France

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 47, 12 October 1914, Page 3

France

TERRIBLE ARTILLERY. 1 FRIGHTFUL SCENES OF CARNAGE DESCRIBED. Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received 8 a.in.) 1 London, October 10. . A correspondent of the journal Debats says he has seen German trenches choked with corpses, which were frightly mutilated. Further away, several infantry regiments had been .entirely destroyed, the bodies forming heaps three feet high. This awful carnage was caused by the French 76-centimetre-guns. He says he had seen them destroy entire columns at 800 yards. Six horses could be interned in the hole the projectile makes. FRENCH GUNNERS PRAISED. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, October 10. The Times’ Paris correspondent says the wonderful qualities of the .French artillery are likely to become ( an outstanding feature of the struggle. A British soldier deck ed that “the French hig gnus are just the mst word. The. quick and ■ cute way., they .are handled is a treat to see. Their shooting beats anything there. I saw them score a hull every time. The French soldiers sneak- with affection of their 75-centimetre cannon and the skilfulness of the gunners m hiding the whereabouts of the batteries. For modern war,as developing into a game of hide-and-seek. . When the airmen signals the .p>,siiion of the enemy’s guns, the battery places a ‘smoker’ as ■ a pilot*- shot. Then-Test speedily get home, and the trenches or the battery are deci-.inked within six minutes.” A -German-, officer wrete that of a hundred French shells I hat he observed only three,event wide aof tie mark. THE DIN OF WAR, HEALING AND UNIFYING'INFLUENCE REMAINS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. (Received 8 a.m.) London, October 10. A correspondent, describing-the continuous din of artillery fire, says that at first'it presses with a leaden weight over title ears and head. After a time •Ton take-no notice, and when it ceases you are awakened by the silence and even feel a little dull without it. He adds: The French have suffered terribly. You can see it on the battlefield and in the long trains of wounded, 13,000 of whom have already passed through the doctors’ hands in Nancy.' Referring to the interest in religious services in th'e'-Frfenck’ armies, ho says the war brought to bear on the life of the - country a healing and unifying influence. 500 GERMAN PRISONERS SENT TO MOROCCO.' (Received 9.15 a.m.) Bordeaux, October IP ’ 1 Five hundred' German prisoners have been sent to Morocco. V- , -r. : ITHE NORTH-EAST. FIGHTING ENDS 1 ’ IN COMPLETE ROUT OF ENEMY. 1 London, October 10. On the fourth two German shells fell in the centre of I. lie, marking the beginning of the Germans.' desperate attempt to escape the encircling movement. The shells, waich aid little damage, were fired by batteries on the extreme left of a new force which had advanced from the Belgian frontier and formed a crescent line lying roughly between Tt,locoing and- Armontieres. A v;olent series of engagements followed, between about 10,000 of the enemy and the infantry garrisoning Lille. Savage fighting continued in the streets and on the boulevards on the eastern outskirts all Sunday until Monday When the enemy was finally repulsed'.

On Tuesday a gallant fight raged between the French and a big, army stretching along the whole eastern, northern, and north-western suburbs of Filler. The battle raged alt day and well into the night. The French guns wrought terrible havdc, and the slaughter was of the-ghastliest description. Germans' were mown down in hundreds. Their infantry fire was feeble, though if.sounded incessantly. This is taken to indicate that their whole transport- has broken down seriously along the northern Belgian linos of communication. The day ended in a complete rout of the enemy. The Frbnch fought with magnificent dash and courage. The German army'af Armentieres and Tureoing, intended to cover the flank of the main body advancing cm Lille and Arras, was driven back 13 miles.

On Wednesday the French artillery came within a few kilometres of Lens. They fired straight over the town, and bombarded the German positions near the village of Hoison and neat them back north-eastward with heavy losses. On Thursday the Germans evacuated the Lille district and retired from Bcthunc <to the north-east. Two French' divisions, with a Territorial division, held, positions at Arras for several days against -•- whelming odds until reb' r > arrived, though their ’ -s were heavy. The " » soundly beaten. Tl! « French reff- ••cements, when near; '■f A rvft-c cnoountcred • a largo, fore cf Gorman-;, The frontal attack f.aling,' a large force of the

Fj’bndi wont to the llalik, while tiio centre was engaged, and rushed the trenches, making prisoners of 900. Fifteen spies masquerading as Frenchmen were found in a factory near Lille. They took shelter on the lofty chimneys, and all were shot oil, though screaming allegiance to France. IN THE CENTRE. CAVALRY SKIRMISHING. Paris, October 10. A communique on the evening of the 9th reports further'severe fighting in the Roye region, where the Allies on Thursday and Friday took 1009 prisoners. An official communique stag’s that the general situation is uimluinged. Opposing cavalry forces are -till operating, in the north hills. The battle continues along the line from Lous, Arras, Braysur-Somme, * 'Aminos, Roye, and Lassigny. There has been only isolated fighting in the centre. There has • been an artillery fight along the line at Woeuvre, hut the position is unchanged elsewhere. Paris, October 11. An official communique says: The battle continues in our ••favour, and our whole front is maintained, despite the enemy’s violent attacks at .several points. Fighting between opposing cavalry forces s somewhat confused, owiiig to the nature of t*e ground. We have secured real advantages at several points north of Oise, and have appreciably progressed in the St. Michael region. FRENCH MINE GERMAN POSITIONS. * Paris, October 11. The Germans north of Soissons hade been strongly . po,sted in fortified posts called “the mushroom hods’’ since the ■ beginning' of the siege. French troops failed to dislodge them, suffering severe losses) The commander then ordered the attack to cease. Entrenchments were dug-two hundred (?) yards from the Germans, and the French engineers mined the intervening space until it was possible to fire heavy charges of dynamise, killing five hundred Germans holding the trench’es. / ■a— BCg-.WJ.mi p