WESTERN CAMPAIGN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 348, 19 November 1915, Page 5

WESTERN CAMPAIGN.

“DExVD GROUND.” TERRIBLE BATTLEFIELD OF j ARTOIS. \ HORRIBLE SIGHTS. I j LONDON, November IS. \ Mr Anthony Gibbs writes in the “Daily Chronicle”: The battlefield at Artois is the most awful I have seen, in its grim suggestiveness of war at its very worst. The earth, with white blotches of clay, pock-marked by innumerable shell-craters, is now truly “dead-ground.” Everywhere are fragments of broken -weapons and shells like bottles on a rubbish heap. ’Worse things lie about in fragments —human bodies and half-buried corpses. Poor tragic relics of mutilated men, they lie in water pools, clutching the mud. One turns cold from the bundles of rags and hones protruding from broken sand bags. Places which were once I German shelters are now wrecked beyond description with a mass of chairs broken mirrors and shattered bones. This was the work of 1100 French guns and 300,000 shells which were flung over the countryside before the • infantry attack was made, and of the German guns which had battered 'Notre Dame De Lorette since the days of the French victory and the sacrifice of the village. Ablain is a ghostly place, with hideous proof of the strife in twisted iron, mangled boots, helmets, furniture and perambulators. In one German dugout was found a splendid piano. When .returning from the fearful sigat, limping men with blood-stained bandages and the stark figure of a French soldier wheeled on a stretcher, completed the picture of the awful horror and ruin of war. WINTER IN FLANDERS. ROADS CONVERTED INTO QUAGMIRES. LQNDON, iNovembe IS. Reuter’s correspondent at the headquarters states that winter has settled down in Plunder*. A week of rain has converted the roads into quagmires. Cannonading is proceeding at Hill 60. Our positions at Huulluch r.nd elsewhere in the area of the recent advance were shelled by the enemy, wihose aerial torpedoes showed great activity. MAJOR CHURCHILL. GOES TO FRANCE TO-DAY. There is much speculation as to Mr Churchill’s future. He joins his regiment in France as a major to-morrow. Mr Asquith and Mr Bonar Law suggested that he taJie a position on the Geneal Starff, hat he replied that he desired to fight in the ordinary, arduous and dangerous way. THE ANCONA OUTRAGE. AUSTRIA’S LAME EXCUSE. 1 LINER’S CREW BLAMED. WASHINGTON, November 18. The Austrian Government, in answering American protests, denies that any shots were fired at the Ancona after she came to a stop or that any shots were fired at lifeboats con tabling passengers and crew. The Ancona attempted to escape after the warning. Therefore a torpedo was fired, but ample time was given the passengers to escape. The fault was entirely the crew’s for failing to heed the warning. t, *. : . • , LOST IN THE ANCONA. LONDON, November IS. Gold to the value of four million lire, a treasury consignment, was lost in the Ancona. THE DARDANELLES. A NEW OFFENSIVE COMMENCED. TRENCHES CAPTURED. (Reed 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, November IS. The British have resumed the offensive at the Dardanelles. The 52nd division captured 200 yards of trenches \ at Krithianullah. GERMAN TRENCHES BLOWN UP. A 7 TOKENT BOMBA3DMENT. PARIS, Nov. IS. A communique says: There has been violent cannonading on both sides of Loos, Angrcs, and Sonchea. We exploded two mines in the ArgOQKO," destroying German trenches •over a large area.

THE BRAVE BRITISH RACE. A STIRRING STORY. LONDON, Nov. IS. The tragic loss of the Anglia within sight of land adds a bright page to the brave story of the British race. Like the heroes of the Birkenhead, the wounded and hale showed splendid courage, and calmly awaited the end. The crew of the London collier Lusitania witnessed the explosion, and saw the soldiers emerging from below and assembling on deck, awaiting their turn to enter the boats, as though at the quay. There was no crowding. The slightly wounded gave preference to the more serious cases, including 200 cot cases. The nurses, of whom only three are known to be saved, worked with splendid devotion in assisting the wounded. The Anglia, though mortally wounded, surged forward in a vain effort to reach the shore, sounding her siren. The rescuers kept pace, and worked with the utmost difficulty. As the decks got steeper, many sliped off and were picked up in the water. The end came with dramatic suddenness. The steamer stood on her bows for an instant, the wounded, nurses, doctors, and sailors clinging on. Then she disappeared. The Lusitania lowered boats and participated in the work of rescue, but she herself was soon afterwards mined. Al'l were saved. The Anglia's masts, flying the Red Cross, are still visible. A SURPRISING MESSAGE. SOME SINISTER MOTIVE ININVOLVED. (Roe. 5.45 a.m.) AMSTERDAM, Nov. IS. The Hamburger Niebraiehten publishes the folowing wireless message, alleged to have been received from Alexandria, via Salonika: —"It is understood that half-a-million of AngloFrench troops are concentrated on the Suez Canal, expecting a Turko-German attack within the next few days. Feverish preparations for defence are progressing. ’ ’ Greek newspapers doubt the accuracy of the message and express the belief that unfavourable occurrences •sre being concealed. DETAINED GREEK SHIPS. ALLOWED TO PROCEED. NO FURTHER LOADINGS. LONDON, Nov. 17. The Greek Legation anonnees that Britain alows the detained Greek merchantmen to proceed to their destinations, but will uot permit further loading.