Briton v Tueton.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 141, 7 November 1914, Page 5

Briton v Tueton.

THREE DAYS' FIGHTING. FIERCE ATTACKS BY ENEMY . APPALLING LOSSES. GLORIOUS BRITISH VICTORY. GERMANS FALL INTO A PIT. SCENE OF APPALLING HORROR. London, November 5. It is computed that 700,000 Germans endeavoured to break the Ypres-Lille line. The battle raged fiercely for three days, each day presenting a different phase. The first day was the enemy's general advance, during which he lost appallingly. The men succumbed in helpless droves before the British fire, and those who survived were ambushed, and fell into concealed pits. The British loss was slight. The second phase was next day, which saw the storming of the British trenches by overwhelming waves of Germans, and fighting in which the British retreated five miles. The losses on both sides were enormous in the hand-to-hand encounters.

The third phase was last Saturday, and opened with the recovery of the British, who displayed marvellous endurance in the counter-attack, bayonetted their way through all the Germans, and pursued them fifteen miles, until they achieved a glorious victory. The British charge resulted in such slaughter that the bodies rose like hedges, and impeded the second and third assaults. Battalion after battalion was hurled forward, and their sheer momentum drove them down into our trenches, outside of which we constructed pits 20 feet wide and 20- feet deep. These were covered with branches and loose turf, as was done at Bannockburn. The. Germans poured into the pits in a torrent, calling out pitifully. It was a scene of appalling horror. Many were transfixed by the bayonets of their comrades who had previously fallen; others were shot by their friends' rifles. Occasionally a shell fell into a pit, and hundreds in a mass were blown to pieces.

Meanwhile the British cavalry annL hilated the Germans, who tried to step over the bodies in the pits, and the infantry bayonetted those who crossed to close quarters. For nearly 24 hours the struggle continued. The carnage , was one-sided, but the superior numbers compelled the British to retire.

On the second day the fighting became a melee, in which chaos was only removed from time to time by successful charges ofindividual regiments. At dawn on the third day the advance of the British was. ordored. Their charge was irresistible, and swept everything before them. In one of these the London Scottish received its baptism of tire, turning the scale in the most gallant event of the war.

Never have the Prussians suffered such horrors, such colossal losses, or such irreparable damage as in this straight fight with the British.

SANGUINARY BATTLE CONTINUES. | BELGIANS' BAYONET WORK. ] GERMANS BAFFLED. ; Received 0, 8.45 p.m. Amsterdam, November 5. | The Germans arc concentrating a j lurge form near Ypivs. They are'" nisi. I entrenching at the junction of the i l.ruges-Copohl .Jamil, where guns have ; been placed in position. The' canal is j patrolled by motor-boats. 1 The buttle continues in the Dixmundc. i Ypres-Roulcrs district. The Belgians "are lighting with great spirit, doing splen- •' did bayonet work. j Tuesday's battle was extraordinarily ; sanguinary. The Germans made desperate ! attempts to break through, but were : baffled, many prisoners being taken. i A British aeroplane dropped bombs on ■ the Ghent-I'.nigcs railway, destroying the line at two places. I A French aviator, on Tuesday, who attempted to bomb the petroleum tanks at Bruges, killed two Germans, and wounded a woman and child.