FIGHT FOR BELGIAN COAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 7

FIGHT FOR BELGIAN COAST

FRENCH WARSHIPS ASSIST

ENEMY'S POSITIONS INSECURE.

NEW GUNS TAKEN TO OSTEND

WEEK OF HEROIC DEEDS

PART OF BELGIUM FLOODED.

The naval bombardment of the Germans in occupation of Ostend and Nieuport is growing stronger. The British war. ships are now being assisted by a French sqnadron. Fresh German troops are continually arriving to assist in holding the German positions, which are considered critical. New German guns have been brought to Ostend and Zeebrugge, the North Sea entrance to the Bruges ship canal, to shell the warships on the coast. The allies are firmly holding the River Yser, and have driven back the Germans, who made persistent attempts to cross. Some of the dykes and banks were cut and the surrounding country flooded. Further inland, in South-west Belgium, there has been vigorous fighting. A glorious week of heroic deeds against big odds, is the summary of the week's progress of the allied troops given by the correspondent of the London Daily Mail. This correspondent describes the Germans as exhausted and " nervy," while among the allies even the most pessimistic are counting the days till the Kaiser's crumbling forces are herded back into their own country. A violent battle has been fought between the allied left wing and the German right from the North Sea through Belgium to La Bassee, south of Lille. Everywhere on this fifty-mile battlefront the allies have held their own and have driven the enemy northward in several directions. Violent attacks by considerable German forces have all been repulsed. A sense of unseenrity as to the ability of the Germans to remain in occupation of Brussels is indicated by the fact that German inhabitants have been ordered to leave within 48 hours. Ten thousand German marines are stated to have left Antwerp with machine guns, presumably for Namur. Accounts state that the Austrians fought in confusion in the great battle south of Przemys! and suffered enormous losses. Austrian troops are reported to be suffering from epidemics of cholera, typhoid, smallpox, plague, and lockjaw. It is feared that the British submarine E3 has been sunk in the North Sea. It is reported that Italy has landed a company of marines at Valona, in Albania, and that an infantry regiment is ready to embark for the same port. The chief of the German General Staff, Lieutenant* General Helmuth von Moltke, is reported to be dying from liver complaint.