France & Flanders

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 191, 21 January 1915, Page 5

France & Flanders

AN UNOFFICIAL ARMISTICE. . BOTH SIDES REPAIR DAMAGE:-!. BAD WEATHER CONTINUES. j SUCCESS AT BOIS-LE-PRETRE. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, January 19. A corespondent in the north of France says that when the floods washed out the parapets of the opposing trenches the British and Germans, in full view of each other, repaired the damage without firing a shot. Paris, January 19.

A communique says there is less activity along the front. Many snowstorms have occurred. Another earthwork was captured at Bois-lc-Pretrc, where the French occupy five hundred metres of German trenches. "THE WASPS OF WAR." A NEW DANGER FOR FARMERS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, January 19. A cavalry officer writes that "motor dispatch riders are 'the wasps of the war. They sting us into action. You are snugly between the blankets when you hear a rider snorting up the road with orders. The beggars always get you on the hop." He adds that the Germans are using old ammunition shells marked 1892. Many of these do not explode and many a farmer will be blown up next year when his plough bumps into a buried live shell.

GERMANS TAKE HEART. STRONG AGGRESSIVE URGED. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 20, 5.40 p.m. London, January 20. The fighting at Soissons is reported to have had a great effect in German military circles. The resumption of the offensive against France is strongly favored. General Falkenhayn advocates a great effort in Argonne, also in the Oise valley. Important changes at the front have commenced.

MOKK ZEPPELINS ARRIVING. Amsterdam, January 20. The Telegraaf says three Zeppelins passed Fere and Chilling travelling westward. THE MERCIER INCIDENT. THE CARDINAL'S PROTESTRome, January 18.

Advices from the Vatican state that the Germans on January <sth asked Cardinal Mercier to sign a retraction of his expressions of opinion in his pastoral. Cardinal Mercier refused. Amsterdam, January 18. The text has been received of Cardinal Mercier's letter of January 10th to the priests of his diocese, protesting against the Germans' treatment of him.

"THE PATRICIANS." SHARE THE HARDSHIPS AND THE GLORY. CANADIANS IN THE TRENCHES. Received 20, 11.25 p.m. Paris, January 20. Princess Patricia's Light Infantry were the first Canadians to reach France. They came with a party of Indian troops. After spending a fortnight with the reserves, they were sent to relievo the French troops in the first line of trenches, a hundred yards from the Germans. The trenches were knee-deep in mud and water, and there was no place to lie or sit, though they were subjected to heavy shell-fire and continuous night sniping. The "Patricians" are now enjoying a few days' rest before returning to the firing line.