FLOODS LEFT BEHIND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15833, 2 February 1915, Page 8

FLOODS LEFT BEHIND.

BRIGHT PROSPECTS,

BATTLE OF ST. GEORGES

A BRILLIANT ACTION

At last the allies begin to turn their backs on the floods over which they have gazed for a number of very dreary weeks, wrote an English correspondent on December 21. One of the most brilliant actions in the ■advance that began last week was the taking of German trenches near St. Georges, which were successfully stormed at the point of the bayonet. The value of the victory at this spot lies in the fact that it is be von d the flooded area. In attacking St. Georges the allies struck east as well as north. They turned the angle of the flooded hue. The Germans had dug some caterpillar trencaes facing the sea. But with the help of the guns from the sea these proved much less terrible than they appeared. he result of the manoeuvre is that the floods are no longer in front but, at this point, in the rear; and the allies emerging from the dunes and the regained seaside resorts j have now a base at the north-west corner , of the floodland, so that progress can be made east as well as north. A singularly parallel success has been won on the other side of the floodland, in front of Dixmude. The allien, that is, have worked up the right of the Hooded area just as they worked up the left, and have so outflanked these stagnant and brackish marshes on both sides. The floods which first proved a friend had become an enemy f and are now indifferent. The relief of the new prospect can only be imagined by those who have gazed week after week at this great meer which percolated to the trenches, fouled the air with mist, and gradually disclosed a great number of evil sights and noisome smells. The enemy's shells hissing over and reiterating the ruin of the townships of the plain had the effect of screaming vultures gathering to the feast of the bloated bodies of the drowned cattle buoyed on the top of the waters and the remnants buried under the bricks. Those who finely charged the trenches of St. Georges have with their lives and wounds probably saved many of their companions from the enemy of disease. It should be known what dashing work the French infantry did at this point, even in a war where the policy is to blanket heroism and abbreviate victory. The taking of the prisoners here has several points of interest. One considerable group gave themselves up voluntarily, under no sort of tactical necessity. They just came out of the trench and held their hands up. Some of these were Alsatians. One of them, asked whether he was glad to be prisoner, said: " Yes, indeed." with a wholesale smile and uncompromising nod that left no doubt of his feelings.