IN FRANCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 14 October 1914, Page 5

IN FRANCE.

FAVORABLE REPORTS

, ALLIES MAKING PROGRESS. CAVALRY. FIGHTING AT^CLOSE .QUARTERS. ~v < ©RITteH HORSES IN FINE CON- ■ -^ DITION. PARIS,-Oct.-13. An official communique declares that "during the 24 hours' engagement at -Lassigny on Friday a brigade of British ■.-anarines killed 200 Germans and made [^prisoners of 500. The French loss was (--49, of 'whom nine were killed. An official communique reports that -•several German cavalry attacks in the -^region of La Basse, Estates, and Hazel4irouck were repulsed, especially between Lassigny and Roye. , The Allies ,made,- progress along the \ ,_plateau on the -right bank of the Aisne • Sfoelow Soissons, and also to the east and r^-'-south-east of Verdun. • A German night attack on Bundeept, snorth of St. Die, was repulsed. LONDON, Oct. 13. The" Amiens - correspondent of the Paily Telegraph says:—"The'battle of •tihe Aisne ended without anyone know-' • it. The new battle front forms the 'better "z," beginning at the sea, passing north of Lille, through Compiegne,--■and ending at Verdun. ■'■'The Allies are taking the initiative, because of the possibility of the German --army corps from Antwerp reinforcing "General yon Klrfck's right. ."Not only have we recovered every "JJoot of ground we lost in a long series heronc actions at Roye, but have •'developed advances to' the north,' where "the German cavalry is operating north •*~and west of 1 Lille, seeking to mask another enveloping movement." According to prisoners, at medium • "ranges the Erench and British officers -ara easily distinguishable. The Ger--maW select infantry marksmen, provid«»©d -wlt-if field glasses, to pick off the "officers. One sniper killed two of our and wounded two more before "he himself was killed. Cassel is a particularly important A owing to a series of six or - ' kseven hills rishrg above the plain. The "guns are mounted on a precipitous eminence. Cassel dominates the country for "'miles around. The plain between Dunkirk and Lille ";is excellent cavalry country, delighting ""the Allies, who hold in contempt the ""German horsemen and continually seek "opportunities of fighting at close quarv ters. One troop a day or two ago rode through two German squadrons, charg- ' "-cd back, and rode through a third time with hardly a saddle empty. The British horses have had two or. "'three; weeks! rest, and are in fine condition. Borne of the riders 'have been having a turn in the trenches. So en■amored are they of'the bayonet that "they have adopted them ( ' in several i •squadrons in every regiment. It is no ' "secret that the Germans have been with-drawing-men. .from the. Aisne, though 'they have kept up the, appearance of' -undiminished strength by continuous rifle fire and a daily "concert," a trick k^ "the Japanese often played in Manchuria. .rJ ' Near Soissons, the French managed "to get a battery into position'and en- ' Elated some German trenches on the "plateau. In order to turn out Germans in the tunnels on the Nouvreon plateau, northwest of Soissons, which protected the "German siege gun five-miles away, the Trench carried on mining operations for 11 days until they were within a mile of the tunnels, whereupon the commanthe trenches to be taken _~ withTJfne bayonet. The dash was su\~ ♦cessful.