UNKNOWN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 125, 20 October 1914, Page 6

UNKNOWN

TERRIBLE PICTURE Oi' i'liiGlTlVi TIDE IX XORTIiiI'UAXCE. London, A ,gust 31. (Philip Gibba wr.ie., . lows from the front:—Looking baei. . . .ill I have seen during the past .. .. I find it difficult to piece toge... c various incidents and make one j>-1 jrc. It all seems to me now like a ;;,aw puzzle of suffering and fear au>i . jurage and death. The French arm., -lei our British troops are now ho'idii;, good positions in a much stronger 11 n .ioser line, and are stemming the ti.:- uf the German hordes rolling up l aris. tlcn|eral Pan, the hero of Oii. war, after [his return from the east. rr. :ront, where ,he repaired tu.' ilea.:, . . at Jlaulhausen, ha.- ■ , a > ,■* blow «t a German a.iti 1; : ..as striking' to tb- ' i'aris is still safe f<r t'iie 1, ■ with ;i I great ar-sy o: ti ii ::e!i, British and Belgians, dra-i- 'lie eoun- ! try as a barrier, w'> ! <-!: : will not Ibe broken by the cnouy.

Tl: ii '"R'' \T " "I':' AT. Xothing ti.iu iia.-, , .: ~ves cause for the ur.-pa.r .m.c.. .... .11 hold of pcoplo wiioou fears ..a.. xaggerakui the facts, nigailin iin,ii.,L ;en taken separately, but not gh.iij; a. proof that resislanti: in impossible uy, .t the onslaught oi tiie tierman e^.. -10. 1 have been into Use war zo.it., .u; >i.ive se.'n, during tin- :.isl live ..a -, 1... men who are now ■ ...oiiig tli - i.e.. - t defence.

II have i.'i :ii among ji: :i .load and I wounded, aii.i i:avv, U;,.'.. ~'i soldiers ' niiirch.ny ,iv-,i to ,i.. ... I have seen the liti; rid mess which . eared up after batt.t, and Lit.- picture or retreat. Hut nothing that i have seen or heard from either JSriiU.. or i'rench leads me to believe Unit Ji. Allies have been demoralised. It is impossible to estimate our own losses. i.w wounded [are being brought ba,:,; l.> ilarvc and Iteuon, and undoubted// tin re are large numbers of them, but paU.ng that a the highest, it is clear to ine, from al". the information gathered .airing the last five days, that there h;is been no overwhelming disaster. At St. (juentin, our main forces, which were pressed by enormous numbers of the enemy, succeeded in withdrawing in ! good order without having their lines ! broken, while inlliethi; terrible punish- ; inent upon the German right. Retreat-:. | which seem fatal when cose at hand, or when described by those who have I belonged to fragments of extended seei tions, are not altogether disastrous in I their effect when viewed in their right 'perspective away from the immediate misery which is their inevitable accompaniment. The German audacity of attack against the heroic courage of the French and British forces, who fought every mile of ground during their retirement, is leading the enemy into a position from which there will be no retreat for tiieir lines. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of people who know nothing of tile great issues, and who aru possessed of a great blind fear which has driven them from their towns, villages and homes. That is inevitable. W hen the Germans swept, round Lille, they found to their amazement that this town, surrounded by forts, had been abandoned, and they hail only to walk inside.

T HKJ) (JF HciJUl'l-NU. v ; u ' 10 *** c ijL -•*—-> ""i'i'*" >•- CU uy CiUt-'I'O, iliiu Luy Utiliv lu J Uiguu a-.,M alia l\a.- | flic Swtc yi iUI (I -i 6 f iWc | OlitlU iU till. Uv. 11L1 L' Ui t'llU Co'llI Ulain Ui UWkia. uutltu ami Alio I iieainjuai ucciucu unit tile posiliuu was uuicjiuUiu, au«i mat tuo mum J u.liM ui tsiiun.u Ui ,t n' ijitu a I ana Jlfc I'llr" *-"' l Lll K'W. P-Viu.; b-y. lUi inereas,n .-,,, c u ,iii,i teiror. jjuiug tile end |of last weiß 1 was ,n m.usl, ol k, . ant saw uuJorgetUb:e scenes 0 f enormous trag.hl;.. It was u i|'«!it of hundreds of thousands of I'a-imius, who, Wire driven far Mom Ilicir northern homes by the menace of the approaching Lilians.' They are j >t 11 li.'uiiMd tear from .place to , |. .uv where I'tey can lin 1 no shelter, j end no | e:immciit safe y. Tile railway . l ave been choked with them, and in lb', s: 1 loir; fugitive tra::'.-, which pasi [ through Malit.us, ('ieiy is nn food nor I lit'-:tk. Th,. poor runaways, \vca,ie.l anil esliau-ted. sjvn'i long ,Ims it nil nights stunt i d on lo side lhr's ulrle i.roon trams pa-s and pa-s ami a e lu-ld up in towns where they can find no means of exit brause the last, train has let' 1 ". When th" (roups marched awav from Ihui'ogne and left v't silent an.l unguarded, 1 saw In' inhabitants. iPsinaved, standing despondently staring at the I'laearls no-ied no bv order of tlie '(iivv■ ernor. which announced the evacuation <;f the lown, and ca'l'nc I'liion (lienii ! o be ready for any eventualities in the service of their eounlry. Tile Custom 1 ; j officer left, :nel tii," civil iiobee were , disarmed, while a Il ls with nine n'> V , s| o!s was made readv to lie hoisle! j on the forts direelh any Uhlans wcr-' • vjrhtcd.

I The .pcnpl,'' of 'noM l o , *uf> e ,v 'il(l »ior. I undi i>t inid. No rrcm-livan of tin* north c.'ut undi»r>liMni wliv their forts and tnn'i;>'i -iv.. --i l "'! 1 •■f'.'r "ic 1 of Sfi ni.inv ;iul wliv tlwv ha.\'e left :i in-cut iracl of the fouirry <men and nndi'tVinh'd. In th;it covn'T 'of Krone'? (he ii»',,!iV li'-'i'ii n'-nl!** for Ihp Vii Hit of hoofs ;md for Hie cry of 'ie j Urnnir-i c-'mim t 1»-it th.' rne-mv : had biTii -< i*ii in 1 hi* n"iirlibovin«; town-; I rml vi!!:il'iiu one wonder lint I f-, J|, ior- and rushed from their 1 'l : our< :»nd \v>titlfveil fortli in a blind, rnrrasoiiinu' wav to swell tdi«■ i>anie tide of fu"j!' vrhonudess and fool. t") ii l * l'pn> and there on the wayside in nH "r wearino-s^?