a natural fortress of hills, woods and quarries, and they have had time to strengthen these about Soissons. The enemy's position is practically unassailable from the front, but their communications aro by no means secure. FIGHTING IN THE FLOODED TRENCHES. Paris, September 21. The Allied troops 'at Aisne were fighting waist-deep in water in the flooded trenches.

A!t Verdrines an aeroplane destroyed With a mitrailleuse a Taube aeroplane which was flying over the French lines.'

; From the sound of the cannonading, lit is evident that the Germans have brought up heavier guns, which they have established in position against the old forts at Conde-sur-Aisne, which are defended by up-to-date artillery. LOSSES ENORMOUSLY HEAVY ON BOTH SIDES. Paris, September 21. A British cavalry officer declares I that the fighting at Aisne was desper!ate, especially in the neighborhood of jLaon, where the Germans eoncentn't|ed their main efforts against the i British. The latter's infantry was jmagnificent. The Germans, in great I force, made nine counter-attacks, all of which were repulsed. The British losses were heavy, but the Ger:man losses ton times as heavy. So enormous were they that she can have few fresh troops to replace them j The French captured eighty officers | and men of the German Guard, all dead drunk in a village. jH&AVY FIGHTING AND HEAVY CANNON. ' Paris, September 21. A lieutenant of the 2Gth artillery regiment said that the 10th army corps had been constantly fighting since the 'Manning of the campaign, and almost 'ill the horses had been killed. The Germans are fighting daily from five o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening without eathijj or drinking. So far the Germans hav; had the advantage of heavy artillery, but the British have captured or destroyed three 11-inch guns mounted on concrete emplacements, and Front'}] guns of heavy calibre arc hurrying to the front. The bulk of the fighting ilong General French's command has* been done in enclosed country, consequently for the most part it has been •in artillery battle. The gun fire «,n both sides has been appalling. The Germans' attempt to break our front where it stretches from east to west along the Aisne failed. The enemy's loss was enormous, estimated at five to one.

It is reported that three German:* crept close feo the British gun positions on the battlefield. A sergeant shot two, and the third surrendered. The men were id the act of telephoning the length of the wire paid out, to give the enemy the range. Paris, September 21.

The 6th French army corps, under General Marnoury, threatens the German right flank. The latter's halfhearted counter-attacks have failed signally.

Many prisoners captured have been living on raw turnips and potatoes. , The speed with which the French followed fugitives was terrific. ini some places thirty hours' start was! overtaken. When the French entered Crecv and Envalvis, the Germans were J

surprised in packing shells, of which the French exploded five thousand. The French advance on the left is highly import.wit, as General von Tech's Hank is now exposed. Large numbers of Germans detached from their regiments are sheltering in the woods on the line of retreat. Battues are arranged daily to catch them. Many have been without food for five days, excepting beetroot.

THE MAUBEUGE FORTS.

NO OFFICIAL NEWS

Paris, September 21

The French Government has received no confirmation of the surrender of those Maubeuge forts which were not destroyed.

Official.—The Saxon army has been broken up, and General Von Hansen relieved of the command, which is now being reorganised. -

CCURT-MARTIALLED AND OR-

DERED TO BE SHOT.

(Received 9.10 a.m.) Paris, September 21. Germans blew np a railway bridge near Etaples. The Germans caught at Eissel wearing French uniforms and attempting to blow up a bridge, were conrtmartialled and ordered to be shot.

RHEIMS CATHEDRAL.

BOMBARDMENT OF RHEIMS. Paris, September 21. The Rkeims Cathedral was razed to the ground. The Government is protesting to the Towers concerning the German vandalism. HISTORIC TOWN NOTHING BUT A MASS OF RUINS.

(Received 8.50 a.m.) New York, September 21. Advices from Bordeaux state that Rbeims is a mass of ruins, the colleges and public buildings in addition to the Cathedral having been destroyed.

(The most remarkable public building of Rheims is the Cathedral, a vast Gothic edifico of the 13th century and one of the finest specimens of that kind of architecture in France. The nave is 4C6 feet long and 99 feet wide; the transept 100 feet long and 111 feet high. The western front and "Angel tower" are of great beauty. Clovis was baptised here after the battle of Tolbiac in 196. In 1179 Philip Augustus was here consecrated, and all his successors till the revolution of 1830, with the exception of Henry IV, Napoleon I, and Louis XVII.) AN OFFICIAL LIE ABOUT THE CATHEDRAL. (Received 10.30 a.m.) Amsterdam, September. 21.

A German official communique says: The French at Rheims compelled us to reply to their fire. We regret the city was damaged, but orders were issued to spare the Cathedral as much as possible.

"ROBBING HUMANITY."

(Received 12.10 p.m.) Sydney, September 22.

M. Delcasse cabled to the French Consul stating that he is protesting against the German vandalism in the destruction of the Rheims cathedral, tints robbing humanity of an incomparable portion of its artistic inheritage.

ENORMOUS LOSSES,

OVER 30,000 AT LUNEVILLE AND

NANCY.

(Received 9.10 a.m.) Paris, September 21

When the Germans captured Luneville on August 24th they lost 11,000, while they lost 20,000 at Nancy on September 6 and 7.

"IT WAS TERRSBLE!"

EACH BRITISHER IN A DUG-OUT

CREEPING AND DIGGING.

(Received 9.10 a.m.) London, September 21

Late on Thursday the valley of the Aisne presented a terrible spectacle. The ground was strewn with dead. The nations' dead and horses lay in inextricablo confusion, along with broken machine guns, foundered cannon, and the scattered accoutrements of a battle nearly a week old. The Allies had advanced foot by foot, while shot and shell poured on them like an avalanche, yet they forced the Germans back towards Noyon. It was terrible. "The fellows had seen nothing like it!" was the Frenchmen's comments on the doggeduess of the British fighting. On the slopes above Soissons, the British fought in open order, each man in a little dug-out, creeping and digging as they went. The Germans poured shells into them, but their resistance took the spirit out of the enemy.

BACKING FROMTIERWARDS

FURIOUS BATTLE PROCEEDING,

(Received 9.10 a.m.) London, September 21. A furious battle is proceeding east of Peronno between Roissel and St. Quentin. The French left is endeavoring to cut the enemy 1 retreat towards Belgium. It is rumored at Amiens that the Germans were beaten, their artillery slackening on account of the ammunition giving out.

FURTHER REPORTS OF THE ENEMY'S RETIREMENT.

(Received 9.40 a.m.) Geneva, September 21. It is reported at Basle that the German right wing is slowly retiring

in good order . towards the Belgian frontier.

PRUSSIAN BARBARIANS.

KILLED THE CATTLE OR CUT OFF THEIR FEET.

(Received 10.30 a.m.)

London, September 21 (morning.)

A .Frenchman, formerly at Oxford, writes to an English friend stating that when the Germans abandoned the villages they destroyed everything and killed all the cattle or else cut off their feet. WITH THE AIRCRAFT.

GERMAN AIRMEN'S BAD MISTAKE.

(Received 9.40 a.m.) London, September 21. A German airman, mistaking the German guns at Nois do Casturan for the British, dropped a bomb, killing thirty Germans.