IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16285, 19 January 1915, Page 5

IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM

ALLIES STILL ADVANCING. PARIS, January 17. A communique states : We progressed 200 metres in the Lom.baertzyde district. Our advance in the Beau Sejour district, despite the storm, continued. We progressed westward only. SITUATION ON BELGIAN COAST. GERMAN PREPARATIONS. BURYING THE DEAD. AMSTERDAM, January 17. A Dutch correspondent at Ostend states that only 6000 out of 45,000 inhabitants of that town remain there. Horseflesh is the only meat, and there is little bread. The Germans have plundered the stores of beer and wine. Sixty-four heaivy guns are mounted on the dunes, and 13,000 Germans aTe guarding the boulevards at Mariakirke (close to Ostend), where powerful fortifications have been erected. • 'The Germans, by threatening them with starvation, have forced the population to dig trenches. Twelve thousand German convicts have arrived at Ostend, and are carrying the dead from the Yser line and taking the floating corpses from the canals and burying them at Ostend. GERMAN DESECRATION. CLERGY TORTURED AND KILLED. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 17. The Times publishes a list of 44 Belgian clergy killed by German soldiers during August. Many were tortured, and a score were shot. Consecrated wafers and holy relics were thrown to the winds or trodden underfoot. MAKING HISTORY. GORDON HIGHLANDERS' CHARGE. A HEAVY TOLL. LONDON, January 17. Sergeant-major Hands, of the Gordon Highlanders, in a letter relates that the Gordons were ordered to storm a trench loopholed and fitted with barbed wire entanglements, while the Royal Scots seized a wood. After a hellish fire from 270 (?) British guns for 45 minutes the Gordons charged through a hail of machine-gun and rifle fire. Men dropped in heaps, but the tartans kept on, and, after a bloody struggle, won the front line of the German trenches. When the Gordons mustered in a dip within 20 yards of the main German position it was found that 55 per cent, had fallen. They retreated, carrying then* wounded, but Field-marshal French and two generals, who witnessed the "charge, said: "The Gordons have made history, and accomplished more than we expected.'' Sergeant Hands adds: " Dargai was a mere fleabite." ADVANCES TO RUINED FARMERS. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 17. (Received Jan. 18, at 5 p.m.) The French Government is making immediate advances to ruined farmers to tuy seed and renew stock. BOMBARDMENT OF SOISSONS. GERMAN METHODS OF CULTURE. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, January 17. (Received Jan. 18, at 5 p.m.) Refugees state that the German bombardment of Soissons did not spare the ambulances or hospitals. Seventy-five big shells struck the cathedral. A GERMAN REPORT. SUCCESSFUL GERMAN TACTICS. FRENCH SURPRISED AND BEATEN. DECORATION FOR GERMAN COMMANDER. ' AMSTERDAM, January 18. (Received Jan. 18, at 10.40 p.m.) A German account of the battle of Soissons states that General von Lochow was in command. Prior to the battle the opposing trenches were near each other at the top of the wooded height overlooking Crouy. The forces were also entrenched in the quarries forming the western spurs of the Vregny plateau. The French artillery was well posted on the edge of the plateau, and the officers, sitting on the trees behind armoured plates, directed the French fire. The worst execution was on Christmas Day, when some German machine guns were buried by the bombardment of the trenches. Oh January 7 the French charged and occupied the trenches. Heavy fighting took place, man against man, day and night, until the 11th, the Turcos fighting bravely with rifle, bayonet, and knife. The Germans on the 12th, instead of attacking the wooded heights, stormed the observation posts. The French fire immediately slackened and the trenches weri captured. The French then occupied fresh positions half-way down, and apparently expected further attacks from the German' right. The French brought strong reinforcements by rail and motor cars. The Germans on the 13th, however, attacked Vregny and completely surprised the enemy. The attack commenced at noon, and the first line of trenches was taken in three minutes and the last in the next 10 minutes. Later the whole plateau was captured. Late in the afternoon the position of the French advancing against the German right was so desperate that they surrendered. On the 14th the French were finally driven back from two to four kilometres upon a front of 15 kilometres.

The Kaiser was in the battlefield and decorated General ivon Lochow with the Order of Merit. FRENCH LOSSES. ABSUED GERMAN CALCULATION. AMSTERDAM, January 18. (Received Jan. 18, at 8.40 p.m.) ,A communique from Berlin states that in the four weeks since General Joffre published a general OTder to attack, the French lost 26,000 dead and 17,860 prisoners, while 107,000 were wonnded, exclusive of the sick, without any substantial advantage being gained. The Germans lost a quarter as many in the same period.