IN THE WEST

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1915, Page 5

IN THE WEST

STHD OFFENSIVE CONTINUED. FRESH GAINS IN THE CHAMPAGNE. Paris, Sept. 27. The new offensive is continuing in Champagne. The gains have been maintained and new Geunan positions captured. FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORT. ALL THE POSITIONS HELD. Paris, Sept. 27. A communique Bays: We maintained our positions in Artois and maintained the advance east of Souchez. Fighting proceeds with bombs and torpedoes at Audechy. The enemy 'bombarded our positions at Quennevieres, and we replied vigorously. There is tenaciou3 lighting on the entire Champagne front. We occupied several positions behind our new front, in which the enemy had remained. There was an intense bombardment between the Meuse and Moselle, also in Lorraine. A violent storm brought the operations in the Vosges to a standstill. Received Sept. 28, 11.30 p.m. Paris, Sept. 28. A communique says that the enemy made only the feeblest effort against our new position in Artois. The struggle in the Champagne continues without intermission before the Germans' second line. The Allies' captures exceed seventy guns, whereof the British took 23. The German offensive in the Argonne was stopped four times, with heavy enemy loss. FIELD-MARSHAL'S REPORT. LOSSES OF THE ENEMY. Received Sept. 28, 5.5 p.m. London, Sept. 27.

Sir John French reports:—We have repulsed a number of counter-attacks, inflicting heavy enemy losses. Our offensive is progressing eastward of Loos. Our captures are fifty-three officers, 2800 men, eighteen guns, and thirtytwo machine guns. The enemy abandoned considerable material. FURTHER FACTS. STREAMS OF PRISONERS. Received Sept. 28, 11.10 p.m. Paris, Sept. 28. A stream of facts regarding the fight are coming in. It is estimated that there are 1,800,000 Germans on the West, «nd 2,600,000 on the Russian front. The unwounded German prisoners now exceed twenty-three thousand. Eleven trains full of prisoners passed through Bourget station to Paris, going to the internment camps. The haul of prisoners is unparalleled since the battle of the Marne. AIRCRAFT HELP. SPLENDID EFFECTS". A noteworthy feature of the operations has been the aeroplane attacks over forty miles in the rear of the German front, interfering with the movement of the reserve supply of ammunition and bombing troop trains. The effect of these attacks can be estimated from the results at Saarbrueh, where aeroplanes destroyed the greater part of the strategic railways. Aeroplanes also damaged the junction at Treves, whereby hundreds of thousands of troops have passed from Luxembourg towards France. The people at Treves were seized with mad panic. As the Bishop was being consecrated in the cathedral the clergy and congregation took refuge in the crypt until the hurricane of fire ended. DESTROYING THE RAILWAYS. It is .manifest that the prime objective of the Allies' attacks on the railway commufiications at Lens and La Basseo are but secondary, they being the nucleus of the network of railways to Lille and of vital security to that all important centre. IMPORTANCE OF HILL 70. Hill 70 dominates Lens, in addition to a large tract of country eastward, resembling East Lancashire, and covered with an intricate system of mining rail ways. FRENCH OFFICER'S STORY. ENEMY CLAD TO SURRENDER. Received Sept. 29, 12.10 a.m. Par id, Sept. 28. An officer who was wounded in Handera, says the struggle began in real earnest on 'Friday. "We had had our usual dose of heavy shell all day long, and early on Saturday tlie fight began. Under a 'hurricane of shrapnel the infantry advanced in short sharp rushes to the German trenched, distant about four hundred yards. Our fellows went at it in rare spirit, and there was some pretty | business with the bayonet. Many who i were taken prisoners were ready with i the cry of r Cainaradie' and promptly I threw down their rifles in the eagnerness to get captured. The most surprising thing of the whole business was that many of tliem were old men of the Landstrum and Landwehr, but there was plenty of young blood. They seemed crushed and exhausted, and welcomed {the chance to surrender." J CONSOLING GERMAN PRESS. ADVANCES NOT SURPRISING. Received Sept. 28, 11.50 p.m, Amsterdam, Sept 28. Berlin newspapers -warn the public against exaggerating the German check. The Koelnische Zeitung is of opinion that tlie advances on Lille and Perthes are not surprising in view of the terrible bombardment which levelled the German defences. The Vol'ks Zeitung declares that the success i 9 not proportionate to the losses the enemv sustained-