Western Campaign

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 143, 11 November 1914, Page 5

Western Campaign

. FIGHTING IN FLANDERS. FRENCH TRIBUTE TO BRITISH HEROISM. INDIANS EMERGE WITH GLORY FROM THE FURNACE. TERRIBLE LOSSES OF GERMANS. Paris, November 9. Several newspaper review the situation in France and Belgium, particularly by Britain's share in' the fighting. Le Temps, in an article baaed on a statement t) a French officer, attached to the Indians, pays a tribute to the heroism and resisting powers of the British forces. They had the post of honor, and the difficult mission of checking the new German invasion between La Bassee and Ypres. The British line was so thin that, unless the troops had shown an obstinacy worthy of Waterloo, the line must have been pierced or driven back. Their mission necesirated holding the trenches for several weeks against the enemy, not only superior in numbers, but attacking with desperate resolution. Sometimes, especially at night times, the British trenches were carried, but they spared no nitcriSaifl l\. retaking them. The English cavalry was perhaps the most brilliant of all. The German artillery on October 30 and 31 made a special mark of the cavalry who were manning the trenches, believing that they were experienced in infantry work, yet when a regiment of Lancers was ordered to enter Messina, and given bayonets for the first time, they used them with the vigor of hardened infantrymen, and cleared the town of the. enemy.

The Indians had a full share of the losses and glory. Soon after landing they were thrown into'the centre of the furnace and fiercely tried, but they emerged gloriously. The British losses were very heavy, but insignificant compared with those of the enemy. Several times, after a night engagement, a single British battalion (lCi)l) men) counted six or seven hundred German corpses before its trenches. One British battalion surprised a German brigade (10,000 men) in close formation, and in a few minutes massacred four thousand.

Other newspapers state that the Germans lost 50,000 killed during the'last week's fighting on the Yscr. 'Some trains travelling to Brussels contained a thous. and corpses, roped together- in fours round a plank, packed upright in trucks and burned in a special apparatus at Louvain.

The young German recruits are insufficiently trained and their shooting is appalling, -but they know how to die, and while their numbers can be maintained their attacks are unlikely to lose their vigor. Renter's Paris correspondent intimates that the German forces operating against Ypres are now about equal to those of the Allies, and the lines of the opposing armies are unlikely to be modified for 'dnyr., possibly for weerrp.. Arras is i-till the centre of severe fighting. At one time 4800 shells weri' railing hourly. The German field pieces are three times us numerous as those of the French. The advance of the Allies' Lille line is slow. The Germans are strongly intrenched in the district. General Jofi're does not intend to capture the town by a general advance, as be wishes to spare Lille, which has already suffered' a bombardment.

MORE BRITISH AND MORE GUNS WANTED. , THEPARATIONS TO HOLD ANTWERP. London, November !>. Amsterdam reports that the British patrols are within three miles of Bruges. The Germans at night time removed heavy guns from various strategical points. The British have forced back considerably the Germans eastward of Ypres, yet the consensus of military opinion is that more British and more i guns are needed. The Germans are still I

bringing reinforcements from Alsace and threaten the British lines with a stupendous mass of artillery, in the hope of penetrating the line; at Ypres and thence to Hazebrouck and Calais. Many big guns are mounted at Heyst and concealed in the sandbanks. Other batteries of field guns are posted inland, indicating the. intention to cling to the few miles of coastline between Zeebrugge and the Dutch frontier, per-, haps because the Brugesjlcyst canal is being used to transport mines and .submarines in sections. The German entrenching works extend up to ten kilometers from the Dutch frontier. At that point the trenches face northwards, indicating that it is intended to cheek the Allies if the latter work along the sea coast and then along the Dutch ' frontier. The Germans are working with great energy upon the western forts of Antwerp, and are, also laying mines in the vicinity. Three circles of trenches for infantry are being prepared round the Antwerp forts. Two British and two French aeroplanes at Ypres, pursuing four German machines, drove the latter into a dangerous position, - and the Germans were brought down by shrapnel.

Paris newspapers point out the unexpected renewal of the fighting on the Aisne. There has been violent fighting at Rhcims since Saturday. The Orrnans renewed the attack on Craonnc, and brought several siege guns to bombard Soissons. They threw twenty thousand reinforcements against the Alii« between Brave n.nd Vaillv. During

"ers, in a night attack, charged the squad, rona across twp miles of ground covered by shell fire. The attack was successful, and the battery was silenced, although the French force was Anally obliged to retire and only recovered the ground on Friday. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, November 9. The Times correspondent says that the battle at Ypres demonstrated the utility of British armored trains, which were a source of deep anxiety to the enemy. Their shell fire was deadly. Heaps of deads in evacuated positions and broken batteries furnished a tribute to the daring and resource, of the men handling these monitors. AFreuch cavalryman writes that the trenches are only 30 metres apart. "The Germans swear at us in the best Parisian slang. They have just sent a stinking old goat into our trenches with posters all covered with coarse jokes." The Lokalanzieger acknowledged the gallantry of the Ghurkaß, but deprecated their methods of fighting. Their sud'den onslaught gave a lively reminder of the fighting methods of the tigor in the ladian jungle. A German officer, unarmed and with a white flag, approached the French lines, and asked: "Js it a fact that you shoot prisoners and cut off their ears?" The French replied in the negative. The ofi'icer returned with a M 0 Germans in a pitiable condition and said: "You can have these men; they are of no use to me." * Evidence at the inquest of MtijorGeneral Kekewich disclosed that he suffered great waves of depression owing to his inability to serve for his country. A verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. Paris, November 9. Official.—We have reached the plateau of Vrcngy, north-east of Soissons, which previously we had not attempted. A communique states that the Germans again assumed the offensive from Dixmunde to Ypres and were everywhere repulsed. We progressed at al. most all points.between Dixmunde and the Lys. Our progress was slow, owing to the nature of the enemy's new offensive and the strength of the prepared defences. Fog is hampering the operations, especially between the Lys and the Oise. We are maintaining our progress on the Aisne. The German attacks against Sointe Marie distinctly failed.

! INTERESTING FORECAST. I I " OF DURATION OF WAR. j BY A FRENCH OFFICER. DIVIDED INTO SIX PERIODS. FINALE-MARCH TO BERLIN. Received 10, 9.-15 p.m. London, November ','<. A high French military authority privately expressed a forecast of ths prob.. able duration of the war, provided the ( crmans do not commit a grea: tactical error. He divides it into six p.vbu--t-vo in the past, one the preso:it, and three to come. The first was the advance towards France through Belgium. The secnod was the battle of the Marne and the German retreat on the Aisne.. The third was the fighting on the Aisne, which is developing into a battle for Calais. The fourth is the German retreat with a battle on the Rhine, and the sixth the march to Berlin.

The third ended at the beginning of December, the fourth on April sth, the fifth will end in February 191(1, and the sixth during 1917.