Precipitate Retreat

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 93, 15 September 1914, Page 5

Precipitate Retreat

A FATEFUL STRUGGLE. GERMANS FLEEING FROM FRANCE. FASTER THAN THEY CAME. ' WHOLESALE ABANDONMENT OF WAR MATERIALS. PERSONAL PAPERS FALL INTO ENEMY'S HANDS. "TO THE LAST BREATH." By cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Paris, September 13. A communique states:—"On our left wing the general retreat of the Germans continues. The British and Flench forces arc pursuing, and have reached the lower course of the Aisne. Similarly in the centre the enemy continues to retreat. We crossed the Marne between Epernay and Vitry-le-Francois. On our right wing the enemy has begun to fall back, abandoning tie region around Ni.ncy. We re-occupied Luneville. Notwithstanding five days' incessant fighting, our troops are vigorously pursuing the enemy in the general retreat, which appears to be more rapid than was the advance. It was so precipitate that at certain points we picked up in the German headquarters, notably at Montroiraii, maps, documents and pergonal papers alMiiidoned by the enemy, also letters received or roady for posting. The enemy abandoned batteries of howitzers and numbers of ammunition waggons. Prisoners markedly convey the impression of starvation, overwork and depression, the horses being particularly jaded. "When the French entered Vitry-le-Francois they found that it had previously been occupied by the staff of a German corps. Orders dated the 7th, signed General won Werdcnlmg, to the officers and men .asked tinm to do their duty to Ahe last breath. Everything depended on the result of the following day.

"It i s reported .that'the French troops sunk 150 barges .full of German ammunition in the Uisc." Jlordeaux, Scptcmbe i 3. The significance, of the titanic struggle in Marne.was. fully realised throughout France. The result was hailed with enthusiasm .and relief. General .loffre, similarly with the German leaders, warned the .troops that the fate of the chantry depended.on the issue and exhorted thorn not,to yield and rather to die in .thiur positions.

"BELTER SKELTER." , GERMANS ROUTED AND DEMORALISED. ■ENEMY SHORT OF FOOD. , ißordcaux, Sept?mber 18. Commandant Thomasson, War Minister, declares:that the'invaders arc retreating helter-skelter. The country from the Marno to the lower reaches of the Aiaiie. is stewn with evidences of the Gumißii rout and demoralisation. Some German wounded in Paris hospitals have died as the result of eating raw beetroot and earth. It is reported that General von Kindt's provisioning base has been cut off.

London, September 13. Tift3' 'Uhlans, exhausted with fatigue and hunger, surrendered at Montereau. VARIOUS HXCIDBXIS. IParis, September 13. The jctrcating Germans ale experiencing great difficulty in the matter of revicinalliog. A French territorial reserviso narrates that a rush cat ried him and his comrades .into .the mi&itof the Prussians near the Ourcq. lie bayonettedj lieutenant who was carrying the Magdeburg Fusiliws' flag.und captured it, though he was wonnded. Rifle lire brought down a German aeroplane at Blie. The aviators, who -v/ctc wounded, were osaptured. «A " WALKING TORI'ST" IX THE * FIGHT. Paris, September 13. In the Forest of Orecy tiw; French force tut trees, and line after line of infantry, each man armed with, a thickly-foliaged branch, moved towards the. enemy, nhile bejiiud, amid the lopped tree trunks, I'3-pounders were posted for the purpose .of covering the slow-moving forest. The quick and fierce attack which followed was a great BUtx-essc The walking forest snarled fIaSM and spat bullets, wjile overhead the shells of the French and British artillery sped screaming to their mark. By evening the Manic district was clear of the enemy. A laundress, wearing a Zouave uniform, participated in the marching and fighting in the Mcaux. Despite her protests', the authorities Bent the girl home.

POPULARITY OF GENERAL FRENCH. HIS CONSIDERATION FOR TOE '• TOMMIES." London, September 13. A soldier's letter is quoted as saying: "There i 5 no side about Sir John French. When he pass.'-d along he was just as ready to smi'e on the ordinary Tommy as on the highest officer. He takes a keen interest in our life in the trenches. He is a hard fighter from head to toe, and expects everyone under him to oe the same. He stops when he has time j to chat with us, for the sake of finding out whether we are being properly look-

| AN INCONTESTABLE VICTORY. RETREAT MORE PRONOUNCED. ON RIGHT, LEFT AND CENTRE. SIGNS OF GREAT GERMAN RESISTANCE. Received 1-1, 7.30 p.m. Paris, September 13 (evening). General .Toffro has issued an army order, as follows; — "The hatlle of the past five days is closing as an incontestable victory. The retreat of the iirst, second, and third I German armies is becoming more pronounced on our left and centre, and the enemy's fourth army is beginning in turn fo fall back to tiie northwards of Vitry and Sermaise. As they gain ground, our troops find traces ot tile intensity of the struggle and the magnitude of the means employed by the Germans in their endeavor to resist our elan. A vigorous resumption of the offensive has been determined on. Our success is due to you. All the officers and men answered at my cad, and you all deserve well of yo:ir country."

VICTORY MORE AXD MORE COMPLETE. ALLIES FLUSHED WITH SUCCESS. Paris, Sept 13 (evening). General Jotire wiTed M. Millerand: "Our victory is confirmed as more and more complete. Everywhere the enemy is retreating, alandoning his wtumded and materials <jf war. After a formidable struggle, lasting from September (i to September VI, all our arms are flushed by success, and lace executing a pursuit that is unexampled for its extent, and which will be continued with aHour uufgy-" TERRIBLE MOONLIGHT BATTLE. COLLAPSE OF THE GERMAN WAR MACHINE. SANGUINARY CONFLICTS AT ME'AUX. A DEVASTATED COUXTRiSIDK.

VICTORIOUS TROOPS STAND THE STRAIN WELL. London, September 'IX The Bordeaux correspondent of the Times says tile retreat is becoming a compkle rout. In the Argunnes, a heavily-wooded, mountaiaous district, a serious problem confronts the enemy. There are no roads through the Argonne Forest running north and south; the Germans must, "therefore, choose between east and west. If they choose, -cast they will inevitably come under the Ore of the Verdun guns; if west, they will join the other retreating masses endeavoring to return, .as it were, through the neck of a bottle. If ths Belgians can msiangc to clear Brabant of Germans they will have to change the. lines of communication from Liege-Namur to Luxemburg. This will entail a converging retreat upon a inarrowed and changing front. The Daily Mail correspondent, aeeeribing the retreat from Mcaux, says: " All round us :and for two miles baek lay mingled German and French dead among the corn, on the stubble in turnip fields, in ditches, and in woods. Dead horses, Wo, were (everywhere, and cows torn open by shells. The whole fair countryside, ratlicnt under the golden harvest sun, sent up a sickening stench of death."

Another correspondent, describing the fighting round Means, says: "The French carried the heights above the town .after a tremendous struggle on .Monday afternoon, and the Germans made a determined attempt to recapture them at night. A terrible infantry battle raged by moonlight «m Tuesday, and continued in the form of an artillery dud till late on Wednesday, -when the German guns were completely silenced. The buildings in the surrounding villages and the farmhouses were demolished, trees were blasted by shell fire, ttml the dead were lying round half hidden in tho clover. TOes of brass shell case*, scattered among the rings of dead horses, showed what a hell the place had Sieen. Line after fcne. of motor-ambulances passed, bearing away the wounded."' A Bordeaux message states that the \llicd troops are hearing lightly the mormons fatigue of the week's titanic struggle* The importance of their victory" cannot be exaggerated. It marks the'collapse ol the wonderful Gorman •war machine.

AMIENS EVACUATED. I'OTII WINGS ON THE RETREAT. Received 14, 7.30 p.m. Paris, Sept. 13 (evening). <Vn official communique states:—"On <H,r left wing the enemy is continuing the retreat. Having evacuated Amiens, the Germans are falling hack to the eastward, between l'oissona and Rheims, and , lft ve. retired north of the Ycsle River. They did not defend the Marne southeastward of Kheims. In the ccntr« the enemy, who have lost Revigny, are still south of the Arffonne Forest. ••„n our right wing the enemys forces ~ Wing beyond St. Die and Lunc.vdlo. We huve're-oceupi-d Raon-U-Trape, Baccarat, Nomeny, Pont-a-Mousson:'

THE BATTLE OF THE MATtXE. UNAWARE OF ALLIES' STRENGTH. SWEPT BY A HURRICANE OF LEAD. London, Sept. U (morning). At the battle of the Marne, the « inconsiderable^^

Allies, they attempted to cross the river unsupported by artillery, and were swept off with considerable loss. An ollicer relates:—"Early on the (itli instant the Germans approached again, with the intention of outflanking us, and poured forward on our extreme lett. How they swarmed! IVavo after wave approached, thinned, slowed down, and fell away before the hurricane of lead. God, but they were brave! I cannot deny that; but their artillery did not seem as effective as usual, and tlleir rifle fire was strangely erratic."