LAND, SEA, AND AIR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 76, 28 September 1915, Page 7

LAND, SEA, AND AIR

ALL ARMS ENGAGED IN -BATTLE ROTTERDAM, 27th September. There 'are persistent reports from various points of the Belgo-Dutch fron- ' tier-that ike British and French have achieved great successes, and are steadfly pushing forward. The movements behind the enemy's lines point to something in the nature of a retreat. ' The German losses through the Allies' prolonged artillery fire are mounting up enormously, while l^ie infantry losses in the last twenty-four hours have been terrible. Every available man in Belgium has been flung' into the defence, and newly-arrived troops are rushed into the firing line without a moment's rest. Villages and frontier posts are being denuded of guards. 1 On Saturday the battle ranged over a wide area. All armswere engaged. There was simultaneous fighting on land, on sea, and in the air. Between 1 o'clock and 10 o'clock in the morning a British squadron bombarded various ports on the Belgian coast, including enemy trenches at the seaward end of their line above Nieuport, the heavy French, batteries ashore also sweeping the line. » The British ships shelled the positions at Heyst, Duinbergen, and Knocke, as well as the coastal batteries on the sand-dunes from the Dutch frontier to Westende. A misty rain hid the ships' approach, and the first notice of their presence was the shells bursting ashore. In intensity^ and duration all previous bombardments were surpassed. Many shells fell inland between Zeebrugge and Lisseweghe, seven columns of black smoke towering into the air. The bombardment of Zeebrugge harbour was particularly severe. It foiled the submarines' attempts to steal out. Allies' airmen, under cover of the .mist, successfully bombed 1 the German positions. German aeroplanes were driven back to their own. lines. AMSTERDAM, 27th September. The Telegraaf describes the gunfire as tremendous, followed by a fearful bringing back of wounded. Soon, all the available buildings in Routers and Cortemarck will be filled with, the injured. Large numbers of the dead have been buried m numerous villages behind the German lines. AIR RAIDS ON GHENT AND BRUGES. - , AMSTERDAM, 27th September. Allied airmen made a raid on Ghent, and endeavoured to bomb the Phoenix / Ammunition Factory. They damaged some houses, and destroyed a new school for German airmen. They brought down two enemy aeroplanes at Elzach, and the pilots -were killed. . (Received September 28, 9 a.m.) AMSTERDAM, 27th September. _ The Allies made an air raid on Bruges on Sunday. The village of Sluis (in the western par* of Zeeland, Holland) was sunk in darkness. It is believed that the Bruges gasworks, from which Sluis is supplied, was severely damaged. j NEWS RECEIVED WITH CALM CHEERFULNESS. PARIS, 27th September. Though the last communiques have proved inspiring, neither the press /nor the public has displayed any tendency to excess of jubilation. They accept the news' with cheerfulness and equanimity, coonvinced that victory will be theirs, however/ long and hard the road. ' LONDON, 27th September. The Daily Telegraph's Paris correspondent is impressed by the calm with which the city received the news of the Allies' success. Large crowds walking on the boulevards read the communique, and the general comment was that things were going well. SYDNEY, 27th September. The news- of the Allied victory revived a general feeling of optimism. 9