DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGHTING AT DIXMUNDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15750, 27 October 1914, Page 7

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGHTING AT DIXMUNDE.

ENEMY'S DESPERATE EFFORT TO REACH COAST.

COUNTRYSIDE A MASS OF BLAZING VILLAGES.

TERRIBLE HAVOC WROUGHT BY HOWITZER SHELLS.

lEeccived October 27, 12.30 a.m.)

London, October 26.

Mr. Ashmead Bartlctt, the war correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, and Mr. Philip Gibbs, of the Daily Chronicle, penetrated to Dixmunde and witnessed tho fighting on Wednesday. They state that it was one of the bloodiest engagements in the war. The allies' pressure on Von Kluck's right wing will force all the German armies to retreat through the Ardennes or the gap at Longuy, south-west of Luxemburg, hence the enemy's desperate effort to cross the Yser Canal and reach the coast and Calais.

The view from the tower of Fumes Church on Wednesday revealed the whole countryside a mass of burning villages. Approaching the firing line along every road was a continuous stream of motor-cars. Hundreds of private cars packed under a medical officer were ready to go to any spot for the wounded whenever a motor-cyclist rode up and indicated the place. Everywhere shells were screaming as the big German howitzers, nick-named Jack Johnsons, threw down houses and churches. Tho guns of an entire German Army Corps were concentrated at Dixmunde. Few combatants were visible, but the German fire was terrific.

Little groups of peasants were compelled at great risk to escapefrom cellars, where they had been taking refuge, and which collapsed. Hundreds of mangled wounded lay unattended on tho roads leading to Dixmunde. One howitzer shell burst in the midst of a Belgian battery. All the six horses and the gun were blown up, the mangled heap resembling a gigantic butcher's cart. A gunner was completely cut in two by a bar of steel. Four other horses were wounded and fell dead a few yards off.

Not a house in Dixmuncle escaped. The Hotel Dc Villa was riddled with shells. The church was a blazing ruin. The Germans made a final attack at dusk when they hoped to cut their way to Dunkirk. The Belgian batteries were at last able to open a terrible and sustained fire on the German infantry, who were trying to turn to Dixmunde from the south through the village of Saint JacquesCapelle.

The village was the scene of a violent infantry combat. French reserves for the time were unable to reach Saint Jacques, it being impossible to pass through Dixmunde, which was blazing. The Germans charged with the bayonets. The Belgians and French answered with cries of "Ja Ja" and with cheers. When the cries died away the Germans had retreated. The night was lit up with the red furnace of Dixmunde and the small furnace of Saint Jacques.

Berlin messages claim that after heavy fighting the Germans crossed the Yser.