France

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 45, 9 October 1914, Page 5

France

UNKNOWN HEROES. GERMAN FLAG PRESENTED TO SIR JOHN FRENCH. (Received 8.50 a.m.) Paris, October 8. ! Official.—The German flag found yesterday under some dead bodies in a trench where the British fought on September 15th lias been handed to Sir John French. FORCES) OPPOSED BY OVER MILI LION AND A-HALF MEN. Paris, Octoer 7. Official.—Except on the two wings, where a German attack was repulsed, there is almost complete calm on the rest of the front. On the left wing tho German cavalry has been held to the north. of Lille, where they were driven back, while the ground previously yielded between Chulrres and Roye was recovered. The official statement adds: The forces engaged against us consist of twenty-three active army corps and eighteen of the reserve (1,692,000 men), not including a number of divisions of Landwehr and Landstrum. ON THE BELGIAN FRONTIER. Paris, October 7. Official.—The battle on the left continues with great violence, the opposing fronts extending to the regions of Lens and Labasse, prolonged by masses of cavalry in action as far as the Armentieres district. (Lens. —A town in the department

of Pas do Calais, 17 miles by rail south-west of Lille, and 10 miles north-north-east of Arras, on the river Deule, in an important coalfield.) (Armentieros. —A town in the department of Nord, on the river Lys, 10 miles north-west of Lille, close to the Belgian fronier). GERMAN STRATEGY. COVERED TRANSPORT WAGGONS PACKED WITH TROOPS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, October 8. The airmen sent to reconnoitre the German lines at Aisne reported that there were no abnormal movements excepting that there was an enormous number of transports proceeding rapid-

ly to the front. Headquarters considered that this was insufficient to justify a counterstroe, but on the following morning an airman discovered that three army corps had arrived during the night, and had assumed positions for attack. It was ohvious, then, that the covered transport waggons noticed on the previous evening had been packed with troops. The Allies took the necessary measures and repulsed the German's attack with heavy losses. To their intense surprise on another occasion, two German army corps were observed marching towards the woods at Vermont. One joined the troops at St. Quentain, and the other vanished. It was supposed they concealed themselves in the woods, and probably left in small detachments and reassembled at a rendevous. Similar disappearances have occurred on several occasions. t DOUAI FIRED. GERMANS IN THEIR RETREAT BURN THE VILLAGES. (Received 10.10 a.m.) London, October 8. The Daily Mail's Ostend correspondent states that two army corps are reinforcing the German right. A large force of Germans was seen on Monday advancing from Steenvoords on Haerdronck. The Germans occupied Douai, which is north of Lille in the north-east of France, on Thursday. They treated the inhabitants to the greatest rigor on the pretext that they fired on the troops. Forty houses were burnt down and many of the neighboring villages were razjed. —■— n< mi ■tin——