BATTLE OF NIEUPORT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16742, 24 December 1914, Page 7

BATTLE OF NIEUPORT.

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT. WORKS LIKE CLOCKWORK SIMULTANEOUS SUCCESS AT BETHUNE (•Received December 23, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 23. Details of tho battle of Nieuport show that French troops took up a position at a dangerous point where they had to cross five bridges commanded by the enemy, who was surprised. The Germans took some time to reply with a furious artillery fire, and tho fleet’s cannonade then opened with the maximum discharge of all their guns. After hours the German fire slackened. Tho Allies poured shrapnel into the enemy’s trendies with tremendous precision. Groups of Germans were blown bodily over the sand dunes. French and Belgian infantry from five points attacked tho trenches. The Germans never knew whence the attack was coming. Five separate lines of trenches were taken. The forward movement worked like clockwork. Three French aeroplanes reported the enemy’s movements on land and gave warning of submarines’ movements at sea, enabling the destroyers to ward off nttacks. Simultaneously with the action at Nieuport the Allies cleared tho Germans in the region of Bethune. The British, distinguishing themselves, drove tho enemy from positions which had been, stubbornly contested for four weeks inch by inch to a distance of ten miles from Bethune. German aeroplanes before their troops were driven back bombed Bethune and killed a number of civilians.