The Western Front

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 309, 8 June 1915, Page 5

The Western Front

THE BRITISH WAITING. PREPARING FOR As ATTACK. THE WAYS OF GKIiMAN GUNNER* Received June S, 12.-10 a.m. Dunkirk, June 7. .. While the British .ire building 141 re serves of high oxpiesi.r ammunition ncforc they iittcllll.il ae.othcr advance the Oernians are jutnrin <4' an unending stream of metal about our lines. German sa;iper.-, are tirelessly boring day and night, despite evidence* that their infantry is not strong enough to launch an attack in force. It is impossible 10 axeggerate the importance of tkt; mlength of their machine-guns. The gunners lurk in cellars until the Allied advance have swept past, and then they open fire and work the guns to the last. This courage of the cornered rat is curious when contrasted with the fact that they display no such quality in an open fight. Machine-gunners are often bolted and barred within cellars, where the only alternative is to sell life as dearly as possible. This is particularly so in fighting round Arras.

THE HORRORS OF CAS. ' THE .EFFECTS 1 ON THE MEN. TERRIBLE AGONY SUFFERED. Received June 7, 11.2.3 p.m. London, June 7, ' Major-General Stuart Wortley, com' jinaiiding a British corps in France, describes the horrors resulting from the use of gas at Ypres. The public can'not have the slightest idea of this last damnable effort on the part of the Germans, who disregard all laws of humanity and civilisation, lie had seen our men in the hospitals after they were 'brought from the trenches. There was no need to inquire the number of their ward, as the groaning was sufficient direction. In one ward there were IS cases, and the men were sitting boll upright or swaying backwards and forwards, gasping for breath. Their faces and hands were a shiny black color, 'their eyes were glazed, and they were finable to speak or feed themso'.ve■!. During the two days it take; these men to dio tlicy suffer the most aclite agony. If by the slightest chance they recover, the probability is they will be useless for the rest of their life, as the effect of the gas turns the tissues of the lungs to liquid. It is the i»o«t hopeless, helpless, and sickening' eight imaginable.

FRENCH GAIN GROUND,

GERMAN" ATTACKS REPULSED.

Received June 7, 5.45 p.m.

Paris,

June 7

Official: We secured further gains eastward of the Aix Noulette-Souchez road and in the Neuville labyrinth. We now hold two-thirds of the latter. RVe captured, eastward of Tracy-le-Tont, on the Aisne in a single rush two lines of trenches and several works, and rc,pulsM three violent counter-attacks. Wo took two hundred prisoners and captured three 77-millimetre guns.

GERMAN OFFENSIVE BROKEN

HEAVY LOSSES INFLICTED.

Paris, June (i.

A communique states:—On the night of tin' sth the Hermans made a violent effort to retake the positions recently lost. There was a continuous bombardment of the' Ablain-Ncuville sector, especially of the refinery at Souchez. We replied energetically. * The Germans made five counter-attacks on the slopes east of Chapclle de Lorette and incessant counter-attacks in the wood east of the Aix-les-Noulctte-Souchoz road. The German offensive was completely broken, and the French maintained all the. positions, inflicting hcavv losses. We took scevral trenches and thirty prisoners.