In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 14, 17 May 1915, Page 7

In the West

ALLIES PROGRESS NORTH OF ARRAS.

The High Commissioner rq>orts,u'ider date Loudon, loth May (4.35 p.ai) The Allies progressed SUU metres north of Anus in the direction of the sugar refineries. There is reciprocal violent bombardment at this sector. Paris reports:—North of Ypres wo attacked part of Steenstraate, capturing three machine guns and fifty prisoners. North of Arras fresh progress was made, and more houses were caplured at Xeuville and St. Vaast. WESTERN CASUALTY LIST. London, 16th May, 1.40 a.m. Army officers killed 75, wounded 117, gassed 1, missing 22. Men killed 218, wounded 321. FIGHTING ROUND YPRES. j Amsterdam, May 15. «

Telegrams from Bruges «tate that i\\c German wounded assert that the litnation at Ypres is critical. They reached within half an hour's walk if the town, but the British drove them back. The butchery was terrible, and the streams of German wound, •d arriving at Courtrai and Roulers are enormous.

Many civilians at Elevdinghe, Boisnghe, and Namertinghe have died of itiinorrhage of the lungs, clue to thv jjnisonous gases.

Though the battle of Ypres continues bloodily, the enemy now shows signs of weakening. They are also firing before the Allies' vigorous attacks further south, and are also exhausted by the ferocious efforts of the .Jritish. The British vigorously advanced past Ypres and recaptured some /round lost earlier in the week. Oriels were given for a bayonet charge. Due rush carried these trenches, and then the second line, with a suddenness of onslaught that bewildered the Jermans. Most of them fled in terror before the bayonet, and the remainder were swiftly despatched. The French swept onward and breasted the hill. When half-way up, the dreadful rifle-fire from the crest checked ohe charge, and the French sought cover. 'Obtaining little, however, they suffered terribly, but the 75's reopened, silencing the enemy's fire and tearing up the entanglements. The charge was then resumed under a murderous flanking fire to the ruined entanglements, where a fresh terror awaited. Holes had been dug every yard, and in each was a bayonet. The French paused after a weary four hours' uphill struggle, and the enemy msVied up masses of reserves. The French artillery made gape, but tne German* swarmed on the hilltop. The French carried another trench and pressed an for a hundred metres, when a fresh rtofm broke from the enemy's mitrailleuses. The French fell back and rested for the night. They refought for the hilltop on Monday all day, and victory came on Tuesday, when a double turning movement reached the goal.

.'FOGRE?S r .EFCRTS. Paris. May 15. Official: Our offensive north of Arras continues. We attacked southwest of Andrea, on the road from Aixonlettes to Sonchez, carrying trenches a kilometre long, also a defended wood and a second line trench, where we found four hundred German dead. We have captured twenty guns and one hundred machine-guns since Sunday. The German offensive has reached a desperate phase, and continues to Iturl reckless attacks with, disastrous results from our rifle-fire and machine

guns. The British are strengthening their hold on Hill 60, which has been the stumbling block of the German plans during the last three weeks. The plain before Ypres is a charnel house of German dead. The British line was recently reinforced, and is now. stronger than ever. The British are astonishing their own officers by their coolness and daring. A French officer declared their bearing to be miraculous.

Official: Two thousand Germans were taken prisoner at Carency, which was defended by lour lines of trenches. Every house was fortified and there were subterranean passages connecting with cellars. Carency has been a dangerous salient throughout the winter. Prior to the infantry attack on the 9th, 20,000 projectiles shattered Carency. The French rushed up with furious elan and captured three lines of trenches. We attacked again on the 10th. Companies cleverly advanced in small groups, but carried away by ardor they advanced beyond the distance ordered. They crossed the Sonchess Road and lost rather seriously, being unable to maintain themselves on the border road. The problem on the Uth was to destroy the trench which enabled the Germans to pass any locality with absolute security. After a fight the French captured a wood east of tho village, preventing the Germans using the trench. Official: A review of the fighting at Carency adds that the enemy still held the Alpin Road, but we gradually encircled Carency by converging attacks from the east, via Hill 125, and the ■west, whore wo came against a vast quarry 250' feet deep, containing a 'complete fort with casemates, a cave ! and shelters. Here the enemy resisted for two hours with remarkable obstinacy. The French are aflame with determination lo win at any cost. Heavy losses on the slopes were finally crowned by a thousand Bavarians, Saxons and Hadeners surrendering.

[am „cr? ii-;- 1 ac-"l dejected, but hortile. Tlic officer*, however, remarked: "Your firing was so mathematical •and your infantry advanced so quickly that it was impossible to resist."

During the Ypres battle, a French

monoplane while reconnoitring was struck by shrapnel, but contrived to reach the French fine, where it fell. Rescuers found the observer dead and the pilot fainted from his wounds. The pilot related that a shell burst, and he was blinded when the machine was at a height of six thousand feet. The observer was badly wounded, but directed the pilot to the French lines and gave his last order to volplane. When Hearing the landing place the observer expired.

An officer wounded north of Arras states that when the troops at sunrise on Sunday received warning of the projected attack on Hill 165, shouts of joy were raised. Artillery battered the German trenches with terrific effect, hurling men and earth high in ,he air. The advance was ordered at ieven o'clock. The French crept to a »vood on the outskirts of which were the first German trenches. A hail of ibullets from mitrailleuses burst on the attackers.

Trooper Needs, of the 2nd Life Guards, states that two Canadians ,vere found dead nailed to doors. This confirms the widely prevalent rumor that a Canadian sergeant was crucified during the Ypres fighting in April. It is possible the corpse was pinned with a boyanet to a fence after death.

The Daily Maii publishes a spectator's account of the fight at Aubern on Sunday. It was -\euve Chapelle jn a greater scale. There was a long unbroken uproar of artillery from the German lines, which were hidden by drifting clouds of white, black, and greenish yellow puffs of smoke. The Germans were forced by a hasty advance to take to the open in many places in order to reinforce the front Unas. A whirlwind of .shells met them.

A bombardment of three-quarters of an hour crumpled the front parapet at various points, but the barricades were stoutly built. The British infantry's advance was the signal for a murderous rifle and machine-gun fire, which rent the battered British lines, which soon became a series ol 'disjointed links of a chain, whose remnants pushed onward to the teeth of death. Men fell in clusters. The dead were lying crumpled up and the wounded were staggereing back to shelter. Some British reached .the foot of the parapet, but were driven oack. But the attack had been checked. Guns on both sides fired furiously till late in the afternoon, when the British launched another attack. The infantry again fell in struggling heaps, but they swarmed over the parapet and captured a section of a trench, but the German lines on dither side were strong and unbroken. Apparently the prize was considered worth the cost of sending reinforcements which would be swept by the tempest from the fire. The line was ordered to retire, and the British were dismayed at the order. They leapt the parapet and doubled towards the British trench, some fast; and some slow. They were reluctant. They carried the wounded amid the shower of bullets aud bombs. The narrator points out the sacrifice was not wasted, for the guns turned on the British weakened the German defence against the French, who were enabled to break the line a few miles away.