EPOCH-MAKING BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 126, 21 October 1914, Page 7

EPOCH-MAKING BATTLE.

ENGLISH CAYIALRi" STROKE. GERMAN'S LURED INTO A TRAP. (Special war correspondent to the. London Times.) Ch&tres, (France), Sept. 14. I have succeeded after difficulties so numerous that I almost lost count of them in achieving a point five miles south of Provins, 50 miles south-east of Paris, which, 1- suppose, all the world now knows, was all but gained by the German advance at the end of last week.

In reaching this point I have travelled practically ali along the line of the a lied armies,' though, of course, to ll.e. rear. 1 have lived, as it were, .in the ante-' room of battles, for this terrible conflict is no single encounter. 1 have wen such lights as have afforded me, at least, partial knowledge of tho tremendous events passing so near to me. I have talked with till manner of men, including German prisoners, of whom 1 have encountered not hundreds, but thousands.

From my own observations, and I have moved within sound of cannon, and from these accounts I have been ab.e to piece .together ail outline of the story of the great and now successful combat which began on Sunday, September 0, and which I am persuaded is still continuing, albeit,that in large part it lias been transformed from a battle to a rout.

e SERIES OF BATTLES CROWDED INTO ONE. "l i' ■ Having been in touch with this trc i' nicmlons encounter, I view it no longi e as a battle, but as a series of battle ■■ the whole campaign, as it were, bein crowdeil into a single day. It is dill'icul u to realise this unless one. lias traverse s these many miles of front, travellin J' night and day, and not getting clear o 11 the lines. " . The German advance on Paris iva : pressed forward toward the. end of las • week with a tremendous spread of force " a fact testified to by the .streams of re I fugees, which fled in front of it. ' ! It was not, however, a direct advance ' thanks to the steady pressure of tin , French and English, and to the fact thii J, the main body of the Allies' forces, ie j far as known had retired to the south ■; east of the capital. The invader: .• decided to sweep down and surround it . before attacking the city. II It seems clear that they expected !c pierce the Allies' lines "at a point tc | the east of the forest of Foutaincbleau and that at tin: same time that the • French forces along the river Ourcij. close to its junction, would be pierced That is to say, it was proposed to cut the allied army in two, drive one part , of it in disorder to the capital, and surround the other part in the open couii- : try. TEUTONS VERY SURE OF PLANS' I SUCCESS.

i , Very sure were the Teutons that no ' ,eeriyus obstacle lay in their path to the j coveted prize of Paris. Ten days ago a ' body of them entered the town of Ch,iiitilly, and 1 have it from an Englishman, who was present, that the idea seemed , to prevail that all serious opposition I was at an end. I During tho period of advance, many sharp encounters took place, between the French and German cavalry detachment-:. The host of General von Kluck made its way down across the Marne and the Grand Morin to Sezanne and Provins. The crossing of these rivers was always ft diflicult matter because the French in i their retreat had blown up the bridge?. ' But little opposition was met with; the Allies, on the contrary, led their ! enemies into a trap. I witnessed a little of ths work, and I know of tho splendid lead which the British cavalry gave to the Germans; how, in a style that is good to think of, , they fetched these over-tired Teutons mile after mile across the country, the Germans believing the Englishmen weee running away. 1 Thus, lured by its foes and tempted by its overwhelming confidence, the mighty host of the Kaiser rolled down to Proving and was swept away be- ) for# it. [ PEOPLE FLEE BEFORE .ADVANCING 1 HORDE. J The stream of refugees which passed ine night and day during the week end i told its own sad tale. Everywhere was , terror aud despondency. 1 "Fly," they told me; "they are here.' 1 From Troy, as the story came, from Xo--1 gont-sur-Svine from: Roinillv, those poor j ' people had suffered terribly. ! ' Having labored so far, however, I resolved to stay and see what would '■ happen. Nor had I to wait long. The ' tremendous advance reached Provins; it ''even extended to Nogent, but it got no further. The plan of the Allies was I .accomplished: the. hour had struck.

j On Friday, September 5, the encounter '"'gan in the neighborhood of tlie Grand jilorin River. Tin? English attacked the Germans, who had advanced somewhat , too hurriedly, and took a number of prisoners. The engagement was an exceedingly hot one, and as a result, the enemy was cheeked to some extent in its forward movement. ALIJES STRIKE HARD AT WEARY FOEMEX. Saturday, however, saw the advance continued, and it was not until Sunday morning that the great attack on the 'exposed right wing of the enemy was ' commenced.

This right wing lay in the region of 'Meaux, at the junction of the Ourcq anl ■ the Marne. Simultaneously with the atI tack upon it, the battle was joined along the whole front from .Meaux arid Esternay to Verdun. The sound of cannon became audible from where I was. Over the whole line of battle and under Die blazing sun a great black pile of smoke gathered, out of which boomed the cannon with terrible insistence. 1 made my way to a little wayside station. All was bustle ami activity. A table had been laid out with bandages and dressings. A coupie of nurses waited and beside the table was a barrow .with wine and fruit. Presently, a long train steamed in. ]t was composed of horse trucks fitted with stretchers, and contained the first I of the men who had been facing death away under the smoke pall. To the station, too, came motor cars direct from I the firing line, each carrying its sorrowful burden. The lighting that Sunday was of a terrible character, ft began at ilawn in the region of La 'Eerie Gaucher. The allied troops, drawn up to receive the .»rinalis, understood it would be their i (Intv tn hold on io (.lie very last in ordw that the attacking force at Meaux would ocliicve its task in security. The Germans' artillery at La Eerie Gaucher was very severe. It operated trout the heights above the Grand Morii

river and the lino of fire extended away to Sezanne on the east and Vitry-le-Francois. ALLIES HURL WEIGHT AGAINST GERMANS. The great German guna Boomed to i have done terrible execution at long range, while those opposed to them, according to various accounts, were somewhat weaker. At this range, happily, the German lire was not accurate.

The French and English fought stubbornly, winning the ground foot by foot, until they were able to beat the enemy back and coine to close quarters. Our soldiers, indeed, had to be held ia restraint, they were almost too bold.

At last the moment they had been longing for, the moment of attack, had come. Every soldier desired to fling himself on the enemy. Oil Sunday night the German began to go back. Tliey re-crossed the Grand Morin and moved to the plateau above | Sezanne. The battle nevertheless went on furiouslv.

"It was a snowstorm of shells," one soldier told me. "'We went forward, however. A shell fell a few paces from me and threw up a great column of 'earth which covered me, getting into my ' eyes and mouth.

| "Then we came under the machine gun lire. This was really terrible. We seemed to bo in a furnace, the bullets screamed by and made fearful ravages.

ENGLISH PRESS ONWARD IN HAIL OP BULLETS.

I ''The dead and wounded lay about and mixed up with them were i wounded horses, which struggled and screamed ;n agon}'. Hut in spite of all we held or.. 1 do not think we were afraid at all." I The enemy was repulsed on the south and at tin; same time it was being Heavily attacked on the west, at JJeaux and on the banks of the Ourcq. On Monday the lighting around Meair: reached a terrible pitch of ferocity. The Germans had determined to cross th<> Maine here, so as to break up the Allies and open the way to Paris. I They madu tremendous attempts to construct bridges over the river; the Vreiicn had blown up nil the existing bridges and covered the river with their heavy guns.' Time after time, the enemy's engineers attempted to place their 'pontoons in position, and each time as soon as the work began a 'hail of bullets descended. Their losses were terrific.

i At one point 10 attempts at bridge building were foiled. .At the final attempt a mass of soldiers was hurled into tho water. One soldier told me that be bad personally counted GOO corpses in ,one of the German trendies. | "When the enemy retired tlie country |was strewn with dead and dving.llere a horse lay with it.- legs still stuck up in the air; another, behind the body of •which two soldiers sought cover, was lacerated with shot and the two men dead. Close behind them eight deait horses and five men surrounding a gun were the victims of an exploding shell.

GERMAN FIRE SLACKENS WHEN RETREAT BEGINS, I That day the Gcrmann fell back both I llong the Ourcq and tho Marnc, and, j iuriously enough, during this time of retreat they seem to have slackened their ifle lire. In one place they retired some •5 kilometres without firing a single shot. Thoy tvere literally decimated. Our men came up with them finab.y ind took seven cannon, two machine J ;uns, and about 1000 prisoners. One of j 'lie prisoners- confessed they had been j inlered to save their ammunition as j iiuoh as possible. On Monday night the news spread all along the ranks u! Uie Allies that September G and 7 iia.l been good days for the cause.. Monday, too saw a tremendous mwinter pn the Ourcq. The French entered a village in this region, which the ;nemy first vacated. In one, house, a arge one, they found the dinner tabic )eautifuily spread, at which evidently the German staff recently had been seatid. Candles still burned on tho' table, and m old woman, the only occupant of the place, testified that their behaviour had Men good. They seemed very tired, rhey fled precipitately. There was a good deal of hand-to-hand lighting on the Ourcq, and much bayonet tvork. A flag was taken by the French. 'HOLD Til EM." IS ORDER, AND Al. LIES OBEYED. The second attempt on the Ouivq shared the fate of the first, though an night and well into Tuesday the givst German guns boomed along t;.;; nur. The resistance of the Aiiie* coii'd not be broken. To hold wa» tiie command, and every man braced himself to During the light a message had to be carried from a point under tcrriiic lire. Volunteers were asked and four men at once oll'ered. The first did not return, the second lost a leg, ana the l-h'.rd Succeeded. ! A small cottage which was entered • the day after the fight disclosed the spectacle of three Germans lying (lead on a bed which they had drawn near a window and from which they had been firing. Two of them had their heads torn , away by shell fire. In the meantime the struggle at fx' Ferte Gaucher and Sezanne, near where 1 had established myself, was bearing good fruit. The German resistance on Tuesday morning was broken. The wounded men were no longer downhearted, but full of spirit and eager to bo back in the fray-

INVADERS ARE ROUTED, ASSERTS | WITNESS. I The Germans fought well, but they ! were outclassed and outmanoeuvred. I They were hurled back across the lields to La Ferte Sous Jouarre, Cateau Tliier!ry and north toward Compicgne and Soissuns.

I 1 ain convinced that the full extent 'of this rout is not yet appreciated. It was of truly terrific character. 1 have seen enough to make me very sure that : such a blow will not fail to have a lasting eli'ect. I The number of German prisoners 1 ' have seen is colossal. The number of 'wounded, too, is very great; 1 counted fifteen trains in eight hours, but for the most part the wounds are not very serious. i The enemy crossed the Marne on the return journey north under great dilliculty, and beneath a withering fire from 'our iiritish troops, which pursued hotly. I The river was swollen with dead. On Tuesday night our troops were in possession of La Eerie Sous Jounrre, Charly and Catcall Thierry. The Germans bad j fallen back some forty miles, leaving' a long train of spoils behind them, j ARMIES OF THE ALL! US CLOSE I.IKE SHEARS.

On Wednesday the English Army continued the pursuit towards the north, taking guns and prisoners. The stream of those prisoners flowed [on day and night. In the station one. of them died. A priest, who was present, held his hand at the, last, and a French Sister of Mercy ministered to him. Ilia eyes opened for a moment and it seemed he attempted l to express liis•."•'-i. At that moment we forgot our

The tremendous attack of the Allies, along the Ourcq on Tuesday is the keynote to these doings on Wednesday. It was this terrific attack which suddenly showed the German commander hi# lines of communication were threatened, and which in company with the splendid stand of his enemy at Sezanne, caused him to retreat with all haste in a northwesterly direction. Then came the crowning stroke. The army of the Ourcq and Meaux and the army of Sezanne drew together like the blades of of a pair of scissors, the pivot of which was the region of the Grand Morin. The German retreat was thus 'forced toward the east and speedily became a rout.