In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 9, 12 January 1915, Page 5

In the West.

KITCHENER SAYS THE WAR "BEGINS IN MAY.” United Press 'Association. (Received 12.10 p.m.) Paris, January 11. An English officer told the French officers at mess that Lord Kitchener, when recently replying to a question as to when the war was going to end, replied: "I don’t know, but I know it’s going to begin in May.” GERMANS REPORT A SUCCESS. Amsterdam, January 11. A German communique says: "Wo captured 420 French in re-taking Burnhaupt. Many French dead and wounded were left in front of our position, and in the neighboring woods. The situation on the eastern front is unchanged.”

BITTER FIGHTING AT CERNAY. Paris, January 11. The French, entered Burnhaupt in order, to inflict the maximum loss on the Germans, and thereafter retired to their original position. The enemy suffered terribly. The French artillery wiped out an entire brigade, and then occupied the heights dominating Cernay, also the forest of Monnenbruch, southward of the town. There was) bitter fighting west of Cernay, severhl points being captured and re-captured. USE OF COLD STEEL. % Paris, January 11. “Eye-witness,” reverting to the British success in a surprise attack on the right centre, where a British officer and twenty-five men delivered a telling assault on the enemy’s trenches says the attack was well planned. The dashing Britishers crossed 200 yards of open ground, passed the sentries in the dark and gained the trendies. Not a shot was fired, the work being done in grim silence with the cold steel. The Britishers then diverted a ditchful of water into the trench, rendering it untenable. The enemy is now experiencing to a far greater extent than before the devastating effect of high explosives, which this war has proved to be the chief agent in destroying resistance. Once an aerial observer has notified the gunners of the position of the trenches, whole lengths of these are soon blown up, and the entanglements and every form of obstacle are swept away.

The Allies’ artillery is gradually assuming a. superiority over the German. THE MERCIER SENSATION. Koine, January 11. The Observatore Romano says the reports of Cardinal Mercier’s arrest are not exact, but tlie Pope is dissatisfied with tlie German Government’s statements to the Belgians, and displeased with the attitude of the Catholic Press, which refuses to rectify the inaccurate German statements. FRENCH PREMIER’S LOSS. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, January 11. M. Yiviani’s youngest son, who was a private, was killed while attacking the German trenches. Sons of four ex-Presidents of v France are now fighting. The Marquis j

MacMahon, who was promoted to be a general recently, is one, and he has also a brother, who is a commandant at the war. M. Sadi Carnot is in a fort near Paris. M. Claude CasirairPerier is an infantry officer, and was wounded recently, and M. Paul Loubet is an officer at Verdun.

FIGHTING ON SKIS IN THE SNOW (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, January 11. French Chasseurs in the. Alpines went into action at Orbey upon skis, capturing a German blockhouse, which was covered on the snow-clad hillsides, and bayoneted the defenders. ALLIES APPROACHING OSTEND. (Received 8.55 a.m.) Amsterdam, January 11. The Telegraf reports that the nearest Allied forces are nine miles from Ostend, and that German civilians are leaving. ARTISTS TO SECURE DRAWING OF THE WAR. (Received 9.15 a.m.) Paris, January 11. ( The Government has arranged for selected artists to visit the front and make a series of precise drawings, illustrating the history of the war. FRENCH ENCAGED IN VIOLENT FIGHTING.

(Received 9.15 a.m.) Paris, January 11

A communique states; After violent fighting, we seized a trench near La Boiselle. We repulsed a counterattack north-east of* Soissons, and then carried two trenches, ensuring complete possession of the spur on which the enemy were situated. We repulsed counter-attacks north of Perthes and captured more trenches. The German efforts to retake a redoubt north of Beausejour failed, with heavy losses, each attack being made with two battalions. THE NEW BELGIAN ARMY. TIMU AND BIJJWJt* OLLW Sbeviom. (Received 8 a.m.) London, January 11. The new army of the Belgians is numerically equal to the original army. It is in training at Normanby, and will shortly be ready for the field.

FRENCH AVIATOR AND OFFICER CAPTURED.

that their presence was not desired near the tiring line, hut it has never been made clear whether the appointment was a civil or a military one. ‘ ‘Eye-witness’ ’ is Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton, D. 5.0., ot the Royal Engineers. Biographical notes appearing in London journals credit him with having always had a taste for wilting. He made a name for himself in the South African war. He was attached to the Railway Pioneer Regiment, and his work carried him over a wide stretch of the country in which he saw a good deal of the fighting. Some of his experiences were committed to paper. “South Africa,” says one biographer, 'Taught him war in its reality, and he was one of those who profited by its lessons, while he could in addition show how they were to he learned.”