In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 96, 26 April 1915, Page 5

In the West.

FRENCH REPORT FROM THE YSER. UnITHD PhIBI A|»800> ATIOW. (Received 9.10 a.m.) Paris, April 25. ! A communique states; r llie FrenchBelgian counter-attacks continue successfully against two German army corps. The Germans continue to use. asphyxiating gases. We considerably progressed northwards on the right hank of the Yser Canal. The British repulsed the counter-attack mentioned in last communique and held, all the positions. The German division on the front, less one kilometre, bent hack the French line from Coloune to the Meuse height, hut a connier-attack swept back the Germans. A HUGE CEMETERY. ALLIES’ SUCCESSFUL AIR RAIDS. (Received 9.10 a-in.) Amsterdam. April 25. Tim Telegraat’s Holders correspondent states: The’lighting near Poelcapellc and Langemarck was the severest experienced. Thousands were buried in a huge cemetery near Moorslede, and the churches were filled witli wounded. The German artillery were posted south of Moorslede, with their horses attached to each gun ready to move. Owing to the Allies’ frequent successful air raids, the German plans embrace a strong attempt to cross the Yser and force a way to Fumes and Dunkirk. The Allied airmen make daily raids between the Yser and Bruges, including attacks on the airships at Gits, Lissowege, and Lecsthel. Many Germans were killed. The Germans heavily bombarded airman Gontrode, when be was flying east of Ghent. The airman allowed bis machine to fall rapidly upside down, and the Germans ceased fire, believing lie had been hit; suddenly ho righted the machine and threw bombs, damaging the airsheds, and escaped. GERMANS BOMB OWN OUTPOSTS. Paris, April 25. A Taube threw several bombs at Noyon, but they fell on the German outposts. The result is unknown. THE BLOOD YSER. HOTTEST FIGHT OF THE CAMPAIGN. London, April 24. The Daily Mail’s Rotterdam correspondent states that Germany is making an enormous effort to break the Allies’ line on the Yser, and is throwing every available man against them north of Ypres. Masses of troops are pouring through Brussels, and all the troops guarding the Dutch frontier have gone to the Yser. The battle is described as the bloodiest of the western campaign. The enemy’s losses in the last few days were tremendous. They advanced against the Allies’ trenches with desperate courage, new troops dashing forward over masses of dead and wounded. The German artillery was very effective, the expenditure of shells being prodigious. Correspondents agree that the present lighting in Flanders has become the biggest wherein the British army has engaged. It is calculated that Germany has rushed reinforcements equal to an army corps to Hill 60. i The British have massed a large force of artillery behind the position. Their latest surprise was a formidable array of machine-guns. The German losses were appalling. The area west of Bruges and Courtrai Road is full of German troops. Trains are still arriving from eastern Belgium.

Other troops have been marcher/ through Aix la Chapelle westerly continuously during the last throe clays. Other reports state that a hundred thousand Germans have been concentrated between Antwerp and Ghent during the last few days.

Hill (50 is a little over a hundred yards long. It is a perfect target for artillery. Hence the great British losses. Some of the German trenches are still virtually on the hill twenty yards from ours. Thus the front trenches are free from shell fire. The War Office states that fighting near Steenstraete continues. The Canadian division was forced to fall back and the enemy captured four 4.7 gens. Some hours later the Canadians, by a brilliant advance, recaptured the guns and took many prisoners. The Canadians suffered many casualties, but their gallantry and determination saved the situation. Official: Despite the French retirement to the canal at Boosinghe as the result of fumes, the British front remained intact, except on the extreme left, where it conforms to the now Kreneh line. Sir John French, in Ids official teport. says: The Germans heavily bombarded the French on our left on Thursday evening near Bixsehooce ai'l Langemark. The quantity of asphyxiating gases proves that long and dejliberate preparations had been made, j The Germans twice atta-ved cur lines, the last at Vpre s being r< pulsed. | Fighting continues north ol t pres. Official : The retirement at Boosinghe was not fraught with scrims eonsii-

C| lienees. Combined Aiig’oErenchBelgian progresses were made between. Steenstraete and Ypros, on the Iv-le-capelle road. Wo captured trenches at the forest of Apremont and found two hundred | dead. The artillery blew up two nn- ! munition depots in the rickety, am.ihilating a company. SCEMci AT HILL 60. |‘‘EYE'WITMESS” PRESENTS A FINE PEN PICTURE. (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] United Press Association. (Received 10.20 a.in.) London, April 25. “Eye-Wit ness” stales: Seven mines were fired simultaneously at Hill 00 on the 17th. Trendies and parallels of sand hag's disappeared, and the ground was torn into huge craters, which assumed strange shapes. Nothing was left of the occupants of the enemy’s line. There was an extraordinary scene in 1 lie neighbouring trenches, many Germans were surprised in their shirt sleeves, and without equipment, hejing sttinned and bewildered by tiie explosion. They were subjected to a rain of baud grenades, and panicked, cursing, shouting, and falling over one another in the tight for the exits, borne, terror-stricken, bayonetted their comrades m front of them, ihe Britishers’ bayonet charge burst through the maze of trenches, and poured into the craters. They pressed on till hauled up by barricades which were defended by bomb-throwers. The first hue of trenches was captured in a few minutes. Then the Real Struggle Began. The Germans quickly recovered from their surprise, and the whole of our position was soon obscured by the smoke of bursting shells. Meanwhile, our batteries supported the attack with a terrific artillery tire far into the night. Whilst our men were throwing up parapets, rendering the position defensible, Germans threw hand-grenades over the barricades, and also over the crater, to the sides of which the British were clinging and endeavoring to obtain a foothold. Hie fighting was continued throughout the night, and culminated early on the 18th with two German massed attacks, which were beaten oft. Though the hillside was piled with German corpses, the enemy continued the pressure during the whole of Sunday until we were gradually driven off the northern edge. Reinforcements arrived at six in the evening, and swept the Germans from the edge. Our Position was now Secure, and Sunday night was comparatively oniet. 'There was a severe cannonade 1 by both sides on Monday, the Germans heavily shelling all round Ypres. The Germans on Tuesday unmasked a formidable concentration of artillery. and the fire was a great deal heavier. An hour later, forty-two 85-centimetre guns bombarded \ pres, and fifteen children playing in the street, were killed : otherwise the casualties were small. German infantry advanced to Hill GO at 0.30 in the evening, and our machine guns again did tremendous execution, heating off the enemy. Another attack at eight o’clock was similarly beaten off: still The Germans Wouldn’t Admit Defeat. Throughout the night parties of hand-grenaders tried to drive us off the hill, and there were a! - teurnated bombardments by all kinds of artillery and trench mortars. On Wednesday morning, we held the position, except one point ; by three in the afternoon, Only a few German bomb-throw-ers were left. On the northeastern edge, the bombardment of the It'll was continued, and projectiles and asphyxiating gases rained upon the defenders till tin* evening, when the British firmly .entrenched. Officers who met the Prussian Guards on November II declare that the position on Hill GO was i far worse than then. For four j a ml half days, the enemy hurljed tons of melal and explosives ! into an area only 250 yards long and 200 yards dee]). At times Hie hill-lop was wreathed in poi'sonons fumes. The infanfrv

stood firm under a terrible fire, which swept whole sections and filled the trenches with corpses. The approach to the line was so encumbered that the reinforcements had to climb over their comrades' bodies.