Fighting In France

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 104, 25 September 1914, Page 5

Fighting In France

FRENCHMEN STORM THE HEIGHTS. GERMANS FORCED TO RETIRE. ST. QUENTIN RETAKEN BY THE ALLIES. HEAVY .LOSSES OF Till? STORMING PARTIES. London, September 23.

After terrific fighting between I'eronne and St. Quentin the German right appears to have been turned. The Germans occupied Peronne on September 1(1, holding a strong position, with hills lehind and marshes in front. The French were ordered to take the position at ill costs. They combed the German trenches with artillery, but the Germans stubbornly held to the guns on the heights, causing severe execution among the French. The latter stormed the position, advancing in several narrow columns, bayonetted the Germans in the trenches, and gained the position. The Germans fell back to St. Quentin, and when French reinforcements arrived they pursued the Germans. In the

suburbs there was savage street fighting, and the Germans were driven back umtil they were ordered to abandon the town. The Germans are now making an effort to re-take the town.

SIGNS ARE HOPEFUL. ADVANTAGE TO THE BRITISH RANKS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, September 23. The Times, in a leader on the battle at Aisne, says that all along the line the signs are hopeful, and at all points there are indications of the advantages gained. i The Germans are paying flattering' reepeet to the British. Thirty thousand French prisoners at Maubeuge are guarded by two hundred Germans, while seven British prisoners have 30 guards.

GERMANS WEAKENED BY LOSSES. THOUSAND "WOUNDED ABANDONED. Received 24, 7.<)0 p.m. London, September 22. Router's Paris correspondent reports that wounded from the battlefield state that the Germans have, lost so enormously that they cannot resist much longer.

When repulsed at Craonne on Smday night, the Germans abandoned over a thousand wounded.