The Western Front

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 241, 20 March 1915, Page 5

The Western Front

A BIG ADVANCE. ALLIES' PREPARATIONS. Received March 20, 12.50 a.m. New York, March 19. A message from Paris indicates the magnitude of the preparations of the Allies for a big advance. The carrying capacity of all roads lias been increased in order to cope with the enormous quantities of munitions being transported to the front. Thousands of motor vehicles are also employed. In addition to Britain's new army of a million, •which .she has been moving across the Channel in the past couple of months, France has a million men, splendidly equipped, and ready to take the field at a minute's notice. Artillery brigades have been augmented by a thousand new guns parked in convenient positions ready for immediate use.

Some American authorities regard the presence of a German submarine on the Galway coast as a proof that newer Herman types have been cruising at a range wide enough to make a dasli across the Atlantic.

BOMBS IN CALAIS. SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED. Received March 19, 8.5 p.m. Paris, March 19. Official.—A Zeppelin bombed Calais and killed seven employees at the railway station, but caused little damage to property. » We had marked gains north-east of Mcsnil and Hartmannswillerkopf, where the enemy's losses were very high, the trendies being full of dead.

A MIDNIGHT ATTACK. BY INCENDIARY BOMBS. Received March 19, 0.35 p.m. London, March 19. The Daily Chronicle correspondent at Calais says the Zeppelin arrived at midnight. The town was immediately darkened and quickfirers manned, but the searchlight was unable to penetrate the fog. Bombs fell for eighteen minutes. Thev were mostly incendiary bombs, but only one proved effective. It fell on railway carriages where mechanics were sleeping. Th e carriages were soon ablaze, and seven men were killed, their heads and limbs being blown off. Nine were extricated alive. An•other bomb nierccd a vault in the transept of Notre Dame Cathedral, and a third damaged La Morccq Hospital. The tracks of blazing petroleum where they fell were visible for an hour after the Zeppelin left.

BOMBS DROPPED IN PARIS, TAUBE'S SUCCESSFUL EXPLOIT. Received March 20, 1.30 a.m. Paris, March 19. A Taube dropped eleven bombs, and killed a woman, three children, two soldiers and two others, and wounded seven children and thirteen others.

FURTHER GERMAN ASSAULTS. TREMENDOUS LOSSES. BELGIANS MAKING PROGRESS. London, March 19. Eyewitness at headquarters savs that on tlie 11th, round Neuve Chapelle, the enemy made incessant efforts to regain what lit- had lost. The Germans, on the l"2th, began to show signs of great exhaustion, and the attackers frequently held up their hands when w e fired. Oiir ' infantry did not give them a moment's rest. Whole companies surrendered, and the dead lay thick along the whole front. Two thousand dead were found south of tlie village, Another five hundred lay stretched in front of one of our battalions east of the village. These do not 'includo large numbers killed in Neuve Chapelle itself. A patrol found a dummy figure in front of a German trench "which exploded on removal, injuring a man. An officer taken prisoner stated that three princes, including Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, were serving at Neuve Chapelle. It is believed that all were killed. A further list is published of 119 officers' casualties at Neuve Chapelle, including 54 dead. , Five thousand German nrisoners have arrived at Southampton in four days. Professor Pollard states that since October th e Britishers in France have been using up rifles at the rate of one per man monthly. Paris. March 18. The Matin savj that Sir William Ramsay, the famous chemist, informed M. Milierand that it would be greatly to France's interest to treat cotton as contraband, ultimately forcing Germany to resort to ordinary gunpowder, which did not suit modern guns. A communique states: The Belgians arc progressing. They bombarded a convoy near Dixmude. A French aviator bombarded Conflans railway station, in Lorraine. Paris, March IS. Official details of the Cernay operations show that a mine was exploded and partly filled up a French, trench. The Germans occupied it, but were subsequently driven out. They established themselves in the cavity; caused by the explosion, and, bombarding with trench mortars and hand grenades, succeeded in re-occupyinc? the trench. The French artillery and infantry during the night expelled the enemy with heavy loss. The French occupied the cavity, connected it with the trench by a tunnel, and defeated the German counterattack, killing a hundred. FRENCH AIRMEN. A GERMAN CANARD. Amsterdam, March 18. An official message from Berlin states that French airmen bombed Schlettstadt school, killing two girls and wounding ten. as a reply to tlu> Calais bombardment witTflhe heaviest bombs. (Schlettstadt, a town in AlsaceLorraine, 2fi miles s.s.w. of Straslmrg. Population 11,000.)