AN OFFICIAL NARRATIVE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 37, 30 September 1914, Page 6

AN OFFICIAL NARRATIVE.

I Per Press Association.] Wellington, September 29. The Premier has received the following from the High'Commissioner, dated September 28th: — Official: —The following descriptive account, dated September twenty-fifth, communicated by an eye-witness who was present with the general headquarters, continues and supplements the narrative published on the 24th of the movements of the British force and the French armies in immediate touch with it.

“‘For four days there has been a comparative lull all Along our front; This has be£n accompanied by a of line weather. Advantage was'Jtajseh of the arrival of 'reinforcements to relieve by fresh.’ troops ■'.the men who have befen in the firing line for some time. Several units have received their baptism of fire during the week. "Since my last letter left the general headquarters, evidence lias been received which; points to’■ the fact that during the counter-attacks on the night .of the 20th the Geiman military lived into eacß* ‘other, thiy 4 result of. an attempt to carry out a danger mis;* ex* periment of a converging advance ill the dark. Opposite'one portion of our position a considerable massing of the, hostile forces was , observed before dark. Some hours later, a furious fusilade wag heard in front of our lines, though no bullets came oyer our trenches. ‘ -1 ; . , '

“On the 21st there was a little rain, but the weather took a- turn for the better, which has been maintained. ‘Action was practically confined to artillery, our 'guns:,; at one>*p'oint shelling and drivttig a way.the enemy, who were endeavouring *td- construct a redoubt; The Germans 1 expended a large number of ..heavy shells in a long-range bombardment of the village of .Qi.ssy. “Reconnoitring parties sent mil during the'night of the 21st and 22nd discovered some''deserted trenches in the woods, with oyer 100 dead and wounded, They picked up a number -of rifles and ammunition and equipment. There were various other signs that the enemy's- forces had withdrawn for some distance. 1 •

‘‘Thd' fine, with less wind, hue of the most uneventful days that the British'have passed since-we' -reached the Aisne. There was less artillery work on either sictedjhd Germans, nevertheless, givingUlW-village a taste of ‘Jack Johnsons.’ The' spot thus honored is not far from the ndgfwhere some of the most severe close fighting in which we have taken part has occurred. All over this ‘no man’s land’ between the lines, bodies of German infantry are still lying in heaps where they have fallen at different times.

“Espionage-plays so large a part in the conduct of the war by the Germans that it is difficult to avoid further reference to the -subject. Apartfrom the more elaborate arrangements, made in time of peace for obtaining in-formation.-by paid- agents,.some of the methods-employed fpp'eoJiection or conveyance of intelligence are as follows; “Men in pl&ln clothes signal to the German lines from points in the hands' of the enemy by means of colored lights at night, and puffs of smoke from chimneys by day/' “Pseudo laborers working in the fields between the armies have been detected conveying, information. “German officers and soldiers in plain,clothes, or in French ot- British uniforms, have remained in’ localities evacuated by, the Germans in order to furnish them with intelligence.

“One spy of this kind was found by our troops hidden in a church tower. His presence was only discovered through the erratic movements of the hands of the church clock, which he was using to signal to his friends by means of an improvised semaphore code. Had this man not been seized, it is probable that he would have signalled to the. German artillery the time of arrival and the exact location of the headquarters of the force, and a high explosive shell would then mysteriously have dropped on the building. “Women spies have been caught. “Secret agents have been found at railheads observing entrainments and detrainments. It is a simple matter for spies to mix with a number of refugees moving about to and from their homes, and it is difficult for our troops, who speak neither French nor German, to detect them. The French have found it necessary to searclwvillagers and casual wayfarers on the roads for carrier-pigeons. Rigorous precautions are taken by its to guard against spying.

“The following extract from a German order of August 21 is evidence of the mystification of the enemy, and is a tribute to the value of the secrecy so well and loyally maintained in England : ‘lt is reported that an English army lias disembarked at Calais and Boulogne, en route for Brussels.’ ”