CARNAGE "BY ORDER OF THE KAISER."

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 22 November 1916, Page 2

CARNAGE "BY ORDER OF THE KAISER."

ENORMOUS GERMAN LOSSES IN SOMME COUNTER-ATTACK. The Libcrtc’s correspondent on the Somme front writes: “The arrival of 'strong reinforcements hastily gathered from cue or other of the cnemy’sfrOnts, the feverish activity behind his lines observed by our aviators, and, lastly, the violence of the mutual bombardments, all gave cvidenco'Tif an approaching counter-offensive on the part of the enemy. “ This took place on the night between Friday and Saturday. It is said that it was ordered by the Kaisoi* to be directed by Field-Marshal von Hini denburg in person. “ It was carried out by considerable effectives attacking in massed formation on a front of over , t eight miles. Wjurtemburgers, Mecklenbergers, ,and {■yixoiis during seven hours delivered most furious assaults against our. new positions. “Pour times they returned to the attack i & mass formation, and each time they were decimated by the fire of our artillery and machine guus. They were driven back with enormous losses without our having ceded an inch of ground we so valiantly captured the night before. The zone separating the opposing lines was crossed by the Germans under a hurricane of fire. ” A combatant told the correspondent that men fell like flies. One saw them curl up, as it w r ere, and the ranks behind had to scramble over the bodies of their comrades before falling in their turn. The enemy employed three divisions, all of which suffered heavily. T he 12th Saxon division suffered especially heavy losses. One of its regiments, so to speak, melted in the fiery furnace. Four hundred corpses were counted on a length of two hundred yards. —Reuter.