GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 13, 18 April 1916, Page 2

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

ONE OF VERDUN'S HEROES. UnXX'BD PBEB6 Association. Paris, April 17. Lieut. Famous, of the African Corps, has been awarded the Legion of Honor and the War Cross for a wonderful feat at Verdun. A battery of seventyfives was stationed on a crest flanking Douaumont, when an Austrian battery in.a blizzard, found the exact range, and at daybreak rained shells of KID calibre for half-an-hour. wounding the captain of the battery and putting most of the guns out of action. Ihe lieutenant, in desperation, pushed the rest of the guns to the crater and recommenced firing, himself serving one. By eight o’clock only four gunners were left, and by nine o’clock only two. Half-an-hour later the lieutenant alone remained. He watched the Germans preparing to storm the crest with the bayonet, and waited until they were within 100 yards. Then lie worked the gun at top speed. The shells tore through German masses, ploughing furrows in the whole ranks. The Germans wavered and fled in disorder, never helieving they wore facing one man.. The lieutenant then spiked two guns, har-j nossed three mules to a couple of ean-j mm that were almost intact, and brought them u> the main position along with his wounded captain. THE RIGHT TALK. Johannesburg. April lb. At a stirring recruiting meeting General Briets offered to go to Last Africa as a private, and to hand ins uniform to anyone in the audience who thought he could take his place. rhine-danube canal. Copenhagen, April lb. The municipality of \ ienna ls * mu moning a conference of representatives of Dauuhian cities to consider tie construction of a canal from the Rhine the Danube.

alcohol and the war. Petrograd, April lbThe Finance Minister during the. Budget debate in the Empire of Conned said that since the beginning o the war, the national savings has increased two hundred millions sterling, despite war charges amounting to twelve hundred million, thanks to the abolition of the alcohol monopoly, ihe country’s financial strength was gnmiug hut the Government must work out a plan for a future economic policy, co-operating with the .National legislative institution.

A GERMAN LETTER. MORE CONTEMPT FOR THE ENGLISH. London,. April 16. The Times lias received a recent letter from a German staff officer to a neutral diplomatist, which is obviously intended for' neufiffil' consumption. U (leclares that the Knglish are as inefficient as the French lire efficient, ’i ho latter’s aircraft guns arc marvellous and outclass the German guns. They have cost the Germans 95 per cent, of their losses, while the British have cost thorn o per cent. The latter are thoroughly deficient, and the Knglish pilots only excel in contempt for risk and indifference to danger. The French, in technique, skilled engine design, and aeroplane construction are ahead of all the combatants. A perusal of the English newspapers is vastly entertaining. They are all absorbed in politics, and are apparently unable to grasp the fact that if the Germans have not yet won the wai tli’-'v are unable now to lose.

i I'ingland may still take pride in being mistress ol the waves, but she is a mistress past her prime. Her fleets Lyp neutrals from German harbors and prevent German merchantmen from leaving, but the latter s submaiines sweep the seas, whose beds are strewn with the wreckage of Lnglish ships. Zeppelins sail unmolested over 'the Midlands and Scotland. The Germans smite when recalling Lord Curzon’s prophecy that the pennons of the Bengal Lancers would flutter in the breeze in Berlin when Indians marched down the 1 ntor den Linden in the wake of the conquering Allied forces. REQUEST FOR A PATENT. London. April 16. Two munitions firms in Birmingham and Sheffield have applied to the Latent Court for permission to manufacture a Krupp machine, at present f in the Royal College of Science at South Kensington, which is used tor magnetically separating wolfram from ore. Krupp’s agents opposed the applicants’ offer of Jive per cent, royalties, stating that the machine was I urgently needed in connection with the manufacture of munitions. Ihe I Comptroller decided to recommend |Lho granting of the application. | THE GALLIPOLI LANDING. London, April 17. A survivor of ■ the 20th Division writes to The Times: ‘‘lhe great landing on Gallipoli seems now to be entirely claimed for the Anzacs, and one never reads a paper without seeing ‘praise for the Anzacs. and quite rightly: hut what of the British, whose casualties were threefold? The landing would have been impossible but for the 29th Last Lancashire Divijsi on and the Xaval Division. A service is being held in memory of the ’ Anzacs, but surely the King desires ( to honor the heroes of Morto Bay and ’y Beach.”