Western Campaign

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 12 November 1914, Page 5

Western Campaign

THE BATTLE-FRONT IN. FRANCE. ON THE ARRAS-ROYE LINE. FRENCH MOSTLY DEFENDING. STRONG STRATEGIC POSITION AT ARRAS. Received 11, 7.20 p.m. Paris, November 10. The high ground running from lArras to Roye forms a sort of frontier between the armies'. The French are content to repel attack without attempting seriously to assail the strong line of German positions on the higher hills to the eastward. Occasionally the French carry out vie- i torious hand-to-hand encounters in the' villages, occupying strategical points. Arras commands six highways strategically important to the operations to the northward. The Germans made des-' perate efforts recently to gain a foot-1 hold in the suburbs. Determined house- | to-house fighting occurred by day and night, but the French still hold the 'town. The Germans hold Bapaume and Pennine, and regularly bombard Albert, but the French by "a brilliant bayonet attack captured Cbaulnes, and expelled the enemy between Doullens and Bapaume.

GERMAN FORCES STRENGTHENED. SILENT DEATHS BY NIGHT. GURKHAS' FAVOURITE TACTICS. PATHANS' SURPRISE ATTACK. Received 11, 8.50 p.m.

Paris, November 10. Reinforcements continue to arrive in support of the German right. Tire British in many positions are outnumbered by ten to one.

The Indians are fighting with enthusiasm and dash which electrifies the British. Their companions, the Gurkhas, by night continually discard their rifles, and, armed with the kukris, creep from, the trenches, and, signalling by a system known only to themselves, and without sound, kill the German sentries and make openings for the British troops. Twenty Pathans south of Ypres overpowered the German sentries noiselessly. Then the rest of the party crept forward, suddenly (lung fireball's in the air, and dashed into the trendies. For ten minutes the Pathans hacked and slew the half-awake, wholly bewildered Ger-, mans, who were sleeping preparatory to i a night attack on the British trenches. SCOTSMEN BEAR THE BRUNT. 'A BRILLIANT COUNTER-ATTACK. GERMAN ONSLAUGHT FLUNG BACK. Received 11, S.SK p.m. London, November 10. Hand-to-hand fighting at Messines continues. The Scots Guards and Scot 3 Greys brilliantly bore the brunt of seve- [ ral attacks. Once a devastating shell fire wrecked the British line and a retirement was imminent. When the shell fire ceased and the German masses pushed forward to sweep the trenches, the Scotsmen leapt out' and awaited the charge. The conflict was short and sharp. The British lost heavilv, but flung hack the enemy. SUCCESSFUL FRENCH AMBUSH. WHOLE PRUSSIAN REGIMENT ANNIHILATED. Received 11, 8.50 p.m. London,' November 10. Two French battalions on the sth November ambushed the Eight Regiment of Prussian infantry, which was occupying a village five miles from Warneton.

One regiment hid in a wood. During the night another crept up to a farm on the other side of the village and cut down the German battery before they were able to fire a shot.

When the fog lifted the regiment in the wood dashed on the village. The Germans wore surprised, but rallied. Then the'second regiment appeared in the rear, and 350 Germans surrendered. The rest were killed. Xot a man escaped. The whole batterv was captured. French cavalry ambushed a party of Germans. HEAVY FIGHTING 'AT WARXETOX. ENEMY'S VIOLENT ATTACK. Received 11, 0.15 p.m. London, November 10. Correspondents report that the Germans made desperate efforts to pierce the 'Allied line at Warncton, northeast of Armentiercs. CIVILIANS .SHOT AT ROULERS. Received 11, 0.15 p.m. London, November 10. At Roulers the Germans accused the inhabitants and shot fortv-tliree, civilians down. They burnt m'anv factories and mills, an,! fined the town'a hundred thousand francs. When this was pa'd the Germans doubled the fine. GERMAN DEVASTATION. YPRES BOMBARDED AND BURNED.

London, November 10. The Daily Chronicle's correspondent with the Belgian army states that the Germans at Ypres early on Sunday found the range with eleven 13-jn. gnns. Kxplosive and incendiary shells fell m the city at the rate of from ten to twenty each minute. Ypres is now deserted. The majority of the houses were built of timber and the tire which broke out was fanned by a strong breeze. The greater part of the city is m ruins. It is a crime against civilisation like the destruction of Louvain and Rheims. The Telegraph reports that 35,000 Germans with a hundred guns have left Thielt. Forty-eight wagon loads of munitions have left Bruges for Ghsnt. It ia reported that the headquarters have been transferred to Alost. ' Paris, November 10. A communique states that opposin* forces both attacked, with the result that there was violent fighting. From the sea to Annentieres the German attack was defeated. South of Ypres the German attacks on the British front were repulsed. The French progressed at Bixchoote (north of Ypres) and between Ypres and Armentieres, also in the Loivre region, between Eheims and Bery-au-Buc. French German efforts at

BELGIANS REACH OSTEND. IMPORTANT STRATEGIC ADVANCE. Received 12, 1.30 a.m. London, November 10. . A Daily Chronicle despatch says that advanced Belgian patrols have penetrated to Ostend, thus relieving the coastline and covering Dunkirk, Nieuport, and Ostend from the menace of the past two weeks. FEATS OF AVIATORS. THE NEW ARM PROVES EFFECTIVE. HARRYING THE GERMAN FORCES

Received 11, 10.55 p.m. ' Paris, November 10. : Official.—Note books found on Germans prove that our 'aviators produced the most startling effects. A French ' aviator struck a bivouac of guards, and killed eight men and eight horses, and J wounded thirty-two men. Another wounded sixty with a projectile called an Auby bomb, and killed thirty. The second projectile wounded twenty. A bomb which burst in the midst of a group of cavalrymen killed thirty men and fifty horses near Lille. The cavalry, which had been pursued during the whole day, was finally preveiited from carrying out its object by the aviator's bomb. 'British aviators have been equally successful. The feats were all accomplished during salvos of grapeshot and shells. The new arm has fulfilled its promise, but does not replace any arm of the ancienty army. Cavalry must always reconnoitre and patrol, and artillery open the way for infantry, while

engineers must prepare the ground for tho lattei. Finally the infantry itself, still the main factor of the battle, must take up positions and pursue the enemy. GERMAN WOMAN SPY. DISGUISED AS RED CROSS NURSE. SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT. Times and Sydney Sun Services. , Received 11, G p.m. London, November 10. I A clever and accomplished woman, I epeaking fluent English, and dressed as a Red Cross nurse, met the British | wounded at the Gare-du-nord, and ini vited the officers to dine. While under the influence of her hospitality, she tried to wheedle military information from them. She also visited the hospitals, and attempted to discourage the men. Upon it being discovered that she was the divorced wife of a German officer of British-Russian descent, she was tried and sentenced at Paris to two years' imprisonment. This is the first woman spy thus caught. PLAYFUL INTERLUDES. OPPOSING FORCES AMUSE THEMSELVES.

Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received. 11, C p.m. ' London, November 10. In the neighbourhood of Vailly the trenches were bo close that constant jokes were played by the rival armies. One of the latest is that a German left the lines in search of milk at a farmhouse. By mistake he wandered into the French trenches, was captured, detained all night, and sent back dressed in woman's clothes, and minus the milk.