The Western Front.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 264, 17 April 1915, Page 5

The Western Front.

THE CAPTURE OF LES EPARGES. A MOUNTAIN OF MUD. A STRONGLY FORTIFIED CREST. CARRIED AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. Received April lfi, 10.15 p.m. Paris, April 10. An official communique tells the story of the capture of the crest at Les Eparges. The slopes were steep and slippery, and intersected with numerous springs. Rain storms were frequent. It was practically a mountain of mud. While the Germans held possession they stopped all action on the southwestern sections of the Woevre plain. The position was so important that the Germans protected the crest with several lines of trenches. Some, with five tiers apiece, contained sixteen hidden batteries to check the French adva/iee. The defenders included a division of the best troops and five battalions of pioneers, many Metz machine-guns, and numerous bomb-throwers. The shelters for the fighters were caverns dug at leisure. The Germans constructed a narrow gauge railway to bring supplies ,!nd ammunition.

The decisive French effort commented on April sth, when the western end of the crest was attacked. The infantry, covered with mud to their thighs, penetrated the German trenches by means of violent hand-to-hand fighting. Progress on the east was stopped by aerial torpedoes, which the Germans threw, a single projectile sometimes pulverising whole ranks. The Germans brought up fresh troops on the oth and counter-attacked. The French were tinally driven back, and had to buitln the attack afreslu

They started by capturing the trench at the eastern end of the plateau, an.l by the 7th had gained five hundred metres. The Germans delivered a series of desperate counter-attacks, fighting with great bravery, but were stopped by curtains of shrapnel, which often prevented the attackers debouching.

SOLDIERS DROWNED IN MUD. FIGHTING IN MORASS, RAIN AND FOQ. Received April lfi, 11.5 p.m. London, April 16. On the Bth two regiments of French infantry and a battalion of Chasseurs was ordered to storm the summit. Their rifle magazines were choked with mud, and they were able to use only their bayonets, but they captured the western crest and continued to advance eastward. After thirteen hours ' uninterrupted furious fighting, the Germans retained only a small triangle at the eastern end. Tlie French had captured 1300 metres of trenches, including a formidable bastion on the summit. The French then brought up a fresh regiment, which took fourteen hours to reach the summit. These reinforcements on the afternoon of the fltli were ordered to complete the captm'e of tfya crest. A hurricane was raging. Tfie ground was honeycombed with holes, into which men sometimes completely disappeared unwounded, and sometimes they were 'drowned in mud. It was impossible to rescue many of the wounded from the morass. The Germans were still fighting with intense energy. The officers chained the gunners to the machine-guns to prevent their being tempted to cease fire. When the French reached the edge of the plateau, the-summit was suddenly shrouded in fog, and the artillery was unable to cover them. The Germans charged, throwing hack the attackers, but half an hour later a furioug French charge re-won the ground. By ten o'clock at night, the whole ridge had been captured, and the enemy so crushed as to be unable to counter-attack. On the 10th the French position was consolidated.

As the ridge was definitely lost, the Germans characteristically re-baptised the crest, giving the name Les Eparges to a spur further south, which the French never attacked. ' The result was achieved with half the loss inflicted on the enemy, and was a proof of the growing superiority of the French army, which is now attacking, while the Germans are on the defensive.

FRENCH TROOPS' BRILLIANT SUCCESS. I A NEW POSITION GAINED. Received April 10, 8.25 p.m. Paris, April 16. Official: We had a brilliant success in capturing the south-eastern spurs of Notre Dame de Lorette with the bayonet. We now hold the south-eastern slopes to the borders of Ablain and St. Nazaie. THE PICTURES OF LEADERS. LEADING THE .SIMPLE LIFE. (Times and Sydney Suu Services.) Received April 10, 0 p.m. London, April 10. General Joffre's headquarters are at a famous hotel. Cool and calm he arrives from his room at 1i.30 in the morning. At 7 o'clock he confers with six of the leading officials of the general staff, reports and dispatches of the night are discussed, and orders given for the day. Lunch is served at 11 u.m., consisting i)i bread, eggs, and cutlets. At noon there is another conference, and at 1 o'clock General Joffre goes out until 4 o'clock. He walks and drives generally in the adjaet-iit woods. At S o'clock conies a' third conference with the same people, and at 9 o'clock punctually lie goes to bed. The rest of the day lie stays in his room, studying maps. He remains always at his headquarters, save that a, week he visits the front to inspect, and to see his generals. His methods were illustrated by the procedure at the battle of the Marne. All his orders , were written by himself, and drawn up on August .27 for the action on September 5. He pondered them and pieced the battle together like a delicate piece of mechanism, and when the time came his plans ran like clockwork. He has a great head and an iron chin, kind and rather sad eyes, quite unlike his photos. He speaks slowly, with no gestures, and has the rich accent of the midi.

General French is equally methodical. He lives in the country house of a lawyer near a small French town. He takes early breakfast. Lunch consists of a packet of sandwiches eaten in his motor-car near the trenches. He takes a simple dinner and goes to lied at ten o'clock. Like General Joffiv I".' H the picture of lit alt li.