The Fateful Hour.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 94, 16 September 1914, Page 5

The Fateful Hour.

6KVERAL DAYS SUMMARISED. FBOM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE RETREAT. A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT TO THE ENEMY. ALMOST IX SIGHT OF PARIS. London, September 14. A Press Bureau account based on several French despatches continues the narrative from September 3, which marked the end of the British Army's long retirement. It became evident on the 4th that a change in direction had been begun by the First German Army, which participated in a colossal strategic endeavor to create a Sedan for the Allies 'by outflanking and enveloping the lefi of the whole line and driving both the French and British southwards. It was observed that the Germans opposite the British were moving south-east, evidently executing a flan!; march diagonally acronn the British front, ignoring the British and attacking the left flank of the French main army. The attempt to envelop the French left continued on tho 6th, the French retiring, after much fighting, towards the Seine. Large German forces crossed the .Ma me on the 6th and advanced through Coulommiers, the British right. The French left army attacked these the same night, carrying three villages by bayonet charges. The Allies advanced generally on the left on the 7th, the British, who were reinforced, attacking the German rearguard on the Ourcq. The Germans retired northeast, which was their first retreat since Mons. Reports show that the order to retreat, when so near Paris, was a bitter disappointment. Times and Sydney Sun -Services. London, September 14. Paris having fully prepared, is some■what difsatisfied that there ia no siege. Meanwhile M. Mallieni continues ji.eparing for possible contingencies. He has taken a census in order to organise and economise the distribution of food. It shows that there are 55G,267 civilian householders within the entrenched camp, comprising 2,000,760 souls. Over a million fled, and those left are quiet and contented. The women are spending their time in knitting, and the men in assisting to dig trenches and pUcj obstructions in the streets.

London, September 11. A etatemont issued by the Press Bureau contains: General French relates that on the 10th the second British army corps was marehing parallel with an infantry fores believed to be British. Later the British discovered that tlicy were Germans, and surrounded them on a Bunken road, taking four hundred prisoners. On the same day Germans surrounded a small French party under a non-eommissionwl officer, who, though wounded, resisted until only himself and one man remained. The Germans summoned them to lay down their arms, but the oflicer countermanded the order and signalled, "We retain our arms." Then came the arrival of reinforcements, who continued to advance. The British were full of zeal and anxious to press forward. A feature of the campaign is the success of the Royal Flying Corps. General Joffre sent a message to General Fren:!i, thanking him for the aviators' services, declaring that the precision and regularity ol th« information gave evidences of perfect organisation and training. The Daily News' correspondent states that during the fighting on the Marnc on Wednesday a hundred Turcos, after one of the most terrible single combats in the war between swords and bayonets, took two hundred German prisoners. Torrential rain on Friday must seriously have affected the retreat of the Germans. The losses of ths cavalry are appalling. Ma'ny hordes were taken from the batteries for cavalry purposes and obandoßed guns have fallen into the hands ol the British. Many horseless cavalrymen are now marching on foot with the infantry.

GERMANS LURED INTO A TRAP. ( THHN THE ALLIES TURNED. THE ENEMY UTTERLY SURPRISED. BREAKDOWN OF ENEMY'S COMMISSARIAT. GENERAL PAU PLAYS IMPORTANT PART. London, September 14. j A press correspondent at the rear of the allied armies describes the fighting as a terrible conflict along a line of a hundred miles. Tbe Dritish cavalry lured the Germans mile after mile into the trap, then the fateful hour cama when the Allies turned on tlieir pursuers. After long days of retreating they had to be held in restraint so as not to fling themselves on the Germans at close quarters. They rushed forward amid a storm of shells like a furnace, screaming, with dead and wounded lying ail around.

The correspondent describes how a sqaad oi British charged and captured a machine guu without orders. The correspondent entered a mansion v hei c the German staff had been disturbed at a luxurious dinner, where the candles were still burning. He eays the river near the fighting was swollen with dead. On tlio Bth the Oerninn movement north-eastwards was continued, because the British continued to drive back the rearguard, and the sth Ironeli ami', operating on the British right, captured three villages by hand-to-hand fighting infliotisg heavy losses. The lighting on the Oureq, which continued on the same day, was most sanguinary owing to the Germans massing a great force of artillery on this line. The French sth Army 1 also re-took Montmirail, The battle on

the. Ourcq between the Cth French Army and the German flank guard continued on the 9th. The same day the British crossed the Petit Morin in face of opposition and pursued the Germans across the Mara;, the Germans retreating hastily northwards. Correspondents assert that General Pau's army from the Alsace border was the determining factor in stemming the advance. General Pau quickly concentrated bis eastern troops and others from Versailles. Times and Sydney Sim Sevices. London, September 14. A war correspondent bent upon probing the rumor that the 11th Hussars have been exterminated, describes meeting with the remains of the regiment in the vicinity of C'ompiegne. They captured 50 Uhlans, but had not the luck to capture any fresh horses. The Lilians had been in the saddle for six days, and the horses were so spent that they had to be shot. The Hussars told the story that when the regiment bivouacked shells burst without warning over the camp, stampeding the horses. Amidst this confusion the Hussars met their fate, the. expected screening troops having failed to arrive. Although this and other regiments were scattered, the reported annihilation was incorrect.

Reuter reports that thousands of citizens visited the battlefield on the Marno on Sunday, gathering relics, mostly German helmets, weapons and fragments of sheila. Starving German soldiers are being brought into Meaux in troops. One British 6oldier brought in five in a woefui state, their clothes being ill rags and their dirty feet protruding from their boots. The retreating invaders vented their rage on the better class of houses. They smashed mirrofs and cleared the cellars. Half-emptied champagne and absinthe bottles were strewed about and testified to the suddenness of the retreat. A wounded German prisoner at Xeuilly had in his haversack fifty stolen purses and a pearl necklace.

Tlic death of Lord Plymouth's eon (the Hon. J. Windsor-Give) was duo to German treachery. Half a column of Coldstreams wore deiai'cd to check the enemy's advance during the Mons retreat. Three German officers, disguised in the 'French uniform, informed the officers of the Coldstreams that a French force was approaching, and later the Germans took the Coldstreams by surprise and the Hon. J. Windsor-Olive ivas killed.

CROWN PRINCE'S ARMY DRIVEN BACK. ALLIES SUCCESSFULLY CROSS THE AISNE. Received 15, 5 p.m. London, September 14. The Press Bureau's report continues: On the 10th the French sixth army maintained the pressure in the west, while the fifth army, by forced inarches, reached the line of Chateau-Thierry-Dormans oil the Marnc. On the snoii day the British continued the pursuit north of the Marnc, and captured 1500 prisoners, ten guns and fifty transport waggons. The thick woods of this region were full of German stragglers, who surrendered in parties. The Germans were apparently demoralised. They did much brutal damage to villages and illtreated the inhabitants. The British forced nearly all of the eiossings of the river Aisne on Sunday, despite stubborn opposition. The French, posted on the British right and left, verj similarly successful ,and many prisoners were taken. The Crown Prince's army has been driven back. He has moved his headquarters from St. Menhould to Mon Faucon. (Moutfaueon is a village of about-1000 people, a few miles north of Verdun.)

THE GERMAN LOSSES. FIVE TIMES AS GREAT AS TIIK ALLIES'. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 15, 5.50 p.m. Paris, September 15. It is stated that the German losses in the Battie of the Murne were five times as great as those of the Allies,

GERMANS ABANDONING TIIEIR WHOLE DEFENCES. Received 15, 9:20 p.m. London, Sept. 14 (evening). An official message from Bordeaux states that the Germans have been forced to abandon the defence which they had prepared between Compiegne and Soisaona. The German centre has abandoned a similar position behind Amiens, and the detachments posted at Amiens have retired to Peronne and St. Quentin. The Germans in Argonne have retreated northwards below the forest of Belonue, and Triaucort. They have totally evacuated the region of Nancy and V osges. (Triaucort is a small town to the south-west of Verdun. Nancy, of course, is to the westward of Lorraine, througn which country one German force appears to have debauched into 1 lance.)

F I-'. ARFUL S LAU GI IT ER. (JKIUIANS TRY TO CROSS A RIVER. UNDER DEVASTATING BRITISH FIRE. Received l.'i. !>.'2."» p.m. l»iukm, Scptemuei' 14. A field artillery gmmer relate*:--" A terrible struggle ti-ok place on the 6th, when tile tiie-.l to crofs the vivor. "Tlio British guns and picked rifle shots commanded the river. "The Germans swarmed the riverside. The first party built a pontoon bridge and were rushing across, when a shell swashed the bridge, and the pontoons,

with their dead and wounded freight, were carried downstream. The same thing went on all day, until the British, were sick with the sights and the shrieks.

"The Germans managed to cross at one point, and the Allies then rushed with rare joy and bayonetted them into the river. A whole battalion was captured here. They simply couldn't face the bayonet, and threw up their arma

A SECOXD MARLBOROUGH. TRIBUTE TO GENERAL SIR JOIIX FREXCII. Received 15, 10 p.m. Copenhagen, September 14. The British are given the credit here for the German retreat, and General Sir John French i.s compared with the Duke of -Marlborough. (The Duke of Marlborough was the greatest of the British generals, in the 17th century, the hero of his time, and perhaps the greatest commander England has produced. His military career was one of peculiar splendour. At the outbreak of the Spanish Succession War he was sent to Flanders to protect Holland against French invasion. His name is ever associated with the Battle of Blenheim, in which he inflicted crushing defeat on the Franco-Bavarian armies. In the Netherlands, in 1706, he was hampered by the sluggishness of the Dutch allies, but after the great victory at Ramillies he swept the Netherlands from the Meuse to the sea, Politics, the bane of soldiery in those days, robbed him of much more certain glory. He was a great strategist and tactician. All his battles and manoeuvres showed him a tactical genius of the highest rank, but often he was hampered by Dutch sluggishness and by interference from home. In character he was lovable, and endeared himself profoundly to his soldiers, to whom he was known as "Corporal John.")

"HURRAH FOR ENGLAND." HONORS REST WITH BRITAIN. Received 15, 10 p.m. Bordeaux, September 14. M. Hanotaux, in an article in the Figaro, declares that the honors of the clay rest with the British. He concluded: "Tile whole British Empire is coming ti the rescue. Hurrah for England!"

NEW 'PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS FOR FRANCE. THEATRES COMMANDEERED. Times and Sydney S'in Services. Received 15, 0.30 p.m. Paris, September 15. The Alhambra music-hall at Bordeaux has been fitted as tile Chamber of Deputies, and the Apollo Theatre for the Senators, Parliamentary tribune being erected in front of the prompter's box, and Hansard established in the orchestra.

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S CABLE. By cable.—Press Association. —Copyright London, Sept. 14 (5.20). Official.—All day yesterday the enemy stubbornly disputed the passage of the Aisne by our troops, but in spite of the difficulty of forcing the river in face of. the strong opposition, nearly all the crossings were secured by sunset. On our right and left the French were confronted with a similar task, in which they were successful. Many more prisoners were taken.

The Crown Prince's army has been driven back. lie has moved his headquarters from St. Menehould to MOll- - FICIITINC FOH THE STANDARD. GREAT VALOR AND DEVOTION. Received 15, 11.10 p.m. London, September 1-t. The Evening News reports that during the Battle of the Marne there was a terrible engagement amongst a series of small farmhouses, which were several times captured and recaptured, the French endeavoring to capture the German eagle, but failed. Finally the French flag was hoisted, the Germans retreating. There were terrific encounters for the standards throughout the battleflela, Tho French defended their flags with amazing valor and devotion. In one ease probably 20 infantry holding a flag were successively cut down, but a fresh comrade was always ready to replace the fallen until succour arrived.

ON THE LINE OF RETREAT. FRENCH LIGHT ARTILLERY HARRIES THE GERMANS. Received 10, 12.35 a.m. Paris, September 15. Correspondents following in the wake of the advancing British and French armies state that half-a-million Germans are retreating. Already they are halfway up the Aisne Valley. The French 7.5 batteries are wonderfully mobile, and are giving the Germans no rest. In three davs they have driven them over three rivers and a dozen railway lines. The roads arc littered with ammunition carts and convoys. The Gcnnar.s in Northern France have not destroyed towns for mere lust or cruelty, but many villages are now only a charred and broken mass of walls, and. farms and cottages shapeless ruins owing to shell lire.

HOT FIGHTING AT VAREDDAS.

GERMANS ATTEMPT A DEFINITE STAND. THEIR BATTERIES WIPED OUT. Received 10, 12.45 a.m. London, September la. Very hot fighting occurred at Va reddas three miles north-east of Meaux, on Thursday. Semi-permanent entrench; mcnts had been erected with a view ot making a deliuite stand, but the .linand fiin mm* were badly placed, and the French were able to blow the batteries to pieces from the opposing ridge, leaving the German infantry in front of the batteries an easy prey. A few infantry eseaucd into the fields on both sides. 'The villages are heaped with German dead. Piles of unexploded shells m wicker baskets were abandoned near tlio batteries, and the trees which the Gcirmns honed would serve as shelter weie torn to pieces by the French artillery.

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j ONE GREAT CAUSE OF FAILURE. THE OVERBEARING MILITARY CASTE. HAUGHTY AND CALLOUS OFFICERS. ABSOLUTELY NO CONSIDERATION FOR THE MEN. RANK AND FILE BULLIED AND DISPIRITED. Received IG, 12.50 a.m. London, September 15. Sir '.Philip Gibbs, after a tour of the battlefields and many interviews with (prisoners, states that the chief'cause of

failure is that the German private now realises his officer's utter indifference for the lives of his men. He heard of brutal orders to ''spill blood like water, so long as those who follow may wade to their destined goal." This policy has recoiled upon its authors. Even when captured, the officers displayed an amazing lack of camaraderie, protesting violently against sitting in the wagons with the men, and refusing to eat with them, and still endeavoring to bully them. The German privates often surrendered gladly in order to escape their intolerable sufferings. In some cases the Uhlans' haversacks were filled with grass, which was their only food. AVhen they surrendered they begged piteously for food. The failure to reach Paris was a demoralising blow, and a proof that the plans of the headquarters staff had completely miscarried. All these things put panic and fear into the hearts of the Germans, who, unable to withstand the bayonet charges, made a miserable resistance against the Zouaves in such villages as Bragy and Penchard, unless protected by mitrailleuses. At Samtremy and Viertou, one French regiment, with bayonets, routed four regiments, with terrible slaughter. The Germans lost their nerve, and fled from the trenches screaming, the majority being stabbed in the back as they fled. The whole retreat was more terrible than Luleburga's.

GERMANS DEE AD TUB BAYONET. FRENCHMEN EXCITED AND RASH. LOSE HEAVILY IN THE OPEN. HOSPITALS OVERCROWDI7D WITH WOUNDED. Received 10, 1.30 a.m. London, Kept. 15 (morning). Long and continued artillery duels ■paved tho way for charges. At night .during the fiwt days of the battle the French invariably retired slightly from their advanced positions, when the Germans re-occupied them. The French gunnel's dislodged them inj the rooming, as they knew, the exact range for tho shells. The French' infantry often rebelled against the weary waiting in the trenches, and when tho order to n<lvance was giwn there was no attempt, to move steaKJuly, but they frequently charged in line, and were severely torn by the mitrailleuse fire, Tho effect of the bayonet charger. was overpowering, the long, sharp-pointed French bayonets being fearful weapons in German eyes, compared with which the German knife bayonets were toys. Tiki German t-asualties Reached' an enormous figure, ,l>ut tlis French lo«&es were very heavy. Since the Germans iretreated seven thousand French wounded have passed daily through Orleans alone. Paris is one vasli hospital. The hospitals m every town in central and southern France are overcrowded with maimed end crippled men. GERMANS CLAIM A VICTORY'. BECAUSE THEIR CENTRE STILL STANDS UNBROKEN. Received H 6, 12.45 a.m. Rotterdam, September 15.

The General Staff at Berlin claims that the latest battle was so far favorable, as the French hail failed to break the centre. The General Staff explains the success of the Allies' left as the falling back of the weak German right, consisting of three army corps. They state that the French have been thrown back upon Verdun, of which the outworks were captured.