MONITORS AT WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15769, 18 November 1914, Page 4

MONITORS AT WORK.

BOMBARDMENT FROM SEA.

GERMAN GUNS SILENCED.

A despatch to the London Evening News from Dunkirk gives details of the bombardment of the Germans on the coast of Belgium by the British monitors. The landing party which the Admiralty statement referred to as going ashore with a machine gun, suffered severely, losing a lieutenant and a number of men, who were picked off by German sharpshooters. The gun was of necessity abandoned and only a handful of the British got back to their ship. The correspondent states that the Germans placed guns in gaps between houses along the shore. The British ships steamed down the coast, full speed, giving the Germans their starboard guns. Then they turned and came back, letting go their port guns. By the time they ?ame back the guns were silent and an ambulance had ap peared and was picking up the dead and wounded. The principal scene of conflict was around La Bassee, virtually dominating Lille, where the German troops threw themselves in masses against yie allies. For the most part British troops were engaged here. Both sides suffered terribly. The Black Watch and Royal Irish regiments have been in the thickest of the fighting, and the British casualty list is very heavy, although smaller than that of the Germans who encountered them in solid formation. The Germans appeared at this point to have an inexhaustible supply of men whom they did not spare. Where one man fell two * seemed to appear to fill the gap. The allies, however, have at their disposal fresh troops, and succeeded in repulsing the Germans whenever they tried j to push a formidable attack home.