The Western Front

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 234, 12 March 1915, Page 5

The Western Front

IMPORTANT VICTORY IN x BELGIUM. ) ■ ENEMY SUFFERS SEVERELY. Received 11, 10.45 p.m. i " Paris, March 11. Official.—Nieuport was vigorously bombarded by 42 centimetre (funs. s The British, supported by our heavy artillery, secured an important success, carrying the village of Neuvechapelle, eastward of the road from Estaires to La Bassee. We advanced north-east-wards towards Aubers, and south-east towards Bois de Ricz, capturing a thousand of tto enemy, including several officers and som e machine-guns. Tie German losses were very heavy. We consolidated our position in the Champagne area, and inflicted heavy losses, repulsing counter-attacks. . Our artillery demolished a number of • trenches on the heights of the Meuse. DRIVEN TO THEIR DEATH. GERMANS PITILESSLY FORCED TO BATTLE. FRENCH HEROIC ONSLAUGHT. Received March 11, 8.35 p.m. Paris, March 11. Details of the fighting at Notre Dame de Lorettc show that the Germans minf.d and blew up the French advanced trench and then charged. They fell in large numbers before a fierce French fusilad?. The German officers pitilessly urg_>d their men forward, and a terrible hand-to-hand struggle followed, converting the breached trench into a darnel house. The French fell back to enable them to aperate their artillery, which quickly demoralised and swept out the Germans from the second and third lines of trenches which they had occupied when the French evacuated them. Under cov--2T of artillery, the French made a heroic onslaught, and after terrible carnage recovered the lost trenches. In the confusion the Germans fired on their own men, and retired ,to their original position, losing three thousand men. HORRIBLE CRUELTIES GERMAN "KULTUH" IN FRANCE. REFUGEES ILL-TREATED AND STARVED. Received March 11, 8.50 p.m. Paris, March 11. The second report of the Commission inquiring into German atrocities in France states that civilians of all ages were carried off, husbands oftten separated from their wives, and parents from their children. Nineteen inhabitants were despatched to Germany, and four were killed en route because they fell behind, exhausted. They received only two meals in four lays, and were frequently struck with fists and sticks. Two thousand men were marching to Gravelines for medical examination when the Germans attacked with machine-guns. Several were killed. Women were imprisoned for a month in a church at Combes, sleeping in the pews. The sanitary conditions Were terrible. A workman was bayonetted and killed for breaking a pane of glass. HORRORS, OF CONCENTRATION ' CAMPS. SCIENTIFIC DISSEMINATION OF DISEASE GERMS. ' Received March 12, 12.45 a.m. Paris, March 11. The rcoort of German atrocities also deals with ten thousand French women children, and aged men. who recently returned to France from twenty-eight German concentration camps. All were subjected to much brutality, and were kept without food for long periods. Some were wilfully exposed to French artillery fire, and several massacred for plight offences. Nearlv all were infected with vermin, and nothing was done to prevent sickness and death. j The report also neeuses' Germans ol scientifically spreading consumption germs among them. FURTHER FRENCH PROGRESS. GLOOMY VIEW OF FLANDERS. DEPRESSING TRENCH FIGHTING. Paris, March 10. A communique states: "We furtlu progressed north-east of Me'snil. Tin obstinate fighting hetvrcn Four de Pari and Bolante is undecided. The trenchc have been taken and re-taken. London, March 10. A correspondent witn the British sav the country where the British are e'n trenched is" the must interesting p .rtio of Flanders, also the most dishearteninc monotonous, muddy, damnable conntr ima-jiiiiille for operations bv an arm' accustomed to sanitation and'cleanliness The whole place is a warren of old an new trenches made by the French, (,Vi mans, and British, abandoned and reoi cupied, blown to pieees and mined, maze and entanglements completing the panr rama. The Britisli line has been ban: mcred out into a number of curves an eapes. The trenches swallow timbc with the voracity of a speculative goh" mine. A GERMAN STORY. OF FETOIITFUL FRENCH LOSSES. THREE WEEKS' CONTIUOUS FIGHTING. Received March 11, 8.30 p.m. Amsterdam, March 11. A German communique states:— "With a view of relieving the Russini in East Prussia, the French, rogardlc of sacrifice, attempted to break throu:. the line in the Champagne district. "Fighting lias been continuous sin

- : 16th February. The enemy hurled *ix army corps and enormous masses of artillery at our front, which we successfully held with two weak Rhine divisions. "Wc took 2450 unwounded prisoners. Our losses exceeded those of the Masurian Lake battle, but the enemy's were three times as heavy, being estimated at forty-four thousand." JAPANESE NOT NEEDED. OPINION OF A VISITOR. Tn a recent interview the Japanese Premier, Count Okuma, declared that Japan was still at war. The promoters in Japan of what has been called the "Volunteer Movement" have issued a manifesto in which they announce their intention of despatching an army corps to Europe. To this end they are appealing to both Japanese and foreigners for funds. Mr. M. Tsuchiya, a Japanese journalist, who is at present on a visit to Auckland, stated that he did not think Japanese troops would be sent to Europe, as the Allies would be able to make good progress when the warmer weather came. To send an army of Japanese would mean despatching not less than 100,000 men, and the transport of such a number from so distant a country as Japan would be a tremendous undertaking, bth from the point of view of expense and the large number of ships that would be needed. If it became necessary no doubt troops would be sent, but it was his opinion that it would not be necessary.