ALLIES STILL PUSHING THE ENEMY BACK.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 4946, 22 September 1914, Page 5

ALLIES STILL PUSHING THE ENEMY BACK.

VIGOROUS COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED. SIEGE OF ANTWERP IMMINENT. A FORWARD MOVEMENT AGAINST RUSSIA. Press Association.—Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.

PROGRESS OF THE ALLIES. REPULSE ALL ATTACKS. SAXON ARMY BROKEN UP. Paris', Last Night. Official —Our left has made further slight progress ou the banks ot the Oise. The Algerian division captured another standard. All attempts of the Germans to break our front between Craonne and Rheims were repulsed. The Germans furiously bombarded Rheims Cathedral, winch is in flames. We have taken at the village of Souvain a thousand prisoners. In Lorraine the enemy has fallen back beyond our frontier and has evacuated Avriconrt. In the Vosges the enemy tried uusuccesslllv to resume the offensive. Our progress there was slow owing to bad weather and defensive works. The Saxon army has been broken up. General Von Hausen .has been relieved of command, and it is now being reorganised. The French Government has no confirmation of the surrender of those Maubexge forts, which were not destroyed, although German newsi papers claim that they interned Torgaze. The Allied troops on the Aisne were fighting waist deep in water m the flooded trenches. RIGHT FLANK THREATENED. FIERCE PURSUIT. Paris, Last Night. The Sixth French Army Corps, under General Mamoury, threatens the German right flank. The latter’6 halfhearted counter-attacks failed signally. Many prisoners captured had been living on raw turnips and potatoes. The speed with which the French followed the fugitives was terrific, and in some places thirty hours’ start was overtaken. When the French entered Creevenvalvis the Germans were surprised packing shells, and the French exploded five thousand. The French advance on the left is highly important, as General Von Veck’s flank is now exposed. From the sound of cannonading it is evident that the Gemans have brought up heavier guns and established them in position in the old forts C £ Conde-sur-Aisne, which was de fended by up-to-date artillery. BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS. COMPLETE ROUTE AIMED AT. London, Last Night. The Times’ military correspondent says the battle sways backwards and forwards, but the Allies will not be content to be drawn as the battle must cleanse the soil of France of the invader. The time has arrived , ,j hen we expect General Joffre to concentrate all available troops for serious operations on one flank or the other, even depleting the front in order to secure victory for the wing. DESPERATE FIGHTING. MAGNIFICENT INFANTRY. APPALLING GUN FIRE. Paris, Last Night. A British cavalry officer declares that the fighting on the Aisne was desperate, especially in the neghbourhood of Haon, where the Germans concentrated their main effort against the British. The latter’s infantry was magnificent. The Germans in great force made nine counter-attacks, hut all were repulsed. The British losses were heavy, but the German were tenfold, and so enormous that they , can have few fresh troops to replace them. The French captured eighty I officers and men of the German I Guard all dead drunk in a village.

-i \ lieutenant of the 2Gth Artillery Ttegimeivt said the Tenth Army Corps had been consistently fighting since the beginning of the campaign, and almost al lthe horses were killed. The Germans were fighting daily from fire in the morning until eight in the evening without eating or drinking. So far the Germans have the advantage in heavy artillery, but the British captured and destroyed three 11inch guns mounted on concrete emplacements. The French guns of heavy calibre are hurrying to the front. The hulk of the fighting along General French’s command is done in enclosed country, consequently for the most part it is an artillery battle. The gun fire on both sides is appalling. The Germans’ attempt to break our front where it stretched east and west along the Aisne failed, and the enemy’s losses were enormous, estimated at five to one. TTTRCOB ANT) SENEGALESE. THE FIERCEST FIGHTERS. London. Last Night. Captain Harding Davis describee the Tu rcos and Senegalese as the fiercest fighters of all. ' In the trenches taken from the German Guards and the, Death’s Head Hussars, the Germans showed no bullet wounds, the assailants using only the butts of rifles arid bayonets. Man for man, no white man, drugged for years on meat and aleohoj is a physical match for there• Tureos, fed on dates and water. They a,re as lean as starved wolves, arid more like panthers. They are all muscle and nerves. The French eommanders almost invariably use them to lead the charges. GERMAN MILITARY MIGHT. London. Last Night. It, is anticipated at Petrograd that trsman diplomacy will await isolated Lenses with a view to making a

bargain bearable under peace condiI tions These calculations are built 1 upon saud. The seven allied naj tions, united by the Declaration of London, will conduct the war com--1 jointly till complete downfall is seI cured of the military might of GerI many. THE PEACE PROPOSALS. London, Last Night. "The Times,” in a leader on the peace overtures from New York, says:—“The Ambassador at Washington turns with the whine of a halfchastised bully. He declares that it is a 'live and let live’ policy that Germany wishes the enemy to observe. But it is their irrevocable resolve uot to stay their bauds until German militarists, with their causes and effects, are destroyed once and for all.” STREWN WITH DEAD. ENEMY IN NATURAL FORTRESS. London, Last Night. The ground in front of the British trenches is strewn with dead. Each attack strengthened the lesson of the folly of attempting to rush entrenched British. The enemy in a night attack made an effort to pierce the line covering Soissons. In the tremendous rain it was impossible to see more than a yard or two . The British were asleep, but the outposts gave timely warning and a hot fire thinned the advancing line, and the bayonet put the issue beyond doubt. The Germans declare that they can hold the Aisne position for three months, as there is a natural fortress of the hills, woods and quarries, which they have had time to strengthen. About Soissons the enemy’s position is practically unassailable from the front, but their communications are by no means secure. Large numbers of Germans detached from their regiments are sheltering in the woods on the line of retreat. Battues are arranged daily to catch them. Many have been food!ess for five days, excepting for beetroot.

GERMAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. A DOCUMENT FOUND. London, Last Night. A Paris newspaper has obtained possession of a document revealing Germany’s plan of campaign. It was found in a railway carriage five months ago by a French officer, who handed it to the authorities. It shows that Germany recognised that she would have to fight France, Russia and England without replacing reliance upon effective aid from Austria. She doubted whether England’s fear of invasion would allow her to place an active army at the Allies’ disposal. The opinion was expressed that Russia’s slow concentration would enable Germany to smash France in three or four weeks, and she anticipated to achieve such a victory in the second week as would ensure. Ttlay’s co-operation with the Tripliee. then finish up with Russia on the Breslau-Danzig line or on the Oder. The document hints at violation of Treaties, but asks who is to enforce respect for neutrals’ rights, for all great Powers will be involved. GERMAN ADMISSION. LOSS AT MAUBEUGE. Amsterdam, Last Night. Ihe German headquarters has issued a statement in Berlin that there was no decision in tho battle between the Oise and the Meuse. The Germans are showing the greatest enmity to British prisoners. Individual soldiers declare the BritKS". should be shot in all cases, i ii j G ® rmans affmit losing 14.000 killed and wounded at Maubeuge. ™ ~ London, Last Night. I he German losses in the attack on the fortress of estimated at over 50,000. DEPARTED uhlans.

n ■ , r A >n , f!on . Hast Night. 19 & '.VT-’Ud that , «»rly in the war • nwn " PTO despatched in twos and threes to ascertain whether British troops were landing. They were promised if they returned they would bo rewarded with iron crosses. The report adds significantly “None at all returned.” Tt is reported that Prince Freidrich Lari the Kaiser’s brother-in-law has been seriously wounded. GERMAN VANDALISM. .... ~, . Paris, Last Night. I ho Rheim Cathedral has been razed to the ground. The Government is protesting to the Powers against tho German vandalism. THE AUSTRALIAN FLEET. TROOPS HAVING TRYING TIME. Sydney, Last Night. further news of the operations of the Australian fleet reached Sydney to-day. . Tt, states that 1 the wireless station in the island of Nauru was destroyed, and the two German civilian operators taken prisoners and brought to Sydney. At Apia, a .week ago shots were exchanged between « portion of the German Pacific fleet and the British troojis. Very little damage was done. Tho Raboul natives are reporter] to bo troublesome. Several conflicts have occurred with the expeditionary force stationed there. Mines were laid round Rabouj. During the fighting, thirteen natives of New Britain, under German officers fought like maniacs, rushing right up to the Australians’

(firing line. They showed no signs of fear. When the Australian ships took possession of Herbertshoke, the enemy used jagged bayonets. They are also alleged to have used dumdum bullets. El well’s body bore a hole large enough to admit a cocoanut. This was caused by a jagged bayonet. The wireless station on the Caroline Islands has been destroyed. It is stated that the Germans now have no installations in the Pacific. The whereabouts of the enemy’s cruisers Gneisenau, Seliarnhost, Nuremburg, and Leipsic ,and the gunboat Geir is known to the fleet. Messages have been continually intercepted. It is expected that they will shortly be in dire straits, owing to the lack of coal. Suva is thoroughly entrenched, in expectation of a siege. Every effort is being made to save the wireless station. In connection with the loss of the submarine, she is supposed to have struck a reef. FIGHTING TN THE AIR. London, Last Night. Vedrines, (aeroplaning, destroyed with a mitrailleuse a Taube aeroplane flying over the French lines. Prisoners state that German aeroplanes are not flying over the French lines owing to lack of petrol. A French aviator destroyed the permanent way and held up ten train loads of Germans. Another destroyed two food trains. It is stated that British airmen destroyed seventeen German aeroplanes. Amsterdam, Last Night. Messages from Berlin state, that Germany is turning out one Zeppelin and seventy aeroplanes weekly. Ten thousand have volunteered for service in the air fleet. SERVIA’S POLICY. Nish, Last Night. Official. —Servia will not conclude peace separately from the Triple Entente. RELATIVE LOSSES. Petrograd, Last Night. It is estimated that the total Austrian casualties in Galicia number 35 per cent, of the million engaged. The Russian casualties number 25.000. The great disparity is attributed to the superiority of the Russian gunners.