HAVOC BY GUNS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 256, 8 April 1915, Page 2

HAVOC BY GUNS.

NEUVE CfTAPKIXE IX RTJIXS.

UVr.K UUBISISH HEAP. A Xew York message states that the Associated Press correspondent at the British headquarters in France reports that to see Xeuve I'hapclle in the dayligut is to see the most fearful example of modern artillery. There is nothing of the village left except half a dozen houses. After knocking buildings to 'pieces the British she'ls pulverise the remains.

"The Germans vt-oro taken by surprise,'' the message continues. "Xeuve Chapellc was slaughter for them. The British suffered most when n mist prevented the guns from supporting them. They tried to carry the advance beyond the line of the tenches. Oiiicors say the battle has given the British confidence and strength, while it has also tested the organisation of the offensive and demonstrated .the power and precision of their artillery."

In a dispatch from Eyewitness with ' the British headquarters, the story isretold of how the Germans became masters of Neuve Chapelle in 'November, and how the Westphalians, who had captured it, were then driven out by our troops on March 10. The village wa9 originally an unimportant eol'ection of houses and small farms scattered about at the junction of country roads, with a church in its centre, but owing to the general tendency of the struggle covered a considerable extent of ground and all that is left are a few ruined crumbling, red brick houses, nearly all roofless. In their midst is a tall white shapeless mass, which represents the ] church.

CARELESS OF THEIR 'MEN. The original configuration of the German trendies is hard to trace. The ground is so furrowed and pitted by shells ttiat only confused mounds remain. In spots the ground appears to be powdered by a bright yellow of fungus growth on the stagnant water, while older shell craters are covered wiith a scum of the (same hue. Both are due to lyddite. There is no doubt that the enemy's defences were inferjor to ours in: construction, sanitation and drainage. Despite very strict orders, the senior officers neither personally supervised the making of the defences nor inspected them. The dug-outs of some of the ollicers were almost luxurious, being provided with beds and furniture taken from houses, glass windows, and muslin curtains.

HUGE RUBBISH HEAP. ''The appearance of the village." Eyewitness continues, "suggests the havoc wrought by an earthquake. The place is a huge rubbish heap, and it is impossible to distinguish the streets among the rubble and bricks which obliterate them. Portions of houses are still standing, but they are dangerous to enter on account of falling tiles and tottering walls. In the churchyard, the very dead have been uprooted, only to be buried again under the masonry which has fallen from the church, and tlie crosses from the. heads of tombs are scattered in all directions. The sole tiling in the cemetery that escaped damage was a wooden crucifix. That is still erect, amid a medley of overturned graves.

SCENE OF GREAT STRUGGLE. . "North of Ne.uve Cliapelle, mid a little to the west of the high roads, is the line of earthworks which the Germans held, and round which a terrible struggle raged on the morning of the 10th. It was here that our men gallantly faced the machine guns again and again, though' they failed to force the entanglements until a battalion, working round the flank, drove the Germans from their position Collected together at different points behind (he British lines are the graves of many of our men. In some places they were buried where they fell either singly or in little groups. At others there are regular cemeteries, with a wooden cross erected over each, bearing the name of the soldier and his regimnt. Many are turfed and covered with flowers."