JUNCTION OF FRENCH AND BELGIAN ARMIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 17 August 1914, Page 5

JUNCTION OF FRENCH AND BELGIAN ARMIES

USE OF AEROPLANES. A ZEPPELIN DESTROYED WITH BOMBS. PARIS, August 15. An official report, states that the june tion. of the French and Belgian armies has been completed. Three French stall officers are attached to the Belgian headquarters, and: two Belgian officers are with, the French. A great struggle .is expected in. Upper Alsace, where the French- have every in terest to assume the offensive and sweep the province clear of Germans, preparatory to eo-o.perating with, the central army opposite Metz and Luxemburg. An official report states that the French in considerable strength are advancing to Gembloux via- Charleroi. A Zeppelin airship commenced a to , connaissance above Nancy on August Bth. 'Perrin, an aviator attached to the garrison, immediately went out, outmanoeuvring the Zeppelin, and-. without j difficulty dropping 'bombs from: above, j The airship fell, a mass of shattered i wreckage. Perrin, aviating from Nancy, crossed : the frontier and sighted the Zeppelin. • He completely destroyed lier w.ith two j bombs at Chateau Salins. ' Chateau Salins reports state that a number of French aviators have flown over Alsace throwing messages giving accurate accounts of the fighting. jf. Messimy, Minister of War, has arranged with 31. Vivani to personally issue a daily .bulletin, of news for circulation among troops, to -enable them to judge the importance of their individual efforts in relation to the national •struggle. Germany has remitted to- the exFrench Ambassador at Berlin 3500 marks, which he was compelled to pay for his passage home. 31. Camille Blanc has sold his stable as army remounts, at the rate cf £4O apiece, though one is valued at £2OOO. The Government is .increasing the numibei of army chaplains by two to each division, which proves 31. Viviani's toleration. The Government, replying to PresidentWilson's mediation propositions, says: i "France recognises this as a new evi- ) dence of your interest in the destinies of France." AUSTRIAN SUPPORTS- {FOR GBR--31 AN" LEFT WING. LONDON, Aug. 15 (evening)., •It is again asserted that Austria is de- ' spat-ching large supports to Germany's left .wing, besides concentrating in Galicia. The army operating in Servia j has been much reduced. j Mr Edgar Wallce, the "Birmingham Post's" corerspondent, says the railway line was kept open to carry the Kaiser and his war staff, whose headquarters is a luxuriously* fitted train with special boxes for the chargers. The Kaiser will use a small tent when the simple life is deemed expedient. ENGLISH NURSES AT BRUSSELS. A GALLANT BELGIAN CORPORAL.' ■ BRUSSELS, August 15. Forty-one English nurses, including ' ■two New Zealanders, who were holiday- I making .in England, arrived on Saturday j night, and had a great ovation. , While a force of Belgians * were being harrassed by a German battery at Ballaire, near Jupille, an eighteen-year-old corporal named Lupin crept round to the left behind a wall and enfiladed the battery, shooting 1 ' the principal officers' and some of the men. He threw the battery into confusion-, and the battery in retreating fired a last shot, bringing down the wall and burying Lupin. j A Dutchman from Liege recounts j how, prior to the attack on the forts. 24 Belgian lancers, with carrier pigeons, i reconnoitred the German position. They • hid themselves in woods halfway bo- j tween Liege and Aix-la-Chapelle, and j kept the defenders of the forts aware of 'j every change in the disposition of the German troops. BELGIU3I OVERRUN WITH SPIES. GERMANS ORDERED TO FIRE LOW j BRUSSELS, August 15. j Belgium is overrun with spies. All -' those captured are tried late each night, j and a certain number are shot at dawn. , Fifty -Germans were captured at Antwerp in one day. Many of those captured were wearing Belgian uniforms. j One citizen of Brussels who: was too i ill to go to the front, volunteered as .a spy-catcher. He speaks German per- ; 'fectly, and has a German appearance, i He goes to the cafes, and if lie sees a- j suspicious person he asks him, "Are you j a German?" 'lf he answers "Yes," i he then asks, "Where do we- meet to--morrow?" If he is satisfied that the case requires investigation he signals to the police, and the spy is arrested. j A British doctor visited the hospitals an"d found very many Belgians wounded in the legs. Many had collapsed through I sheer exliai'stion. The latter- soon re- I cover, and display the keenest desire to return to arms. • | ■German prisoners explain that they were ordered to fire low, presumably because. a- man hit in the legs is immediately hoi's de combat. Nevertheless flesh wounds in the calf an,l thigh heal quickly, and 1 many of the Belgian wounded are already recovering. The majority of the Germans were wounded in the body. The Belgian doctors are working splendidly, but surgical work at Liege is hindered by lack of chloroform. GERMAN ATTACK ON LAXDEN REPULSED. (Received Aue\ 17; 9.10 a.m.) BRUSSELS, Aug. 16. An engagement is reported at Landen on. Friday night, the Germans being repulsed with considerable loss.