OFFICIAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 54, 20 October 1914, Page 6

OFFICIAL.

f Pi« Puu Amooiasion 1

The Prime Minister has received the following, cable from the High Commissioner, dated London, October 18:

Officially—Sir John French forwards two lengthy despatches dated September 17 and" October 8, giving details of the progress of operations of the British, following the main points on August 28. General. Chetwode, with the sth encountered th© German column near Cerizy rnqying south.' The brigade attacked and routed, the column, the leading German regiment suffering very severe casualties, being almost broken ish retired ibo a position a. few miles north of. the, line Compeigne-Soissons. The right,flank, of the Germans was now reaching,the point and appeared seriously to endanger my line of communications with Havre. I had already evacuated Amiens, and orders had been given to change the base to St. Nazire and establish an advance at Lemans. This operation was well carried out in spite of a. severe retreat which was inflicted on the Tenth Guards and the Guard reserve corps of the Germans. It was not part of General Joffre's plan to pursue this advantage, and there was a general retirement to the line of the Marne. ;. On Ist September, when retiring from wooded country to the south of Cbmpeigne the first cavalry brigade was overtaken by German cavalry. ; -They momentarily lost the horse artillery with battery and seve'ral officers and men were killed and wounded. With the help of detachments from the. third corps, who came into operation on their left, they not

only recovered their own guns, But succeeded in capturing twelve of the enemy's guns. There was a, severe rearguard action at Villers Cotterets, in which the 4th Guards Brigade suffered considerably. The enemy had thrown over bridges and crossed the Marne in considerable force which was threatening the Allies all along the line. On September sth, the French Commander-in-Chief informed me of his intentions to take the offensive, and forthwith requested me to effect a change of front to my right, my left resting on the Marne, and my right on the fifth army to fill the gap between that army and the south. I was to advance against the enemy in front and join in a general offensive movement. These combined movements commenced on September 6th at sunrise and concluded in the evening of the 10th, by which time the Germans had been driven back to the line of Soissons-Eheims with the loss of thousands of prisoners, many guns, and enormous masses of transports. About September 3rd, the enemy appear to have changed thenplans. It was determined to stop his advance south direct upon Paris. I should conceive it was about noon of the 6th September, after the British had changed their front to the right and occupied the line Jouy-Le Chtftel-Faremoutiers-Villeneuve-Le Co. ote, it became apparent that the enemy realised the powerful threat being made against the flank of his columns moving south-east, and began to beat the retreat, which opened the battle. On September 7th, both the oth and 6th French armies were heavily engaged on our flank. The Germans on the Ourcq vigorously opposed the advance of the French towards that river. The French threw the enemy back to the Petit Morin Biver after inflicting severe losses, especially above Moutceaux, which was carried at the point of the bayonet. The enemy retreated before our advance, covered by his second (the '9th) and gurad cavalry divisions, which suffered severely. Our cavalry acted with great vigor, especially General de Lisle's brigade, with the 9th Lancers and 18th Hussars. On September 6th the 2nd army corps encountered considerable opposition, but drove back the enemy at all points with great loss, making considerable captures. The third army corps drove back considerable bodies of the enemy's infantry, and made' captures. On September 9th, the Ist and 2nd army corps forded a passage over the Marne and during the day's pursuit the enemy suffered heavy loss in killed and wounded. Some hundreds of prisoners fell into our hands. A battery of machine guns was captured by the second division. The fighting in the neighborhood of Montmirail was very severe. Thirteen guns, seven machine guns, two thousand prisoners and quantities of transport fell into our hands. The enemy left many dead on the field. Although. I deeply regret to have to report heavy losses in. killed and wounded, I do not think they have been excessive in view of the magnitude of the great fight and the demoralisation, and loss in killed and wounded known to have been caused to the enemy by the vigor and severity of our pursuit. From August 23rd to September 17th, from Mons back to the Seine and from the Seine to the Aisne the army tinder my command has been ceaselessly engaged without one single day's hale or rest of any kind.. ~