France & Flanders

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 166, 19 December 1914, Page 5

France & Flanders

CLEARING OUT THE GERMANS. STEADILY PRESSING OUR OFFENSIVE. Received IS, 11.45 p.m. London, December IS. ■The Daily Chronicle's Dunkirk corre. spondent says the destroyers oil' Westende beat oil' several submarines, which wc>re attempting to attack the heavier Uritisli warships. The Allies are steadily pressing their offensive, and have cleared the Germans from between Ypres and Dixmude, Details of the success in the outskirts of the wood at Wytscliaete show that the Germans in the forest trenches surrendered without a shot, due to the capture of the sentries 1 rilles. The Maxim-lire began to decimate the German prisoners and the British alike. IA shell lired a hayrick, lighting up the formation of the German trendies. A fresh British battalion was working up to the Hank of the first. The latter charged. Jlanv German fugitives surrendered, and the remainder were secured by the cavalry. ALLIES STILL PROGRESSING. Received 18, 8.45 p.m. Paris, December IS. Official: The Allies gained ground northward of ypres, on the Merrin road, also southward of liixschoote. We debouched to the north-east of Arras, and reached the outskirts of Saint Laurent and Brangv. We have made appreciable progress in the Bapaume and Peronne district. ALLIES WILL ADVANCE. GERMANS TO BE CLEARED FROM BELGIUM. London, December 17. Reports indicate that tiie Allies' adance movement all along the battle line has the immediate object of driving out the Germans from Belgium in the end. The result of the change of plans of Generals .loll're and French means ;that the campaign which was to have ' 'been started in the spring is now un-! der way. It is stated that the Generals in making the change are largely actuated by the discovery that the estimates of the effectives under their command erred on the right side. The French, first line regiments needed less, time to recuperate than was allotted, and Lord : Kitchener's new army of territorials was ; ready for the firing line a month earlier . than it was intended to send iliem to | France. j British warships, also barges on the j Yser, armed with cannon, participated { lin Tuesday's lighting. The Allies ad- '• ' vanced from Nicuport to Lombartzyde and St. (!eorges, further onwards than they have been since the beginning of the war. They resisted several counter'attadk'9. There were violent artillerv ! duels all night and on Wednesday. The Allies held the captured positions, including an important grotto at Batnburgli. Paris, December 17. A communique states:—"We have taken several trenches with the bayonet from the sea to the Lys and consolidated our position at Lombartzyde and St. Georges, also west of Glieiuvelt. We progressed at several points in the Vermclles region." I Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, December 17. The Press Bureau states tliat an eyewitness describes intelligence and reconnaissance methods and the way information is gained by the inspection of the uniforms of the dead or the crossexamination of prisoners. He adds: "The newspapers are rarely of value, because no sane Government allows current de- , 'tails of the nature sought to be published. On the other hand, soldiers' diaries and letters are often indiscreet and unwittingly betray the state of | i' their morale and disclose where the shoe , pinches. A considerable part of the in- ! telligenee work is of a synthetic char-; aeter. Its points are the building up, I first, of a nossible, then of a probable, theory based on a muss of suspicions I and facts which merev amount to side- I lights and not established evidence. Often an apparently useless scrap of ' information forms the final link in the ' chain of evidence." Jean Caujolles, the French international fullback, has been awarded a medal for conspicuous bravery. He had j both legs shattered by a shell and amputated but requested to be allowed to return to the front as a typist. A TERRIBLE BOMBARDMENT. j GERMANS SUFFER HEAVILY. London, December 17. News from Dunkirk states that the British bombardment of Westende greatly damaged German positions, blow up several magazines, and destroyed a nunlbcr of batteries, and is described as the most dreadful of the war. The Germans lied from the place as shelter after shelter tumbled about their ears. The trenches were heaped with dead. When the bombardment ceased the Franco-Bel-gian infantry liayonetted the enemy from . the. trenches. |