Allies in the West

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13210, 29 September 1915, Page 5

Allies in the West

FURTHER PROGRESS. PARIS, Sept, 27. • The new offensive is continuing in the Champagne. The gains have been maintained and new German positions 1 ave been captured. » All the positions east of Sbuchez are maintained. , Official: We maintained our positions in the Artois «nd maintained our advance east of Souchez. Fighting proceeds with bombs and torpedoes at Audechy. The enemy bombarded the positions at Quenniveres and we replied vigorously. There is tenacious fighting on the eatire Champagne front. We • occupied several positions behind our new front wherein th.e enemy had remained.' • , , There is an intense bombardment between the Meuse and the Moselle, also in Lorraine. A violent storm brought the operations in the Vosges to a standstill.

LONDON, Sept. 27. The Daily Telegraph's Rotterdam correspondent says the General Staff in Berlin are determined to make one more great effort in the west.. AMSTERDAM, Sept. 27. The Allies made an air raid on Bruges on Sunday. As the village of Sluis is sunk in darkness it is believed the Bruges gasworks from which it is supplied must have been severely damaged. THE BRITISH ADVANCE. LONDON, Sept. 27. Sir John French reports: We repulsed a number of counter-attacks inflicting heavy enemy losses. Our offensive is progressing eastwards of Loos. Our captures were 53 officers, 2800 men, 18 guns and 32 machine# guns. The' enemy abandoned considerable material. 1 , HOW FRANCE RECEIVED THE NEWS. "PARIS, Sept..27. The news of the resumption of the offensive aroused the most tense interest. The French communiques were shown at the cinemas in all the large towns yestereve with portraits of General Joffre and his Generals. The audiences sang the Marseillaise but the word "victory" was not used, remembering that the conditions of modern warfare make decisive re- • suits extremely difficult. It is generallv recognised that General Joffre has ceased nibbling and it is clear that Neuve Chappelle, Beausejour and Leseparges have been eclipsed. The offensive is considered opportune as the Germans are deeply committed to the invasion of Russia where they are fighting on a 700 miles trout at the opening of the bad season. the enemy confused. The Germans were expecting attack, and had been holding up boards in Banders on which were inscribed "We will be ready for you on the 9 0t h " but the Allies' attack did not come on the 20th and our gunners distributed their ftivour so impartially that it was impossible to say where 'the thrust would come from. It would be untrue to suggest that the German morale has been destroyPd Their guns are numerous and too ,il »' destroyed Though they suffered much through the bombardment. But they were unable to guess the real storm centre, and must have been sending their serves first to one centre and then to another. Now it aeems certain that the main thrust will be in the ham-T-agne where there is open undulating country without water-courses and if a wedge of the Mackensen type is driven in it may eompel the Germans to retire upon the Sambre and the Meuse.

BAD WEATHER FOR FIGHTING. PARIS. Sept. 27. The Petit Parisin says the Artois and Champagne battles were fought in abominable weather conditions for at tack, there being a deluge of r.nn. FACTS STREAMING IN. PARIS, Sept. 27. A stream of facts regarding the fitrht are coming in. It is estimated that there are 1,800, 000 Germans in the West and , UUU in Russia. „

NOT WAR, BUT IMMIGRATION

The unwounded Germau prisoners exceed 23,000. Eleven trains with prisoners passed oßurget station in Paris going to the internment camps. The haul of prisoners has been unpar- | alleled since the Marne. THE AEROPLANE WORK. . Noteworthy features of the operations were the aeroplane attacks forty miles to the rear Ox the German front interfering with the movement of reserves and supply of ammunition by bombing troop trains. The effect of these attacks can be estimated from their results at Saarbrurck where aeroplanes destroyed the greater part of the strategic railways. The aeroplanes also damaged the junction at Treves by which hundreds of thousands of troops passed from Luxembourg towards France. The people of Treves were seized with a mad panic. The bishop was consecrated in, the Cathedral and the clergy and congregation took refuge in the crypt until the hurricane of fire ended. THE ALLIES OBJECTIVES.

It is manifest that the prime objectives of the Allies' attacks were the railway communications between Lens ind Labassee which are a secondary nucleus of a network of railways only second to Lille, and vital to the security of that all important centre. Hill 70 dominates Lens, and in addition a large tract of country eastward resembling East Lancashire, is covered with an intricate system of mineral railways.

AMERICAN OPINIONS. NEW YORK, Sept. 27. The Times says the drive was welltimed and tends to postpone the movement against the Allies at Gallipoli. The New York World says the assaults promise to render Russia vigorous assistance. GERMANS IN TROUBLE. "PARIS, Sept. 28. The hardest fighting was near Auberive. The Germans in the Champagne are peculiarly dependent upon the cross line of railway betweeu the Argonne and Bezancourt uniting the Rethel-Vouziers lines along which alone they are able to bring up large and rapid supplies and reinforcements. The French at Auberive are within three miles of the line. The latter also maintains German connection with the hills northwards of Rheims. Judging from the number of prisoners and the German killed and wounded estimated as equalling in bulk an army corps, it will be difficult for the Germans to bring up the requisite reinforcements which cau scarcely be spared from other parts, inasmuch as the whole long line is sorely tried. This dependence of one region upon another was illustrated on the same front last March when the French attack on Mesnil-Beausej-our compelled the Germans to transfer troQps from the British front, contributing to the British advance at Neuve Chappelle. THE CRIMES OF THE HUNS. Received 11.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 28. The French Foreign Minister has published in English a volume detailing the German crimes. It contains hundreds of documents affording convincing evidence that the Germans murdered woundeds and prisoners with savage brutality, many victims heads being reduced to pulp. The book reproduces General Stenger's orders for the massacre of prisoners adding: "No living enemy must be left behind us." Ghastly stories are related of outrages and massacres of civilians in Belgium.

BELGIUM'S QUEEN UNDER FIKE. Received 12.40 u.ni. PARTS. Sept. 28. While the Queen of the Belgians was visiting the trenches a lively cannonade opened, and she sheltered in a 'dug-out. Several shells burst in the vicinity. She chatted calmly until the shelling ceased. THE THRUST IN THE CHAMPAGNE. A communique says: —The enemy lias made only the most feeble effort against our new positions in Artois. The struggle in the Champagne continues without intermission before the Germans' second line.

THE CAPTURED GUNS

The Allies capture exceeds seventy guns, of which the British took 23.

MOKE HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES,

The German offensive in the Argonne has been stopped four times with heavy enemy losses.

FINANCIAL

Received 12.30 a.m. PARIS, Sept. 28.

A Senate memorandum shows that the total credits received and pending amount to 1200 million sterling. The expenditure in thtf past three months including the war was £74,800,000 monthly and the estimated monthly expenditure during the coming quarter will be £83,000,000. The chairman of the Finance Committee announced that an important loan, is pending. They have hitherto met the expenditure without much difficulty, but a more radical solution is necessary. A REMARKABLE DASH. Eeceived 12.5 a.m. PARIS, Sept. 28. The attack in the Champagne occurred in a raging rain storm, which makes the dash of the French infantry that carried them up to the enemy's gun positions before they had' time to move them, all the nore remarkable. Their advance was so quick that more than one German gun at the pivot point was left behind, and had subsequently to be captured by a minor siege. In these fortified farms and sandbag fortresses the cut off Germans held out for some time. ' ' \ "PKETTY WORK WITH THE BAYONET." GERMANS EAGER TO SURRENDER. LONDON, Sept. 28. An 'Officer wounded in Flanders, interviewed, said:—"The struggle began in real earnest on Friday. We had the usual dose of heavy shells all day lon», and early on Saturday the fight began under a hurricane of shrapnel, the infantry advancing with short sharp rushes to the German trenches distant 400 yards. Our fellows went at it with rare spirit, and there was 90me pretty business with the bayonet. Many prisonered were ready with the cry 'Kamerad,' and

promptly threw down their rifles in their eagerness to get captured. The most surprising thing in the whole business was that many of them were old men of the Landsturm and Landwehr, but there was plenty of young blood though they seemed crushed and 'exhausted and welcomed the chance to surrender.