Western Campaign

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 135, 31 October 1914, Page 5

Western Campaign

NOHABLE PROGRESS IN BELGIUM. ALLIES ADVANCE ON OSTEND. POSITIONS TAKEN AT BAYONET'S POINT. BAVARIANS REFUSE TO FIGHT.

Received 30, 10.50 p.m. Flushing, October 29. It is reported that the Allies have advanced towards Ostcnd. The British have occupied Felliiighe aud Raversyne, which they carried at tlip bayonet's point. A Bavarian battalion refused to fight, and surrendered. OFFICIAL FRENCH REPORT. PROGRESS AT VARIOUS POINTS. Received 31, 12.20 a.m. Paris, October 21). Official. —During yesterday we made progress at several points, particularly around Vprcs and south of Arras. There is nothing new to repori on the Xieuport-Dixmunde front. Between the Aisne and Argonne we captured some of the enemy's trenches. Not one of the partial attacks attempted by tile Germans succeeded. We likewise advanced in the forest of Apremont, BLOODY STRUGGLE NEAR NIEUPORT. BELGIANS RAISE REINFORCEMENTS A BRAVE MAN AT A BRIDGE. Paris, October 29. A Woody struggle continues on the Nieuport-Ostend line. The Belgian

A Woody struggle continues oil the Nieuport-Ostend line. The Belgian wounded reached the base hospital on Monday and Tuesday. The Belgians still say gleefully "In a few weeks we shall again have a hundred thousand men," referring to the training of recruits. The Germans on the Yser carry socalled table-tops, roughly constructed wooder devices, to throw across the narrow rivulets and canals as bridges. They are also used as shelters when charging. The rushes usually end in appalling slaughter. A dragoon marksman was stationed behind a fence near a swing bridge at Sailly, near Lille, with two comrades loading for him, and ordered to repel the enemy without blowing up the bridge. Two German lancers appeared and were shot down, then tliree, and later live Uhlans. Altogether t'here were thirty dead. The man effectively prevented the advance for a whole day.

London, October 20. A correspondent, describing the fig'ntiig on ihe "Vser, states that numbers os Germans threw down their ,arm s and pleaded for mercy, but the fighting wa» too desperate for that. There was ». moment when the tired Belgian infantry gare way and left the trencher, but the core of the trenches stood tintl taved the situation at Dixmunde. The greater part of the German battalion ot prisoners ar c mostly young men of mild ind studiou R cxprc-.- ion.. I An extract fro;u a pluvcil copy of orders belonging to the. German Htli Reserve Corps dated October T, • suggfsts a deterioration hi gen.■ ra! d',-;ei-pline in one corps «l<o v. ;hor:ac<> "I supplies, bnt must niili.se trie ■nsour-'-cy troops could no longer ?o'int on r"r,i'.ir H'.pplies. Tile ol'deiv notified that 111.• troops eonld no longer count on regular supplies, but must utilise the resources of '.lie country a* much as possible, and the regulations as to the use of rations must be strictly obwvcd. TIIE LATE PRINCE MAURICE. A YOUNG MAN OF GRIT. London, Octobfr "2!). Corporal Jolley, one of the King's Rifles narrates that during the retreat from Mons the Germans attempted to blow up a Marne bridge, which the regiment was ordered to recapture. Prince Maurice of Battenburg was the first man across the bridge and daringly searched a house on the other side alone. MOTOR CARS vnu t;KRM : :VN" RETREAT. Received 30. !Uo p.m. London. October A correspondent, of tlie newspaper

Telegraph, writing from Ghent, says that several hundred German motor-cars are held in readiness for immediate retreat with provisions and equipment for the troops fighting in Flanders. HEAVY GUN'S BREAK THE EOADS. COUNTRY BECOMING FLOODED. Received 30, fi.2o p.m. London, October 29. A correspondent, alter describing the struggle on the Yser, says that the number of wounded arriving in Calais is evidence of the grim resolve of the Germans to carry out the War Lord's orders to break through at any cost. Rain during,the last few days caused heavy guns to churn up (lie surface into *n impassable morass. Floods are inCreasing. The country is cut up by numberless ditches and rivulets, The 'belligerents have constructed an amazing network of trenches, commanding every streamlet at almost point blank range. The correspondent adils that graps, corn, and sugar beet crops in France are wonderfully good. Much of the beet country was ravaged by the armies, but over vast tracts women, children, and old men are busy stripping. The Germans in some districts are using the French mills to manufacture enormous quantities of sugar.