A CHURCH BOMBARDED.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 285, 8 December 1914, Page 5

A CHURCH BOMBARDED.

SLEEPING FRENCHMEN KILLED

NIGpT ATTACK'ON'GERMAN / ; POSITION. :

GERMANy jiIkSHIP 'DESTROYED.

(Receded IDfee/8,.l:30 a.m.) V LONDON, Dec. 7; Details of tho bombardment of

■■" JLamperiiisse state that "SOO Frenchi soldiers were sleeping in-a-church. A spy hidden in the belfry signalled the Germans by means of a lamp. The Germans opened a violent bombardment. rllie firt-t volley killed a dozen sleeping Frenchmen. ' Tho church was soon ht rixijTifj. 'Few escaped un- ■ wounded. Four hundred French volunteers, including 100 Zouaves, made a night attack on. a ferryman's house, at " Poesele, comisianding an important • bridge ovor the Yserfcanal, which had ' been turned riito a. miniature fort. The French crossed th© bridge under a hail of btsßots from machine-guns and drove the Germans from thoouter walls after a ferocious fight witli 1 bayonets and knives. "The French then smashed in the doors with axes, and after hand to hand, fighting, on ■each floor the Gormans were 'driven into the loft, where they surrerideted unwonnded. A German airship'load«3 with'explosives crossed the British lines near Lille. Three British aeroplanes appeared and won a snperioi altitude, A single shell destroyed the airship.