BATTLE OF STEINBACH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 248, 29 March 1915, Page 6

BATTLE OF STEINBACH.

RACE .AGAINST TIME.

FRENCH CLIMB TO VICTORY. A vivid narrative of the fighting early in January, which led tn tl e French obtaining the Heights which dominated Steinbacli, and of tlie desperate struggle which afterwards took place for the village, is given by a special correspondent of the Matin, lie writes:—

After the fighting which resulted in the French victory at Tliann, the enemy's infantry retreated in a pitiable state to the southern slopes of Gucbwiller, where, absolutely demoralised, they awaited belated reinforcements, being reduced to a purely defensive attitude. The German artillery, it is true, was still intact, and the enemy reckoned upon it to prevent the French from crossing the Thur. During the night of December 29 the Fencb. engineers prepared to build a oridge west of Ccrnay. But the work had scarcely commenced when a searchlight unmasked them, and they had to withdraw quickly. Two minutes later tlie spot was a mark for the Genna* artillery.

Some hours afterwards, however, the French crossed five kilometres higher up and at six o'clock their column was in position west of Steinbacli on the last wooded spurs of Gucbwiller. Artillery batteries supported the infantry. At eight o'clock, directly the fog cleared, the French guns opened fire. Their projectiles dropped in the fir coppices, but elieited no response. An hour passed, and then a rumbling noiss was heard in the lower part of the valley. Before it was possible to realise what was happening, the French outpost guarding the Thur bridge had been decimated and the bridge itself destroyed by a hail of shells, the French forces thus being cut off from the right bank. The German battery reached a point •2000 yds from the spot where the French had crossed the Thur, had "belched forth its shells and had immediately afterwards galloped off. The French guns popped away at them; but too late, the German guns having already disappeared in the fir forest, which was traversed by a winding road. There would be no doubt that the enemy was trying to reach the heights facing and dominating the French position. There was no time to be lost. The French troops were in danger of being entrapped. So the column moved at the double-quick, making an effort to reach the heights before the enemy could. The slope was steep and the ground was bad. But neither the steep ascent nor the tree roots could stop'the French soldiers.

TREE TRUNK BARRICADE.

At ten o'clock there was a volley from ft fir coppice. An enemy's force was tliere, baring the route of the French and sending forth deadly salvos. But the trumpet sounded, and with bayonets fixed the Chasseurs rushed towards the enemy's line. They had to get over a barricade formed of tree trunks. But all that did not matter. Forward they went. They hard to.hurry. They had to reach the summit before the Prussian gunners: and" they did so.

They climbed three miles up the mountain side on the run, fighting too. The whole business "did not take more than half-an-hour. The German batteries were dominated, and dominated thoroughly. The Trench guns were put In position and directed upon the enemy's flank at a range of 1000 yards. The target was an excellent one. Four by four the French shells dropped upon the enemy, killing horses, drivers, and gunners, and causing the ammunition carts to explode. By eleven o'clock a desultory fire that had harried the French on their left had ceased. From the heights they occupied the French could, with their glasses, see Steinbach. PRUSSIANS' ?ROUD ANSWER.

Yard by yard the Germans were driven back, and ndV they were summoned to surrender.

The French emissary returneu to Ida lines with a reply that the German commander did not consider his situation precarious, inasmuch as his line of retreat by Ccrnay (Sennhcim) was still open; further, that "in any event the Kaiser's troops would prefer death to surrender:"

So the great combat was renewed with fierceness unabated,'if not enhanced. In the meantime (so a hostage who succeeded in escaping from the German lines has affirmed) 30 Landsturm soldiers who showed signs of wavering were placed against a wall and shot in the village square. In the interval the 25 per cent remnant of the German batteries which had escaped destruction had fallen back an the village of Steinbach itself, and there it awaited the coming of the French.

The pine woods, which had before afforded such excellent cover to the German batteries, now sheltered the advancing French infantry, who from all sides crept closer and closer to the desired centre of Steinbach.

The German guns opened »ut, but their fire was little effective, by reason of the splendid cover of the pine stems and branches. The French sharpshooters, with very slight loss, stole up to within 200 yds of the German outpostsstationed at a solitary farmhouse, where the hillside sloped down by the edge of the wood to a sunken road, which leads between banks to the village.

BAYONET FOE THE LUEKERS. The French soldiers were then horrified to see that the enemy as an additional means of defence, had captured and hound with ropes a number of the villagers, and had placed them in front of the firing line. Amongst these was a woman, wild, aged, and dishevelled, with her" Tiiiuds tied behind her back. Infuriated by this sight as the French foot soldiers were, they realised that under the circumstances it was impossible to fire without killing innocent people. There was nothing for itbutthebayonrt. With a fierce cry of rage, the gallant chasseurs dashed forward against and through the severe machine-gun tire, .and so reached the farmhouse. There they smashed the door, and there they bayonetted every German soldier within. ' Another section ]);•..! swung round by the rear, following t!'o sunken road. '

But hove, too, they had to reserve their fire for fear of killing the hostages.

'•There was nothing for it but the bayonet."

The Hermans did not wait for the im-IKif-t. for they have a mortal dread of the deadly French bayonet. As the enemv fled, the chasseurs' fire simply mowed them down foot by foot.