In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 281, 25 November 1914, Page 5

In the West

THE POSITION IN FRANCE.

Onited Press Association. (Received 8.50 a.m.) Paris, November 24

A communique states: The situation is generally unchanged. The enemy keeps up an intermittent cannonade on most of the front, but it is less lively than yesterday. We repulsed some infantry attacks, which were particularly violent, in the Argonne, where we gained ground in the region of Tour de Paris. A thick mist hampered- operations between the Argonne and the Yosges. HIGHLANDERS AND CHURKAS. TERROR-STRICKEN GERMANS. (Received 8.20 a.m.) London, November 24. During a charge in Belgium, Highlanders encountered wire entrenchments under heavy fire, and the check was apparently fatal. The Gurkhas, however, wriggled through the wire with their kukris in their hands and disappeared in trenches shouting their battle cries. After tumult and carnage the Germans fled into their own entanglements. A few were made prisoners, all of whom were paralised with terror. GERMANS SOW DISSENSION. London, November 23. German cunning is busily at work, trying to sow dissension between the two Allied nations' armies, fostering the idea that the brunt of the fighting has' fallen on the British, and that the French are not doing their fair share, while in various insidious ways the French are told the same story about the British. HIGH PRAISE FOR BRITISH FIRST ARMY CORPS. London, November 24. A fter the defeat of\ the j Prussian Guards Field-Marshal Sir J. French directed General Sir Douglas Haig to issue an army order, thanking the First Army Corps for their stand. Fifteen fresh battalions of the German Guards partook in the attack.

Since General Haig's troops arrived at Ypres they have successfully defeated the 23rd, 26th, and 27th German Reserve Corps, and the 13th Active Army Corps, in addition to t)ie Guards. General Haig adds: "It is doubtful whether the annals of the British army contain a finer record in the defence of the realm."

An interpreter with the British states that a single division held an eight.mile line at Ypres for 19 days against 75,000 picked Germans. They scarcely* le-f1 1: the. ft tranches., ~ •, A ipaiH tur'ed German officer refused to believe that there were so few, as the German staff estimated that the British had at least two' army corps.

GENERAL OPERATIONS.

London, November 21

A French cavalry column surprised three companies of German infantry in a wood east of Ypres. They were starving, and had been eating the bark of trees. They surrendered, with 40 officers. The Allies last week attacked Loinbaertzyde. Prior to the assault, news was received that a large convoy of .ammunition had reached the old fort. The British colonel called for two volunteers to blow up she convoy, and they succeeded. The infantry then dashed into Lombaertzyde, caught the ;Germans in confusion, and cleared the town, the English monitors on the coast causing heavy "losses during the retreat. Both the volunteers escaped unhurt; The British fleet bombarded Zeebrugge, causing a great fire. The German battery-fruitlessly fired at the warships from Blankenburg, but the warships silenced the battery. AVIATOR KILLS WOUNDED. Paris, November 24. A German aeroplane dropped bombs at Baillieu, killing three British wounded in an ambulance. PRUSSIAN GUARDS' DEFEAT. THE HONOR DISTRIBUTED. (Received 8.50 a.m.) London, November 24. The honor of smashing the Prussian Guards was fairly divided through the United Kingdom. The victors include the Irish Guards, the Black Watch, the King's Liverpool Rifles, tlin Northamptonshire, Oxford, and Buck's Light Infantry, the London Scottish, and the Inniskilling Fusiliers. LIFE IN THE TRENCHES. London, November 23. The Times' correspondent in West Flanders says it is «a mistake to assume that life in the trenches necessarily entails the maximum of discomfort. The Allied soldiers are comfortable while living for the most part below the surface. - They have so banked themselves about mat the wind, rain, and sleot now have no terrors, and then- mud-walled compartments are possibly warmer than hygienists approve. LIGHT ARMED BOATS REACH FLEMISH COAST. Amsterdam, November 24. The Telegraaf reports that light armed boats have reached* the shallow waters of the Flemish coast.

MUCH GERMAN MATERIAL ON THE MOVE. (Received 8.20 a.m.) Amsterdam. November 24. The plain of Flanders is still snowbound, with heavy frosts. Extensive exchange of troops continues, the 1915 class coming to Flanders and the old men going east. Two forty-two centremetre howitzers passed Cologne for Gakieuez, fifty-five small guns for Konisgsburg, and two hundred field' - pieces for the Austrians in Galicia. , The Germans now estimate they had two hundred thousand casualties in the battle of the Yser. YPRES CATHEDRAL DESTROYED. (Received 8.20 a.m.) Paris, November 24. German gunfire destroyed the cathedral at Ypres.