IN THE WEST

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1915, Page 5

IN THE WEST

ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF LOOS. A GRIM SCENE. MR. GIBBS' IMPRESSIONS. London, October 5. A vivid picture of the Loos battlefield is given .by Mr. Phillip Gibbs in the Chronicle. He writes:— "I went to-day to the centre of the great battlefield where heavy fighting is still going on, and stood near the famous Loos redoubt. A little distance away, looming grim and gaunt against the gr«y sky, rose the tali steel columns of mining Works. I can hardly put into words the picture of the scenes through which I passed and the dreadful aspect of the battlefields upon which the sun shone with splashes of light through the storm clouds, with the turmoil of war in the background. Thousands of men ■were moving in steady columns forwards and backwards in the queer tangled way they do in battle. "Passing over the parapets I saw the whole panorama of the battleground; it was only an ugly, naked plain, rising to Huttuch and Haisnes on the north and falling to Loos on tile east, and rising again to Hill 70. I saw two men clad in khaki carrying a German gas cylinder, whistling as they passed the German trenches, a minute's run across the open ground. The dead were still heaped' about them, and there was a mass of horror down below in the town of Loos. They were digging out the dead from the deep cellars and removing them for burial, and piling up German helmets, letters, weapons and a great store of bootv.

"One warning must be written. We made a successful advance, but there for the present it ends, and the people at bottle will be bitterly disappointed if they expect to read of the capture of a town every time they sit down to breakfast. We achieved a magnificent success, £ut the way is still far to go before .the end comes. IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. fast convoys of transports choked the roads. With trains and motor ambulances packed with wounded men, and infantry plodding thftrogh slush and slime, the-heroes 'of the battle passed and repassed in dense masses and small battalion* in legions. Tall lads who a 'few months ago marched in smart trim down English lanes, trudged under the burden of heavy packs, their smartness soiled by war, but splendid because of their hardiness and endurance. It is a long walk through the narrow trenches towards the Loos redoubt, and the smell of death is in the narrow winding ways. Soldiers who were killed at tie entrance way knelt with heads bent as though in prayer. DEPRESSION OF GERMAN ARMY. The booty included a big brome bell used in the German trenches to signal a British attack; but best of aIL apart from the guns,, is the enormous mass of documents taken in Loos and the trenches. They reveal the mentality of the German army, and are very curious. An instructive letter was one written by a German girl to her sweetheart, and complaining that all the young manhood of the country had gone. The 1916 recruits had been called to the colors, and the 1917 and 1918 recruits had registered, so every boy in the Fatherland was on the roll-call. A sense of depression fills most of the documents, and shows that half the German army is filled with foreboding. HEAVY BOMBARDMENT. SURPRISE ATTACK FOILED. Wellington, Last Night. rflie iligh Commissioner reports under date London, Oet. 6. 1 a.m.: There is a general bombardment on the whole front. The Allied artillerv are responding very energetically on the German trenches. On Monday evening an enemy surprise attack on our posts in the Vosges was completely repulsed. BELGIANS MURDERED. A TRAGEDY AT LIEGE. Received Oct. 6, 11.30 p.m. Paris, Oct. fi. Details have been received of the execution of Belgians at Liege on June. 8. A woman denounced twenty-five people for giving information to the Allies. One woman was persuaded to confess, on a promise being given that the culprits would be treated leniently. Nevertheless, eleven were sentenced to death, and volunteers were called for the firing squads. None were forthcoming, and men were then chosen, under threats.

The condemned arrived in waggons at daybreak, accompanied by priests, and placed with their backs' to the wall, with posts driven in the ground, to which they were tied if their courage failed.

Louise Frenay was ordered to he shot first, and the soldiers hesitated, unaware that they had to shoot a woman. When ordered to fire, some aimed aside and some low, with the result that the woman was wounded in the legs. The officer ordered the men to reload, but the men flatly refused. The officer then called up a non-com., who shot tthe woman with a revolver, and the rest of he sentences were rapidly carried out.

GERMAN SNIPER'S END. - London, Oct. 5. A correspondent describes how a, notorious stalwart German sniper met his fete. One of our volunteer listeners in the vicinity of the enemy's trenches was concealed at night in a large shell crater. The German entered, approached within two yards, and peered through the darkness. He was immediately bayoneted and killed without uttering a sound. The listener then crept back to our lines, bringing the sniper's rifle. FRENCH AIRMEN BUSY. Paris, Oct. 5. A communique states that our artillery northward of Verdun hit a train, causing a violent explosion. A French aeroplane sqiuadron dropped fifty bombs on Biaehes railway station, neaT Peronne. GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT. Amsterdam, Oct.t 5. A German communique states: "We repulsed Englisli grenade attaoks north of Loos, with heavy enemy losses. We recaptured a portion of a trench held by the French north-east of Givcnchy. Our artillery in Champagne prevented the French advance. General Hindenburg easily repulsed Russian attacks." GENERAL MARCHAND DECORATED. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) •London, Oct. S. General Marchand has been awarded the War Cross, an order of the da}' stating that he inspired men with the unconquerable determination to follow him anywhere.