Fighting in France.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 82, 1 September 1914, Page 5

Fighting in France.

Four Days' Battle.

THB BRITISH ARMY'S FIRST ENGAGEMENTS. FRENCH REINFORCEMENTS FAIL. A DIVISION "BROKEN TO BITS."

GALLANT RUNNING FIGHT.

THE ENEMY IN OVERPOWERING FORCE. THOUSANDS KILLED.

I London, August 30. j The Times' correspondent at Amiens [says that the British action at Mons on 23rd (Sunday) was terrible. A whole division (2000 men) was flung into the fight, after a long man&, without time to entrench. French supports were expected on the immediate right, but did not arrive. Purther eastwards in the angle between the Sambre and the Meuse, the French retired after a daylong fight.

Namur fell, and General Joffre was compelled to withdraw the whole line. The Germans did not give the retreating army a moment's rest. The pursuit was relentless and unresting. Assisted by aeroplanes, a Zeppelin, and armed motors, the cavalry looked like arrows from the bow, and harassed the retiring columns.

| Tie British retired through Baval, on the line from 1 Valenciennes to MauI beuge, then through Lc Quesney, where a idesperate fight occurred. Falling hack southward continually the army fought desperately, with many stands, but were forced ever back by the numbers of the enemy, who were prepared to lose three or four men to every British life. In scattered units, with the enemy ever on their heels, the fourth division, all that was left of twenty thousand troops, streamed southwards. Our losses were very heavy

The correspondent adds: "I have seen broken bits of many regiments, hut no failure of discipline, no panic, ao'l no . throwing up of the sponge. >'o com[missariat is able to cope with such a case. The mien were battered by marching, but steady and cheerful. Every regiment in tue division was in action. Some lost nearly all their officers. The regiments were broken to hits, but v«j fragments kept together, though they no longer knew what had become of the other parts."

The superiority of the Germans in men and guns, especially machine guns, the organised scouting by aeroplanes, Zeppelins and motors carrying machine guns, and extreme mobility are tho elements of their present We must face the fact that the British force wiiictfborc the weight of thia blow suffered terribly, and requires immediate reinforcement.

The investment of Paris cannot be considered impossible.

GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS. THE GERMAN ATTACK CHECKED. A SUPERB RESISTANCE. GERMAN" LOSSES TERRIBLY HEAVY

London, August 30,

The .'Press Bureau at the War Office gives a general outline of the British share in the recent operations. In effect, there lias been a four cays' battle, from the 23rd to the 20th.

Burins the whole period the British, conforming tu the general movement cf the French armies, resisted the German advance and withdrew to new lines of defences. The battle began at Mons on the -23 rd. The German attack was stubWuly pressed, but was completely checked on the British front.

The Germans on Monday made vigorous efforts .with superior numbers, to prevent the British withdrawing, and tried to drive, them into Maubeuge, but the steadiness and skill of the retire. ment of the Britishers frustrated th-j Germans, who lost very- heavily on both days, their loss far exceeding that of the British.

The retirement continued till the 25th, when fighting was less heavy. The British that night occupied a line from Cambrai ami 1.,. Cateau to Laudrecies, intending to resume the retirement at daybreak on tiie 26th. but the attack of live German army corps was so close and fierce that the operation was delayed.

The battle was most severe anil despot ate. 'Die British made a superb rewistame against tremendous odds. They extricated themselves in the afternoon, but suffered .severely. The only guns captured l,y the Germans were cither without horses or were shattered. Sir John Vrench estimates the losses in four days at between oMO and COOO. Tiie German losses were out of all proportion lo those of the British.

Dreadful havoc was wrought at Landreciea on the 20th. where the German infantry brigade advanced along a narrow street in the the closest order. Ma-chine-guns mowed down the head of the column, and the remainder (led in a panic, leaving !)of> dead and wounded. Elsevvheris the Herman Guard cavalry division charged the 12th British Infantry Brigade, and was repulsed with great loss and ill absolute disorder. Since the 20th the British have been unmolested, except for cavalry engagements. They have rested and refitted after glorious 'achievements. Reinforce-

mentis equal to double the losses lave already joined, and every lost gun has been repkeed. The army is ready for the next encounter undaunted in spirit.

To-day's news is again favorable. The French armies have brought the German advance to a standstill. General Chetwode's sth cavalry division had a brilliant, action on the 28th, when the 12th Lancers and Scoto Greys routed the German cavalry, spearing large numbers.

A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT.

"BUTCHERY" THE ONLY WORD. GERMANS KILLED LIKE CATTLE, LINES 'WITHERED TO NOTHINGNESS.

London, August 30. It is officially announced that the British were engaged in a desperate battle against tremendous odds on Wednesday, from which they extricated themselves in good order. Their losses were six thousand men. They have since been reinforced.

Received 31, 5.10 p.m. London, August 31. A wounded British officer, describing the fighting at Mons, in a letter to the Manchester Guardian, sayg that "butchery" i s the only word applicable. Our regiments, accustomed to take advantage of every scrap of cover, suffered little in comparison with the Germans. Picture our long, thinly-strung line of infantry lying flat, firing with incredible rapidity, each rifle and machine-gun turning slowly from right to left and to right again, and firing at the bidding of an officer's whistle.

"The Germans advanced courageously in fairly close order, with something like the insensibility of savage races, at ranges of much less than a mile.

"The spectacle roused a feeling of sickness. It was like firing at a tiera ot cattle. The front line of the enemy would falter, then, slowly wheeling our rifles and Maxims, we would wither it to nothingness. Then another line would come, and another, until the attack slackened away, and ceased."

"FUNKED THE BAYONETS."

GERMAN TROOPS ACCUSED OP COWARDICE. POOR RIFLEMEX, BUT WELL ORGANISED.

Times-Sydney Sun Special Services. Received 31, 5.-0 p.m. London, 'August 31. Communications from Munich state that the Bavarian soldiers were terrorised by the ardor of the French troops. Three to one were necessary to overcomo the French. Russians declare that the Germans "funked" the bayonets at Soldau. and fled into a bog, and the Russians marched over their dead bodies.

FIGHTING IX ARDENNES. GERMANS DRIVEN BACK.

Received 31, 5.10 p.m. London, August 31.

After hard fighting in the Ardennes, the French army stopped a force, including the 10th Army Corps and the Guards, formerly under General Emmicli.

Four French army corps drove the enemy back on Guise, with heavy loss.

ALLIES' NEW POSITION. IN NEIGHBORHOOD OF AMIENS. Received 31, 11.5 p.m. London, August 31. The Daily Chronicle states that the Allies now occupy a crescent, from Abbeville round to the south of Amiens.

G KItMANS SLAUGHTERED. BUT THE HOSTS BASS ONWARD. THEIR ARTILLERY SUPERIOR. FRENCH FIGHT STUBBORN BATTLES. ARDENNES COSTLY TO. THE JW&MY

Received 31, 11.5 p.m.

'London, August 31 (morning}

The Daily Chronicle's AmiciK correspondent writes that after the battle at Dinant, the second and seventh French army corps, being heavily outnumbered, retreated slowly, awaiting reinforcements.

Artillery perched on wooded heights above the Meuse swept the, German lines. The French infantry, entrenched on the right bank, and supported by field and machine-guns, held tenaciously to each position, but the Germans were utterly reckless of life, particularly when fighting for the possession of bridges, of which the French destroyed 33 as they retreated along the Meuse valley.

Twenty thousand German infantrymen at Barville engaged 5000 French with <]iiieklire.rs. The French held off the enemy for 12 hours, inflicting heavy punishment, and suffering comparatively slightly, so the Germans fought their way down the Meuse to Mczleres, which is divided from Charlovillc by trie Meuse. Near by is the gap which led to Sedan in IS7O. This time the French determined to possess the heights, and took up magnificent positions commanding fsharlcville's three bridges, Mitrailleuses were hidden in abandoned houses, and fls field guns captured from the Germans in the fighting in the Meuse valley were also put in good positions. The German outposts were allowed to cross the bridges into apparently deserted ChaTlcville. Then tho three

{ bridges were blown up and their retreat I cut off.

The mitrailleuses in the houses slaughtered the Uhlans. Tho Uhlans had a few quickfirers, with which they fought to tho last. When the main body of the Germans came into the valley, tho French artillery on the heights raked them. The Germans, with grim coolness, built pontoon bridges until shells forced the French to retreat.

London, August 30. The Times conrespomdent says that certain things make clear the colossal character of the German losses. The French General Staff know that the defence of tho eastern frontier was sio .perfected as to camped the Genmams ito use a flank movement They alsb knew that not far nothing had Germany awtogomfeed England lund outraged international opinion by violating Drfgiiuim's neutrality. France underestimated the force of the German blow trough Belgium. Probably there were far fewer troops behind tihe screen in Alsace land IJorraine than was supposed, else Mulhausem would not have been twice retaken.'

Officiail dispaMies atenfaived by the ! French Embassy state that the Fnondi troops found eighfc thousand German dead around Nancy and Vitrimoirt. Mile Tunes correspondent says Hint the Germans in Belgium advanced their men as if they tad m inexhaustible supply, in deep sections, slightly extended, tot almost in dose order. They paid little regard to cover. The British artillery mowed long lanes down the centre of the sections, and ireqwrntly nothing, was left except the outswfes. No sooner was this done than, -the men doubled tip over the heaps, of dead. l

„,,„ Bards, August 30. Witlh a to meeting the enemy* attempt, to drive a wedge between the Unttisn and the coast, a new French army has 'been formed to take the offensive against Germany.

ONLY ONE CONCLUSION.

HOPEFUL OPINION AT BRITISH WAR OFFICE.

GERMANS TO BE THRASHED, OR WORN OUT.

Received 31, 11.50 p.m. London, August 31 (morning) The War Office adds:—

The troops on the 26th offered a superb and most stubborn resistance to the Germans, and made them pay the extreme price for every forward movement they made.

It must be remembered that, vast though the operations in France are, they are but one wing of the whole fold of battle. The .strategetic position of Britain and her allies is such that, whereas a decisive victory in France would probably be fatal to the enemy, a continuance of this resistance by the Anglo-French armies on such a scale as will keep in the closest grip the enemy's best troops can, if prolonged, only lead to one conclusion.