A FLAMING CORNER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 129, 24 October 1914, Page 6

A FLAMING CORNER.

GALLANT WORK IN CRECY FOREST. SAVING AMMUNITION UNDER FIRE. (New York Sun). London, September 11. A despatch from Laguy, Seine-et-Marne, dated Thursday, describes the devastation of the forest of Creey. Blasted trees are standing stark and decapitated. Others, amazingly shattered by shells, lie on the ground. The roads are covered with the deep marks of the wheels of the heavy gun wagons and the ground shows hundreds of thousands of iioofmarks where the cavalry alid artillery thundered by. The correspondent relates an incident which occurred in one of the smaller woods to the south-east of Crccy. lie savs:— i

"It was held by the enemy, but although the wood gave good cover for a time our patrols during the nfgnt by great daring smelt them out and carried the news of their whereabouts to the cavalry on one side and the infantry on the other.

[ -Incautiously enough the Germain moved about with stable lanterns tc guide them, unaware that trouble was so near. Suddenly they foiled their twinkling glow-worms a mark for the foe of whose proximity they had been blissfully unaware. They were smitten woefully at midnight. • Li storm of bullets from our Maxims screamed through the sleeping trees like a tornado. "Next morning scores of lanterns were picked up in the wood with their glasses shattered. A cavalry charge family cleared tho tragic little wood. Our losses Were slight, but tho Germans suffered severely. "Twenty prisoners taken in the melee were, herded together in a clearing. Their lilies had not been taken from them, but were stacked near by. In a rash moment they got tho idea that they were loosely guarded and made a combined rush for their rifles. They will never make another."

In telling of another incident in the forest of Creey the correspondent savs: "Tiie French and British alike swarmed about the wood with axes, knives, saws and'even sabres. They had a wide area down in next lo no time. Line after a line of infantry, each man carrying a thickly fpliaged 'branch, .moved forward in close order towards the enemy, while behind, amids lopped tree trunk's, our artillery got into position with machine guns and thirteen pounders to cover the wood. As it moved forward all was n-rustle. The attack wnieh followed was as rapid, as fierce and as bold a s anything that has been done ia this campaign and won all the success which it merited. "The mysterious, slow-moving wood soon showed that there were more than umbrage in its texture. It snarled flame and spat bu lets while ov< rle-ad the shells of the l-'remh ami ISrKish arid b ry sped screaming to their own mar!;. But one incident marly upset the show. ,lu-.t under the ridge of a Mil, right .'iV the forest, large quantities of our ammunition were pied ready for sudden service and apparently we I screened o:it of harm's way. The oncoming Freneli cavalry made a detour for purposes of their own struck the hill and rode along it for some distance. For a, few nrn"utes they showed themselves on lii.t skyline in the bright sunshine. There was no mistaking the vivid scarlet of their breeches, and they were spotted lit once by tho Germany arli'lcry. TV' Kaiser's arli'lerymeu here were cra'.k shots and they lost no time in llndin.' the range. J "Presently the shells began to drop thick and fast over the ridge, falling SO near our 'precious ammunition as to make tho situation remarkably unpleasant. Small parties of our 'boys swarmed up the hid stripped to the wai'-t and lugged the heavy boxes out of the way of disaster. The men tell mo it was the hottest and most flaming corner that they have ever been in, but they eamo through, and so did the ammunition.

"Ily evening, the enemy had been repulsed, the Mame was clear of them and the light was roll.'ng further and furtli; r away east of the capital."