Fighting in France

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 116, 9 October 1914, Page 5

Fighting in France

ATTACKS ON ALLIED WINGS. GERMAN CAVALRY DRIVEN BACK, 41 GERMAN ARMY CORPS ENGAGED. Received 7, 11.40 p.m. rari9, October 7 (midnight).

Official. —Except on the two wings, where a German attack was repulsed, there is almost complete calm on the rest of the front.

On the left wing the German cavalry has been 'held to the north of Lille, where they were driven back, while the ground previously yielded between Chulnes and Roye was recovered.

The official statement adds: The forces engaged against us consist ol twenty-throo active army corps and eighteen of the reserve (1,092,000 men), not including a number of divisions of Landwehr and Landstrum.

LEFT WING EXTENDING,

ALMOST TORCHING BELGIAN 1

FRONTIER.

A TREMENDOUS FRONT,

Received 8, 9.5 p.m. Paris, October 7.

Official.—The tattle on the left continues with great violence, the oppos ng fronts extending to the regions of Lens and Labasse, prolonged by masses of cavalry in action as far as the Armentieres district.

There is nothing to report between the Sommc and the .Meuse.

(Lens.—A town in the department of Fas dc Calais, 17 miles by rail southwest of Lille, and 10 miles north-north-east of Arraa, on the river Deule, in an important coalfield. It has iron and steel works, sugar and soap factories, etc.) (Arreentieres.— A town in the department of Nord, on the river Lys, 10 miles north-west of Lille, close to the Belgian frontier.)

THE OPERATIONS NEAR IJLLI

Paris, October 7.

The German operations from Lille are intended to cover the right flank, whither reinforcements arc being hur-

ried from tlie centre of the war theatre.

RIIEIMS STILL BOMBARDED.

Paris, October 7.

Though the Germans have retreated from Rheims the heavy guns are still able to throw shells into the north-east-ern suburbs, and several have done much damage to residences. Aeroplanes have also dropped bombs in an endeavor to destroy the railway station. One bomb killed 14 people on the slopes about the town. Dead soldiers have been incinerated, and the awful smell of burning bodies pervades the town. London, October 7.

Mr Maxwell, correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, sayß tliat the British casualties during the past three weeks have been insignificant. Fourteen out of 20 German howitzer ghella fail to burst. Britishers, after four days in the trenc'no, are allowed two days' rest.

"COMPARATIVE CALM."

BUT NOT ON OUR LEFT,

Paris, October 7.

Official.—The characteristics of the situation are unchanged. On the left Wing, northward from the Aisne, the action is increasing violent. There '.s a comparative calm in tho centre. Some ground has been gained on the northern heights of tho Meiise.

The Minister for Marine has announced that French mines are now anchored in the Adriatic and provided with tho safeguards prescribed by The Hague Convention of 1907.

The trophies captured from the Germans include cannon <jf a very o!d pattern and needle guns dating from 1557 and IS7O.

It is estimated that 50 per cent, of the deaths in the hospitals from wounds in the trenches are due to tetanus.

STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD. \ CoN'SIDEKATE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. A DARING '•TOMMY'S'' FEAT. GERMAN REGIMENTS BLOTTED OUT Received 8, 5.23 p.m. Time., and Sydney Sun Service-. London, October 7.

A Belgian engitu'c* who was captured during the Liege siege, who escaped, states that during tin: tiuce on Augu.il 5 the villagers wort;; engaged to lmry the dead. It was n fearful sig'it. .Sixteen thousand identification plates wci'o removed from dead Germans

A story is told of a brigade of Guards who were doing it slow retreat for the purpose of resting. They were followed by a brigade of Germans over double their strength. They hid in a wood, I and when the Germans marched up a h pitched battle was fought with fixed A bayonets. The brigade wipe' l °»t I,u> 1 wholo of the (o rmans, numbering over four thousand. Times and Sydney Sun Services. . London, Oelober 7. . A priest, who accompanied tV.e l'i'eneU headquarters says that no matter how hard a day !><• '^ ir I rt'tieli spends a part of the evening wit!i_ the \voui!'l"il» cheering them up. fr.inct.mcs 1,., -lays too late and cannot return to headquarters, so he wraps a blanket round himself ami occupies a cut alongside the wounded. A correspondent in lar.s sa\s that fcavdly a night passes in the trenches without an alarm. The men coolly play • Nap and dare each other to mad deeds. ( One stole from the forts on a dark i night for the purpose of seizing a Ger-J Maxim. He wriggled on his atom-

! guard of five Prussians, returning in triumph to the trenches with the captured Maxim slung on his shoulders. Rendered brazen by success, he sallied out again to collect the ammunition belt he had left behind.

Paris, October 7. In the fight at Nancy, which was witnessed by tlie Kaiser, the French placed a number of almost obsolete cannons as a blind on the Blope facing the Germans. Deadlier guns were hidden in the rear, The Germans for fifteen hours bombarded the useless guns, which were occasionally fired by a small detachment, Eventually, considering the batteries had been silenced, the German cavalry charged. The hidden French batteries fired at 800 yards. The charge slackened and they fired again at 600 yards. On a patch lighted by the moon, were seen heaped masses of the dead and riderless horses dashing in all directions. Next morning the Ivaiser watche dthe retreat.

A German officer who was a prisoner, .stated that his regiment was hemmed in and shelled for fifteen hours. Three hundred out of 1400 were left, and they surrendered when wounded. A French lieutenant narrates that great masses of German infantry with Maxims in the rear, advanced at Armance, north-east of Nancy, unaware of the presence of 75 millimetre guns. They were allowed to come within a thousand yards when the French tire blotted out the first batch of Germans. Five fresh lines followed and each was blotted out in turn. Altogether 10,000 were killed.