Western Campaign

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

Western Campaign

INTERMITTENT BOMBARDMENT. LESS ACTIVITY GENERALLY. ' DAREDEVIL FRENCHMAN TAKES -BIG RISKS. UNDER THE KAISER'S EYE. Paris, November 22. A communique states that between Arras and the Oisc there are only intermittent bombardments. Our artillery on the whole is more active than that of the enemy. We destroyed several lines of trenches and the enemy is constructing fresh trenches at the rear. The day was quiet on the remainder of the front. Paris, November 22. Large reinforcements are being collected for an attack via Dixmundc, where small German forces are entrenched. The British artillery foiled every attempt to plant batteries. Heavy infantry fighting is proceeding south of Middlekerke.

The opposing trenches in some districts are so close that the infantry are able to exchange messages. A daredevil Frenchman, who spoke German well, left the entrenchments and stood up and translated the full text of the French communique, prefacing it with the remark, "Your officers all tell you lies. Here's the truth." The Germans held their fire to listen, and the Frenchman escaped by suddenly jumping back into the trench, before the Germans realised that the message was finished. Dimmer, who commanded four Maxims was ordered to check the Prussian Guards, whose attack was supported by a hail of shells which dismantled three Maxims. Dimmer nearly fainted from shrapnel wounds, but a comrade gave him brandy. The Germans, advancing in close order, were mown down in whole rows at a time. All Dimmer's comrades were killed, so he swallowed the rest of the brandy, and emptied three belts of three hundred cartridges each before he fell unconscious. The Germans were decimated and fled. English soldiers picked up Dimmer after the battle. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Paris, November fi. German prisoners captured on the Somme say that German officers, in order to prove their zeal during the. Kaiser's visit increased the daily quota of a hundred shells to three thousand in twenty-four hours. The infantry were incited to attack the villages, but failed ingloriously. _ It is stated at'Courtrait that an English lady, dressed as a priest, was shot by the Germans as a spy.

BOMBARDMENT AT YPRES. HEAVY CANNONADING IN FRANCE. Received 23, 9.40 p.m. Paris, November 23. Official: A violent bombardment of Ypres on Sunday destroyed the Hotel de Ville and the Cloth Hail. Heavy cannonading occurred at Soissons and Vailly, Elsewhere there is nothing to report.

FIGHTING NEAR YPRES. BRITISH .ARTILLERY DEVASTATES GERMAN' MASSES. INIUNiTRY ATTACKS REPULSED. Received 23, 10.10 p.m. London, November 23. An eye-witness with the British force, writing on the 20tli, says the Germans intended to attack the British left on the 15th, but the artillery inflicted such damage that the assault was postponed until the arrival of reinforcements on the 10th. The Germans made the mistake of massing preparatory to attack, enabling the British guns anil Maxims to be used with devastating effect on the battalions massed in the rear. The Germans on the 17th attacked east and south-east of Ypres. Three charges of regular troops, who were not the Guards, were repulsed. Twelve hundred dead were counted along a front of 000 vards.

OUR COMMUNICATIONS INTERRUPTED. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 23, 5.20 p.m. London, November 2*2. The German artillery is interrupting communications between Ypres and the coast. A WAITING GAME IN LORRAINE. J? GERMAN TROOPS NOT KEEN ON ATTACK. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 23, 7 p.m. London, November 22. Prisoners from Lorraine assert that the Landsturmors who recently arrived were more difficult to persuade to go into action than the first contingents. They have orders to hold their ground without attacking, and to await the result of decisive operations at Ypres. This order discloses the importance of the check administered to the Germans in the north.

AIRMEN'S EXPLOITS. THE ATTACK OK ZEPPELIN HANCJARS. Paris, November 22. A British aviator ;iitackr<l a Oennan aeroplane near tin- French batteries at Soissons. The (lerman attempted to escape, but shrapnel brought it down and the two officers and mechanic wore incinerated. Amsterdam, November 22. A British officer on tlie aeroplane at I-riediilisafen was severely wounded in the hefflt and hand. Tlie other aviator did not fall info tfie lake, but dropped a bomb later in another place. PARIS SUFFERS A RECOVERY. Received 23, 7 p.m. Paris, November 22. The Government is authorising the re-opening of theatres and music halls. London, Novemebr 22. Lionel, son of Barnn JEemmaa—mmm