ANOTHER NARRATIVE OF THE BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2243, 1 September 1914, Page 5

ANOTHER NARRATIVE OF THE BATTLE

FRENCH LINE FOBBED TO RETIRE. *' London, August 80. "The Times" correspondent at, Amicus states that the British action at | Mons on August 23 was-terrible. A whole division was flung into tlie nglit, after a long march, and without time to entrench. Frcncli supports were expected on the immediate right, but did not arrive. • Further eastward, in the angle between the Sambre and the Meiise, tne French retired after a fight 1 wliic'h lasted all day, and Namur fell. General JofFra waa then compelled to withdraw his whole line. ! The Gormans did not give tlio retreating army a moment's rest, ana relentless and unresting. Tho aeroplauos, a Zeppelin,_ armed motors, and cavalry loosed like arrowß from a bow, harassed tho retiring columns. The British retired through Bavai, on the line of Valenciennes and Maubeuge, and then through Le Quesnoy, a fortified town 25 miles south-west of Maubeugc, where a despqrato fight raged southwards continually. ARMY FIGHTS DESPERATELY, i . Tlie Army fought desperately, with many stands, but was forced ever back by the massed numbers of the cnoiny, who were prepared to lose three or four men for every British life. Scattered units, with the enemy ever on the heels of the Fourth Division, all that was left of twenty thousand troops, streamed southwards. Our losses were very heavy'. "I have seen," says tho correspondent, "broken bits of many regiments, but no failure of discipline, no panic, 110 throwing up of tho sponge. No commissariat would be able to cope with such a case._ The men were battered by marching, but steady and cheerful. Every division was in action and some lost nearly all their officers. Tlie regiments were broken to bits, but the fragments kept together, though thoy no longer know what tad bccome of the .•

COLOSSAL GERMAN LOSSES. "Certain tilings are clear: The colossal character of the German losses; that the French General Staff knows that the oastern frontier is so perfected as to compel the Germans to use flank movements. It is also known that not for nothing has Germany antagonised England and outraged lnternatimal opinion uy violating Belgium's neutrality; that France under-estimated the force of the German blow through Belgium, and that probably there are fa.' fewer men behind tlie soreon in Alsace-Lorraine than has been supposed, or else Mulhausen would not have been twice retaken." Tho Germans in Belgium advanced their men as if they had an inexhaustible supply. They marched in deep sections, slightly extended, but almost in close order, and with little regard for _ cover. The British r.rtillery mowed long lanes doivn the centres of the sections, and frequently there was nothing left except tilio outsides. No sooner was this done than men doubled up over tho heaps of dead. The German shrapnel was-markedly bad, but-the machine guns possessed dreadly efficacy, and were numerous! The vi(le_ shooting was not first okss. The superiority in men and guns, especially in machine guns; the organised scouting aeroplanes, Zeppelins, and motors carrying machine guns, and their extreme mobility were the elements of the present success of the Germans. "We must face the fact that the British force which boro the weight of this blow suffered terribly, and requires immediate reinforcement. The investment of Paris cannot be considered impossible.": A MAGNIFICENT BUT AWFUL SIGHT. London, August SO. A wounded gunner, now at Southampton, who was in action tor seventythree hours, describes a bayonet charge at Mons 1 where the British killed 260. Throughout the battle, he said, there seemed to be eight Germans to every British" soldier. The British captured a German gun at Donnicourt. A non-commissioned officer who was in the firing line says that the fighting was a magnificent but awful sight. ' . f 'The shells and shrapnel," he said, "made night hideous. Our chaps were calm, and took deliberate aim. The captain was knocked over early by a piece of shell, which smashed his leg. In spite of the pain, he knelt on one knee, and .cheerfully kept saying: 'My bonnie boye, make sure of your man.' ■\Vhen being taken away in an ambulance, he shouted: 'Keep cool, and mark your mail.' "—("Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) LINE AFTER LINE WITHERED AWAY. (Reo. August, 81, 5.5 p.m.) v _ London, 'August 80. ■& wounded British officer describing the fighting around Mons in a letter to the "Manchester .Guardian" says' Butchery' is the only word applicable. Our regiments, accustomed to take ad vantage of every scrap of cover, Buffered little in comparison with the Germans. _ Picture our long, thinlv-strung-out dine of infantry lying flat and' firing with incredible rapidity, .each rifle and machine-gun turning dowly from right to left and left to right in the act of firing at the bidding of the officer's- whistle. The .Germans advanced courageously, and in fairly'close order, with something like the insensibility of savage races. The ranges were much less than a mile, and the spectacle roused/ a feeling of sickness. It was like firing at a herd of cattle. The front line' of the enemy would falter, then, slowly wheeling, the rifles and Maxims would wither it to nothingness. Then another line would come, and another, until the attack Blackened away and ceased."—"Times" and Sydney "Sun" Services. . ANOTHER BATTLE REPORTED London,' August 30. It is officially announced that ( the British were engaged in a desperate battle against tremendous odds from the 26th to the 28th, from which they have extricated themselves hi good order. Their losses were 6000, but they have since been reinforced. It is not at all clear what the fighting is that is referred to, in thiß message. ... _•