The Western Front.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 261, 14 April 1915, Page 5

The Western Front.

"WE CAN BREAK THROUGH." GENERAL FRENCH CONFIDENT. BUT MUST HAVE MORE AMMUNITION, | Received April 13, 10.50 p.m, t i ™ i. London, April 13. Lord Durham, speaking at a recruiting meeting, said .he saw Sir John French recently, and the latter said: •Our men are individually superior to the Germans. I know that when the time comes we,can break through, but I want more ammunition. I "I want to pound the enemy, and to Co on pounding, regardless ol expense, because that will save the lives of our gallant men." Another general said: "The ball is at our feet, and we can kick it if we have munitions." , , .-. .>. WHAT BELGIUM IS LIKE. SOME AMAZING GERMANISMS. GERMANS LESS CONFIDENT. BISHOP OF LONDON AT JTHE FRONT. A BRILLIANT BELGIAN ATTACK. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) London, April 12. An American who accompanied a shipload of American flour to Belgium says: "Imagine a densely populated manufacturing area occupied by a hostile army. Suppose a picket of these foreign soldiers at every street corner and every cross road. Conceive the coast absolutely blockaded by half the navies of the world, the land borders lined with five million men, telegraphs,'telephones, and posts stopped, the people forbidden any movement outside their villages, the factories closed and 90 per cent, of the people unemployed. Conceive further rich and poor reduced to a systematic ration of half the normal consumption of bread, and you get perhaps a glimmering of what war means in Belgium." By Cable—Press Association—Copyright.

London April 12. The eye-witness, referring to statements in the German newspapers that the English at Neuve Chapelle drove the Sikhs and Ghurkas with uplifted hands in front of them, preventing the Germans firinf. and also similarly used German prisoners, describes the story as a magnificent lie. He also quotes an officer's statement in the Frankfort Gazette that 250 English, disguised in Gennan greatcoats, induced a party of German soldiers to join them and then shot them down. The eye-witness at headquarters 6ays that the last German war levy on Lille, Roubaix and Tureoing for March and April was £200,000.

The official eye-witness says it is significant that although a month has passed since the action at Neuve Chapollc the enemy has made no attempt to retaliate in any quarter, but has remained inactive, while we have established ourselves on the ground won. Looking back over the past four months it is instructive- to note the gradual weakening of German resistance along our front. Formerly any offensive action on our part was met by an immediate counter-stroke. This is the fir-t occasion tin- enemy lias made no replv. The Germans have admitted that will! the troops at their disposal on this front they; are unable to avenge: the

defeat. Apparently a marked change bc"an in the general demeanour of the German troops soon after Christmas. Till then they had been absolulclv confident. The feeling is now decreasing. The eye-witness at headquarters says that the Belgians brilliantly drove out the Germans on April 5 from a redoubt constructed on the west bank of_ the Yser. Most of the garrison were kilbd or drowned in attempting to escape across the river. The BishoD of London, during a fortni.dit's visit' to the British Army, was I frequently under fire. He bold confirm iu„u services on one occasion for m« j who came from the trenches, the ...r-bop enumerated hurial places for British dead. 'lie celebrated communion on Easter| morning in a barn with the roof and i walls shattered, and under gunfire, |