TREMENDOUS LOSSES OF GERMANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 153, 24 November 1914, Page 5

TREMENDOUS LOSSES OF GERMANS.

TRENCHES FULL OF HALF-FROZEN SLUSH. BATHING "TOMMIES" IN BATCHES. Received 23, 10.10 p.m. London, November 23. An eye-witness continues: "Evidence of the German losses accumulates. Fortynine dead were found in one house. All the farms and cottages before the British front are charnel-houses. The weather is bad, usually frosty early, with heavy rain later, rendering the condition of the trenches wretched. The inen stand in a mixture of straw and mud and half-frozen slush. "The proprietor of a neighbouring factory has converted the establishment into a bath-house, with vats large enough to contain several men. While bathing their underclothes are washed or renewed, and their uniforms cleaned by a gang of women. Fifteen hundred arc treated daily."

AMMUNITION SUPPLIES MAY FAIL. BELGIUM iAND THE FLEET MUST BE SAVED. NO DANGER FROM RUSSIA. Received 23, 11.10 p.m. London, November 23. The Daily Telegraph's informant continues: "The German losses total 950,000, whereof many have already rejoined. The chief trouble is scarcity of rubber, copper, and saltpetre, and probably the failure"of ammunition will render it impossible to continue the war on the present scale after June. Germany means to keep Belgium as a final asset wherewith to negotiate. For the same reason she is unlikely to risk her fleet. (The military authorities are convinced that they can counter Russia, owing to the mobility of her strategic railways. If the Thorn-Breslau line is forced, she can defend the Oder."

A BRAVE TWO HUNDRED. WIPED OUT TO A MAN. Received 24, 12.25 a.m. London, November 2,1. German infantry were obliged to evacuate their trenches north of Dixnuimle. owing to the severe privations. During their absence two hundred British, with Maxims, crossed on flood rafts in the night, surprising the relieving force when entering the trenches. Two hundred Germans were cut down before they rallied. Two thousand German cavalry charged to the rescue, but floundered in the heavy ground. The Maxims, operating at short range, decimated the cavalry. The German infantry then swarmed over the British in the trendies and wiped out the. whole two hundred.

OVER-CONFIDENT GERMANS

FIVE HUNDRED WIPED OUT. Received 24, 12.25 a.m. London, November 23. The Germans on the l!)th bombarded the Gurkha, outpost trenches at llollbeke for five hours. A thousand infantry then advanced in leisurely fashion, believing the Gurkhas were dead. IThcy crossed the canal in pontoons, and brought thirty waggons of ammunition across. . The British batteries destroyed the pontoons, and wiped out 500 Germans. The remainder surrendered.

A BALLOON TRICK. BOMBS DROPPED ON GERMAN ARMY. SEVERAL COMPANIES ANNIHILATED. Received 24, 12.25 a.m. London, November 23. The French in Alsace sent up a balloon with three dummy aeronauts over the German lines. Three Taubes immediately attacked and exploded the balloon, but as it fell hundreds of bombs dropped from the balloon, annihilating several companies of Germans.

FIERCE FIGHTING AT MESSINESBRITISH LOSE HEAVILY. BUT SUCCEED IN GENERAL ATTACK. PRUSSIAN CRACK REGIMENTS ANNIHILATED. Received 21, 1.30 a.m. London, November 23. The Times' Calais correspondent reports fierce fighting at Messines. The British by a night attack captured a series of trendies, but were forced to retire with the loss of ten officers and 200 men. The Germans lost 2000. Later the British took part in a general assault, wherein three crack Prussian regiments were annihilated. The British loss was slight.

RELIEF FOR BELGIANS. A HUNGRY POPULATION. Received 24, 12.25 a.m. London, November 23. The Commission for the relief of the Belgians has completed organisation in the United States, whereby a million pounds' worth of food will be sent monthly. Country folk are arriving in Brussels at the rate of 25.000 a day, in order to participate in the food distribution. THE FRIDERICKSTAFEN AFFAIR. I A BRITISHER CAPTURED. Received 24, 12.25 a.m. Berne, November 23. Swiss obse'rveirs state that ifive aeroplanes participated in the iuid. One bomb fell on the roof