In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 64, 18 March 1915, Page 5

In the West

LATEST GERMAN CHORUS: “WAIT FOR THE WAGGON!” (Received 9.25 a.m.) Paris, March 17. Lo Matin says that Germany, when preparing lor war, ordered 8000 motor wagons from an American company lor the purpose of transporting troops from one front to another. Thanks to the Allies’ fleets, the wagons have not reached their destination. FRENCH PROGRESS REPORT. (Received 9.5 a.m.) Paris, March 17. A cmmunique states: The Belgians further progrescd and repulsed a coun-ter-attack. The British front was subjected to a violent artillery cannonade. We captured an important eminence along a front of 500 metres north of Mesnil, and repulsed several counterattacks between Bolante and Four do Paris. A French aviator bombed the barracks at Colmar. NIEUPORT FURIOUSLY BOMBARDED BY THE ENEMY. (Received 8.45 a.m.) Paris, March 17. The Germans are furiously bombarding Nieuport with 16-inch howitzers. \ FRENCH METHODS OF WARFARE CHALLENGED. Times and Sydney Sun Service. (Received 8.0 a.m.) London, March 17. Berlin officially accuses the French of using a hand grenade which emits poisonous vapors, and explosive bullets which generate flames upon impact.

NURSE MAUNDER, OF RANCITIKEI. DECORATED IN FRANCE BY KING ALBERT. (Received 1.30 p.m.) Paris, March 17. King Albert, at Havre, decorated Nurse Maunder, of Rangitikei, with the Order of Leopold for services in tire Belgian Army. DETERMINED WORK AT ST. ELOI Rotterdam, March 17. Huge hatches of' German wounded are arriving at Ostend, Bruges and Roulers. They state that the fight at St. Eloi was bloody and determined. Every foot and every corner was a deathtrap, and dead were piled so high in the streets that they served as barricades for the living. The British fought stubbornly against heavy odds, but were well supported by artillerjy placed on low hills. The Germans were mowed down, but still the Biitish veie driven back to the small canals by sheer weight of numbers. The German triumph was short-lived. The British hurried up reinforcements and flung them on the village, which was carried at the point of the bayonet. Tire slaughter was terrible.' The Germans replied by summoning more troops, which wore, billeted in the surrounding villages. The fighting raged on St. Eloi hill for two days. THE FIGHTING BELGIANS'. London, March 17. The Daily Chronicle’s Calais correspondent reports that the Belgians crossed the Yser between Dixmude and St. Georges, after determined pathbuilding for months under fire. When these were completed the artillery forced the Germans to evacuate five miles of trenches, which the Belgians occupied. WITH THE WOUNDED IN- GERMANY. Times and Sydney Sun Service. London, (March 17.

The Times correspondent, who has returned fronn Germany, says that despite the manifest preparations for most contingencies Germany was not prepared for the vast numbers of wounded. Already (00,000 had been treated, and every available building, including the Royal villas, had been, utilised. He visited a royal residence where iron bedsteads were crowded against the great mirrors of a ballroom resplendent in gold mountings and Venetian chandeliers. Wolfhounds had been extensively used in finding the wounded, who instinctively seek shelter. Red Cross trains of fifty carriages, with sixteen beds in each, travel at snail’s pace.

A doctor, discussing psychology in the sickroom, declared: “An Iron Cross man never dies if he can possibly help it.” The nurses are pretty gills, in neat costumes, giving an air of coquetry, which is deemed helpful to the patients. The death rate is less than two per cent., and sixty per cent, of the early wounded have rejoined the ranks. The Russian slimnosed speedy bullet is considered the most humane, gangrene after it being almost unknown. Shrapnel . causes the greatest lacerations. Wounded prisoners are treated in dreary hospitals. They know they arc not wanted, the cheerful atmosphere of the other hospitals being painfully wanting. All the nurses are males, and the patient feels the want of a nurse’s hand. When a prisoner dies he is buried witli military honours. Cpon the coffin is a ribbon inscribed “To the brave warrior.” A wooden

cross of identification and a wreath are placed above the grave, and n

volley fired, exactly the same cereii;jay as at the burial of Germans, MISCELLANEOUS. Paris, .March 17. Gorman night attacks on Notre Dame de Lorette and Vauquois were repulsed. Three attacks on Pols le Pretre were repulsed. London, March 17. The British lists already show 191 officers amongst the casualties at .Veuve Chapolle, including fifty-nine dead. Calais, March 17. A fantastic and uncanny feature of the fighting in Franco and Flanders, is the extensive use of illuminating rockets. The Germans initiated the system, fearing bayonet night attacks. Soldiers with pistols shoot the rockets some hundred yards high. The cotton fuse ignites an illuminating mixture, which blazes like Bengal fire and simultaneously liberates small parachutes which sustain the rockets in the air for a considerable time.