HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT FOR FRENCH TRENCH.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 61, 12 March 1915, Page 5

HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT FOR FRENCH TRENCH.

GERMANS DEMORALISED BY ARTILLERY FIRE.

LOST GROUND RECOVERED AFTER HEROIC OHBI^ATJGHT,

PARIS, March 11

Details of the fighting at Notre Dame de Lorette show that the Germans mined and blew up the French advanced trench. They then charged, and fell in large numbers under the fierce French fusillade. German officers pitilessly urged the men forward. A terrible hand-to-hand struggle converted the breached trench into a charnel-house..

Tie French fell back to give scope to their' artillery, which quickly demoralised and swept the Germans out of the second and third lines of trenches which they had occupied w"hen the French evacuated them. Under cover of artillery the French made a heroic onslaught, and after terrible carnage recovered lost ground. In the confusion the Germans fired on their own men. They finally retired to their original position, losing 3,000 men.

GERMANS ADMIT HEAVY LOSSES.

GREATER THAN IN THE MASURIAN LAKES BATTLE.

AMSTERDAM, March 11,

A German communique states:—With a view to relieving the Russians in East Prussia, the French, regardless of sacrifice, attempted to break through in the Champagne. Fighting has been continuous since February 16. The enemy hurled sis army corps and enormous masses of artillery on our front, which was successfully held by two weak Rhine divisions.

We took 2,450 unwounded prisoners. Our losses exceeded those in the Masurian Lakes battle, but the enemy's were threefold, and are estimated at 44,000.

GERMAN MALTREATMENT OF FRENCH CIVILIANS.

EXHAUSTED PRISONERS* KILLED TS COLD BLOOD.

PARIS, March 11,

The second report of the commisison of inquiry into German atrocities in France states that civilians of all ages were carried off. Husbands were often separated from their wives, and parents from their children. Nineteen inhabitants of the Marne district were dispatched to Germany, and four, were killed en route because they fell behind exhausted. The refugees received two meals in four days, and were frequently struck with fists and sticks. Two thousand men were marching to Gravelines for medical examination when the Germans attacked tbem with machine guns. Several were killed Women were imprisoned for a month in a church, sleeping in the pews. The Csnitary conditions were terrible. A workman was fatally bayoneted -for breaking a pane of giasa.