France & Flanders

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 170, 4 January 1915, Page 5

France & Flanders

FRENCH OFFICIAL NEWS. ALL ATTACKS REPULSED. PROGRESS AT MANY POINTS. received 3, 3 p.m. Paris, January 2. Officii'.!. We easily repulsed attacks at numerous points on Thursday night. Artillery duels in the Arras, Albert, and Royc regions were particularly violent. There were also duels among the dunes at Nieuport and Sonnebeke. The enemy blow up two caissons between Beaumetz and Aehicourt, south of Arras. We wrecked the trenches at Parvilliers and Laboiselle, and silenced the minethrowers in front of Erincourt. The artillery silenced the enemy's artillery, and dispersed several bodies in the Aisne region. We established ourselves in pits on the plateau of Nouvron, despite several counter attacks. The enemy ,'iolently bombarded the Rlicims virion. We carried three more lines of houses at Steinbaeh. The Germans lost heavily at Bremenul and Steinbaeh. HEAVY GERMAN FIRE. Received 4, 12.5 a.m. Paris, January 3. An official communicpie mentions heavy ijcrmah rille-lire against the trenches east of Yermellcs and north of Chaulencs, and unsuccessful German attacks west of Bois dc Con and Seno Voye. SHELLING ZEEBRUGGE. BOMBARDMENT BY BRITISH FLEET. Rotterdam, January 2. British warships close to land shelled Zeebrugge on Thursday. The coast batteries replied unsuccessfully. The British fleet bombarded the coast on Friday. THE SITUATION AT STEINBACH. A GERMAN DENIAL. Received .",, 3.30 p.m. Berlin January 2. Official.—We have not lost a single house at Steinbaeh, and repulsed all at tacks. We have given up the idea of re-taking Saint Georges, owing to floods. CHRISTMAS TRUCE IN THE TRENCHES. HOSTILE TROOPS FRATERNISE. CANDLE-LIT CHRISTMAS TREES. PISTOL-SHOT ENDS THE PLEASURES. Received 3, 3.30 p.m. London, January 2. Officers and men's letters continue to dwell on the informal Christmas truce. A colonel states that the Germans and liis men rushed out spontaneously, he being first, as he feared treachery. Then he permitted his men to fraternise with the Germans, he himself participating. The English helped to bury the German dead, and attended service, a German captain reading the service in German and English, Another officer relates that the Germans erected candle-lit Christmas trees, whereupon the British arranged a truce till midnight on the 25th. The opposing troops fraternised all day long. A British officer fired his revolver at midnight, as a signal that time was up, and the British then fired a volley over the Germans' heads. In another case British officers advanced and met the German officers. The men on both sides cheered, and followed their example. SHOOTING OF CIVILIANS. BELGIAN COMMISSION'S REPORT. Received 3, 10.30 a.m. London, January 2. The Belgian Commission reports that the Germans shot a thousand civilians in Belgium and Luxemburg in August and September, including 300 at Ethes, 157 at Tintiquy, 100 at Rossiqul, 52 at Auloy, and -30 at Estalle. IfcRMAN PRISONERS GLOOMY. SOME POPULAR DELUSIONS. Received 3, 3.20 p.m. London, January 2. An eye-witness of the fighting now proceeding says the ground on both sides has been excavated in all directions for weeks, until it has become a perfect labyrinth of crossings and re-crossings. Sonic' of the prisoners take a gloomy vi#v of the situation, being conscious that the war will last much longer than at first expected, but as it is being waged entirely in the enemy's country, the people of Germany do not realise- that they are lighting what must eventually be a losing cause. They believe that Russia suffered a decisive defeat, that France is exhausted, and ready to make peace, and England decadent,, her people being engrossed with football. The Germans have not felt yet the pinch of want or lack of men or material. The newspapers are doing their best to inspire a fanatical hatred of the British. NEW FRENCH iATRFLEET. TO INVADE GERMANY. New York. January 1. Advices sMe that France is building two fleets of aircraft armed with eaupon, steel dartg and bombs, which will

invade Germany in the spring. It is stated that hundreds of biplanes and aeroplanes, with a speed of 120 miles, will deliver attacks from the frontier in large divisions. GERMAN ZEPPELIN DESTROYED. BY RECENT RAID. London, January 1. A Geneva dispatch from Friedrichshafen states that the French and British airmen in the recent raid destroyed the latest German super-Zeppelin. Another escaped the bombs by rising rapidly. Rotterdam, January 1. The German Administration of Belgium intends closing the borders to all comers. Passports will not be recognised unless issued by the military. The action is believed to have been taken to prevent espionage. NOTABLE CHRISTMAS CAROLLING. London, January 1. Soldiers' letters recount that the English and Germans fraternised at several points on Christmas Eve. They ceased firing, left the trenches, met in the open, and exchanged souvenirs, wine, chocolates and puddings. Two regiments established an informal armistice and spent Christmas Day without hostility. At night the Germans from the trenches shouted to the English "Sing to us." They cheered us when we sang "While Shepherds Watched," "Lead ' Kindly 'Light," and '-Abide with Me." The Germans concerned were most'y Saxons.