GENERAL JOFFRE’S ORDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 27

GENERAL JOFFRE’S ORDER.

FARTS, September 30. Official; General Joffre’s order before Saturday’s attack was: “The offensive will be carried on without truce or respite. Remember the Marne. Conquer, a;.* "■

111|| i-jzrz?rjzz^^~rz?zz:rr When naval lieutenants, Sir Henr Rockson and Sir John Jcllicoe were hot! Gazetted to the battleship Agincourt o? file same day.

When Cabinet Ministers meet at the ■id of each session they indulge in a whitc,:iit dinner. This is an old custom, dating jack over 100 years.

Official: A footing has been gained in ! the (Jennans’ second defensive line in j the Champagne. | The enemy’s counter-attack in Artois j was restricted to a most violent bombard- I ment of our new positions east of Souchez. We gained a footing at several points in the enemy’s second defensive position in the Champagne, and are firmly holding i them. We even passed the second line at j one point, but our progress was not main- j tained owing to the enemy’s violent fire- j curtains and flanking bombardments. i Our aviators bombarded the enemy’s lines of communication. Shells were j thrown on several railway stations, also ; on a marching column at Sommepy. EFFECT OF FRENCH ARTILLERY. j PARIS, September 30. The principal line of German resistance ; in the Champagne included from two to ; five trenches stretching back from 500 to 500 metres towards a mass of wire en- | tanglemants. The chevaux de frise, fort- ' res?, and trenches were veritable laby- i rinths. Tire second defence line dominated the south bank of the river. The effect of the latest creations in the French artillery on obstacles and dugonts j was terrible, while the long-range guns 1 cut off re erves and supplies for 48 hours. ' At the hour appointed the attack by a ; human wave on a 25-ki!ometre front fell ' on the German trenches, enveloping and | overpowering them. Seven such waves ; swept forward. ; A wounded French soldier states that i when tiie infantry were held up at the entanglements in the Champagne the French cavalry came to the rescue. It was the dragoons’ and chasseurs’ first chance for months, and they were determined to make up for lost time. It was j a magnificent dash. The Bodies were j hunted on all sides, and bolted, scattering 1 en unimaginable quantity of material. ; Their flight turned to panic when the : Africans went into them with the bayonet ! and inflicted appalling losses. None stood ■ up fo them, and it was a veritable car- j nage. BRITISH ARTILLERY AT LOOS. PARIS, September 50. The . German dead were piled up four deep in many parts at Loos. The village itself was wrecked, the church being a shapeless mass, while the derricks of the mines and the houses were blown to pieces, and hundreds were buried in the ruins. | HEAVY GUNS CAPTURED IN CHAMPAGNE. PARIS, October 1. j A communique states : Our heavy artil- | lery in Belgium supported the British i fleets in the action against the coast bat- . teries. 1 We exploded several mines outside Beau- ■ voiriu, wrecking the German trenches. We gained ground north of Mesnil, and fur- i ther east between Hill 199, north of Mas- ! siges, and the Ville sur Tourbe-Cernay , road. We took a number of prisoners at : the latter point. The enemy counter-at- ! tacked and regained a Footing in a work named La de Taite, but a second and more ! violent counter-attack in the same sector was repulsed with heavy enemy losses. j The total field heavy guns captured since j September 25 on the Champagne front is i 121. ! A squadron of aeroplanes dropped 72 i bombs on the Guignicourt railway station, ; and they were apparently effective. The ; squadron returned safely. THE FRENCH DASH. PARIS, October 1Accounts dwell upon the impetuosity of the French dash in the Champagne. Never can the acts of devotion and selfsacrifice in the inferno of shell and machine-gun lire be narrated. Despite the immense destruction of entanglements, , great stretches of wire remained. In negotiating these and bombing the trenches, everything that was heroic was displayed. The fire from sunken German machine guns explains the enormous proportion of leg wounds among the French.