HARRYING THE GERMANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 136, 2 November 1914, Page 3

HARRYING THE GERMANS.

ALLIES'' FINE FIGHTING. BATTLE OF LAVJSNTJJS. '"' A cable published in the Sydney £>u» gives some interesting details of recent fighting on the Germans' right, and-of the battle at Laventie, a village in France, E miles north-cast of Bethune. It Ba/#: "The Germans held the village by means of a force strongly entrenched in front for a whole day. The attacking artillery shelled the German position, carrying death and devastation into the enemy's ranks, but the Germans tenaciously held trenches. "As the. day was waning, the order was given, 'Laventie must be taken tit all costs.' The way Jay across open fields, with no cover a no hedges and no trees. It was heavy going over ploughed land and beetroot crops. The advance was made in open order, under cover of the artillery. The Germans '•waited the onslaught with courage and determination, allowing the attackers to como within 500 yards before opening fire. "Then they poured in a perfect hail of shrapnel and bullets. Men fell in all directions. Nevertheless, the infantry advanced steadily, and with splendid courage, and carried the trenches at the point of the bayonet. "They captured three guns, but the battle was only half won. From every room and from every window in tho village a hot ritle fire opposed their entry. 'Mitrailleuses upon the church tower swept the main street. But the attackers, undaunted, passed on into the side streets, and drove out the enemy. By nightfall a trainload of wounded was going rearwards. All the wounded were suffering from bullet wounds. The whole force had previously fought unscathed at Mons, La Chateau and in the Aisne battle. "This is the first of the gruelling pressure of the Allied forces, which is being exerted on the German right, and continues to be irresistible. Laventie was only an incident. "The glorious day at Estaires was carried with the same gallantry and success, and the movements of the Allied forces resulted in a pronounced modification of the programme that the Germans had mapped out for themselves. After the great movement from the Aisnc, the enemy's plan -was undoubtedly to drive a wedge, hoped that the manoeuvre would take the Allied army unawares. But the German movement was

not rapid enought to prevent the Al- j lied forces from selecting a position to establish themselves. The occupation of Ostcnd is consequently of little strategic importance. "The work of our troops during the past week, if not spectacular, lias been extraordinarily effective. The Germans at central points nave been most emphatically and gratifyingly on the run, and daily their line has undergone variations which were totally undesigned. The Teutonic affection for the occupation of open towns has led them into greater difficulties than the temporary advantages have been worth. The food and lodging afforded them was only fair."

GERMANS LOSING HEART. SO MANY ENEMIES. NERVOUSNESS IN BERLIN. The Belgian correspondent of an Amsterdam paper, in a cable which appears in the Sydney Sun, says:— The Germans are depressed by the inilucnce of the Aisne struggle. Th*y have become silent, and even the capture of Antwerp has not neutralised the prevailing depression. There are indications of the pessimism that ia felt in the country. In Parliament in Berlin one of the deputies stated that the exodus of the population signified a heavy blow to Germany from the point of view of the provisioning of the army of occupation,' and the excessively bad impression the flight might make the whole world over. Germans, he went on, were unable to disguise from themselves of the Zeppelins was past, as they were worth nothing in the autumn and winter storms. Moreover, all the troops were needed for the struggle in France, and it was impossible to think of risking an aerial invasion ot England unless it was supported 'by huge masses of troops.

Lidded to this testimony, the health of the Germans on the big battle front of the River Aisne is declining 1 . A doctor states that dysentery and typhus fever are increasing in the trenches. A United States newspaper correspondent, who was a captive within the German lines for a week, and who talked with hundreds of officers and private soldiers, says that the confidence of the former is weakening. One remarked: "America is the only country that has not fired upon us." Berlin is continually worried by reports that the British have landed a ] force at Ostcnd, which is attacking the German line of communications.