Twenty-Five Years Ago

Northern Advocate, 6 September 1939, Page 6

Twenty-Five Years Ago

On September 6, 1914, the first battle of the Mamie began, the French and British adopting trench warfare on a major scale for the first time. Japanese troops occupied Kiaochow, the German port in China. Russians routed the Austrian Army in Galicia, and captured Lemberg, a great railway junction. Details of the sack of Louvain, France, filtered through from American sources. Two thousand German soldiers, drunk with blood, remorselessly completed the destruction. Two German cruisers and four destroyers sank 15 British fishing boats in the North Sea, and took the crews prisoner. German destroyers and torpedoers arrived in Kiel badly damaged by contact with their own mines. Attempting to cut Antwerp’s communications with the coast, the advancing Germans met stern resistance from the Belgians. When the invaders occupied Temode the Belgians cut the dykes, flooding the district and completely surprising the enemy. The Whangarei Patriotic Committee launched an appeal for funds, which, in the early stages, met with poor response. For artillery purposes, 1200 horses were secured.