GERMAN ARMAMENTS DWINDLING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 132, 28 October 1914, Page 5

GERMAN ARMAMENTS DWINDLING.

INTERESTING REPORT FROM HEADQUARTERS. ENEMY'S LIES TO INFLUENCE FRENCH. London, October 2,">. Ollicial: ,A further account from General Headquarters deals with the movements of the British where the French armies Were in touch with them. , October 17th.—Notwithstanding the trying nature of the lighting in this quarter and the wtt weather, the: troops arc very lit. In fact, we are sleadi.y advancing, and the enemy is. guing way. This proved a must welcome and inspiring change for those who have been experiencing weeks of monotony in trendies, whe-ie they had to endure continuous losses, without- the satisfaction of knowing for certain the Josses being inflicted upon the enemy, except when lie attacked. This is not the only advantage over the Germans; we stiil hear from prisoners that their advanced troops are short of food, and exhausted !>y continued outpost work. Wo can afford to give our troops more rest, and there is no lack of good food. .Many troops opposed to us at present < have only two months* service; seme prisoners state these men will not expo-ai themselves in trenches. Nevertheless, (lie enemy in front is lighting well and skilfully, and showing considerable powers of endurance. They geueiaily contrive to remove their wounded, and" often bury the killed before retiring, their eseanc being facilitated by numerous deep trenches.

GERMANS* BAD BEHAVIOUR. "Many cavalry patrols are wearing Belgian uniforms. The practice is not excusable on the ground of lack of their own. The inhabitants of one small lown now occupied by us state that a large force of .German cavalry was recently billeted there; but retired hurriedly on the night of the J3th, having sonic Cm) wounded. Sixty-eight serious cases were, left behind, flic truth of the last part of the statement has been confirmed, as i our troops found that number in a 'building over -which, an immense Red Cross flag was flying. As the British approached the town, smoke signals were being made from a tall chimney close to the building flying the flag. Germans, consisting largely of Bavarian cavalry, who occupied" this town eight days before, did not burn the place, but otherwise behaved in n way that merits the worst ever said of them.

AVIATIOX FEATS. "Jn spite of adverse weather aviators on both sides have not been idle in the northern theatre of operations. On ttic 12th (iorman airmen (lew over St. Outer, and dropped five bombs, apparently under tim impression that the place was occupied by lis; two women and a little girl were killed. On Wednesday a hostile aeroplane was brought down by rille mid machine-gun (ire, both observer and pilot being captured. The pilot wus decorated with the Iron Cross, which, according to his account, had lierii awarded him for being the first Gorman to droll a bomb in Antwerp. Oii,tbe lSth three British aeroplanes gave chase, to a German machine. Unluckily, one of our machines, which was fast< r than the enemy's, met with a slight accident, and had to give up the chase. A (Irriuan airman recently made an unsuccessful attempt, by menus of in;>< itdiary bombs to cMih.dc a French capiNc observation balloon.. MWlcs fell s ;,, :l! !. t.'ineoiisly in the cii-uml'cn n:c- of a civic 51) yards in diameter. Ar~ tiicv stria-!: the. ground they emitted vivi.l red Ham-., followed by columns of dark smoke :.',• feet high. At the point where each '■• I there was found a largo mass rcsembl'.".-; dark pumice stone, and the stubble wis burnt in patches of about u \ard in diameter.

BRAVERY Of ENKMY'S SCOUTS. "An incident which occurred during the llitli shows resource and bravery of some of. the enemy's scouts. German artillery, while retiring, were from time to time coming into action. An olliccr of our iiank cavalry patrol-; had been standing under a tree, when he'noticd a fine wire hanging down close to the trunk. Following the wire ■.•••war.i-i. he was uslciibhcd to see en,, o: Cie eii:.ai- in the tree. As he dn-.v his i■,■ vo.ver'and tired the Gormen dronp.-d on his h ad, a'so firing at the I'ritjsh uibccr, who was stunned. When lie came l» be foiled away, and his uiiil'onn < overt d w.t.'t blood not his own. ''.So far a s the campaign goes, Hie tendency of the Germans" to rely on the splendid war material with 'which they have been so amply provided, rather than on the employment of masses of men, has become more marked. Now there are indication*"that the supply of material is not inexhaustible. A significant circular issued by the Prussian Minister for War, enjoining careful search of battlefields for equipment, and even the collection of empty cartridge cases, has been quoted in a previous letter. This circular seems to have been prompted more by necessity than by habits of economy, for in recent lighting both gun and rifle, ammunition" of old patterns lias been found in trenches evacuated by the enemy, and on dead prisoners. Amongst the latter Mauser cartridges similar to those used by the Boers in South Africa were found.

A REMARKABLE A I'PEAL. "The following is a translation of. a leaflet German aviators have been dropping over the French lines: 'French soldier:-,—The Germans are only making war against the French Government, which is sacrificing you and your country to the egotism of the English. Y'our commerce, industry, and agriculture will be ruined by this war, whilst the English alone will thrive <m the enormous profit from it. You are pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for the English. The news spread by your Government—that the Russians are near Berlin—is false, On the contrary, the Russians have been beaten in two great battles; 150,000 Russians have been captured; and the rest have been driven in rout from German territory. French soldiers,—Surrender, so that this war, which is ruining your country, may be ended as soon as -possible. Rest assured that prisoners and wounded are well treated. In order to let you know the truth, the following testimonial from Surgeon-Major Dr. Sauvre, of the French Army "(Rue Luxembourg, Paris), is gives:— " 'I, the undersigned, declare I have seem in German (hospitals at Sommepy Aure French -wounded receive exactly the same treatment as the Germans. I may add that not only tie French I woMded, but also their prisoners, whom I saw, were tery well looked after.'

FALSE NEWS. "The tonus of this summons to surrender cannot bo sjjjl to 'bo tactful, and .it lias not had the de«ired clloet. Apart from endeavours to influence the enemy, for others have probably been made, news is disseminated amongst the German soldiers by means of a special military newspaper called The Patrol, published in Berlin. Its historical value can be gauged by this statement, made in its issue of September (i, as follows: 'lt may confidently be asserted that the resistance of the active army of" the French lias been overcome. Reserve troops and new formations will, no doubt, give our heroic force, plenty to do (rest of sentence mutilated i.' Moreover, the facts must have convinced the German troops that this assertion was not justified. In a captured letter, dated September it, the. following passage, occurs: 'We are very anxious about the. result of the fighting. Wo have nothing •but of great successes, but don't put much faith in them. To-day we trot papers of September 1 and i>. It was J really painful to read boastful announce- : ments of the march on Paris, for we j are no nearer to Paris now than then. \ 1 don't know whether you realise this; \ it is no use in trying to hido it.'

GERMANS SUFFER PRIVATIONS. "Information recently received corroborates the impression already made that the enemy's troops suffered severe privations during August and September. "Many letters bear tiiis out. Extracts are given as follows:—'September 22hd: My best pals have been killed or wounded. One. company lias dwindled to two-thirds of Us original strength. We want peace' quickly. We have been driven to exhaustion, and have marched for entire weeks, even for a fortnight, nor shaved since the commencement of Uhc war. But all this is nothing; we shall, soon be home, for it will all soon be over. Wo -have just been under the enemy's artillery fire for eight days. .... We get no letters. Have passed thousands of full mail bags on '. the road, but no officers deal out the j letters. . . . After thirty-six hours' j .march without halting, we arrived just lin time for a fig-lit. For three days we 1 did not have a hot meal, because the | field kitchens went astray. We had a ! hot meal yesterday evening. We are all j ready to drop, but must march on.' j "There is no doubt the Germans have , to a, great extent recovered from the I conditions implied by these letters, but | their forces are by no means what thev were."