In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 306, 24 December 1914, Page 5

In the West.

GERMANS VALUED ZEEBRUCGE.

Times and Stone* Sun Service*. (Received 8 a.m.) London, December 23. ' German officers told the men they must die before the English were allowed to take Zeebrugge.

FIGHTING FOR FIFTY-TWO DAYS

United Press Association,

London, December 22

Mr Martin Donohue writes: “The fight for Yermelles lasted fifty-two days. The whole town was destroyed |by explosives and heavy artilery. I Towards the middle of October the Germans snugly entrenched themselves at Yermelles, and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, but 1 the fight went on tenaciously from house to house, and farmyard to farmyard. On a dark night it was the German custom to set fire to a house, to serve as a torch to facilitate fighting. The French used their light mountain guns with deadly effect, house after house being bombarded and captured. Directly the French gained possession of a. house adjacent to one held by the Germans, the French sappers cut a hole through the wall, the muzzle of a gun was shoved through, and harried the enemy. Chateau Yermelles, with its extensive grounds, was captured on December Ist. The Germans had constructed trenches, 6 feet deep, lined with cement. The French found it impossible to drive the enemy out by bombardment, and as a direct infantry attack would involve an immense sacrifice of life, the French mined their way up to the main wall and blew it up, burying half 1 the garrison. Through the breach a French storming party entered, and sanguinary hand-to-hand fighting took place, room after room being captured. The Germans fought to the last with clubbed rifle and bayonet, and in half an hour only one German was left alive in the Chateau, 'while 4.00 lay dead within the enclosure. Using the Chateau as a base, the French artillery soon demolished the enemy’s entrenchments, and ten hours later the French occupied the town.”

THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT.

London, December 23,

Details of the battle, of Nieuport show that the French troops took up a position at the most dangerous point, where they had to cross five bridges commanded by the enemy, who were surprised. The Germans took some time to reply to the furious artillery fire and the fleet’s cannonade. Then they opened the maximum discharge of all their guns, but after an hour the German fire slackened. The Allies were pouring shrapnel into the enemy’s trenches with tremendous precision. Groups of Germans were blown bodily over the sand dunes. The French and Belgium infantry from five points attacked the trenches. The Germans never knew from where, the attack was coming. Five separate lines of trenches were taken. The forward movement worked like clockwork. Three French aeroplanes reported the enemy’s movements on land, and gave warning of submarines’ movements'at sea, enabling the destroyers to ward off their attacks. Simultaneously with the Nieuport advance, the Allies cleared the Germans from the region of Bothune. The Britishers distinguished themselves. They drove the enemy from a position—which had been stubbornly contested for four weeks—inch by inch, to a distance of ten miles from Bethune. German aeroplanes, before their troops were driven back, bombed Bethune and killed a number of civilians.

TOMMY AT THE “MOOSIC-ALL.”

FUN ON THE FIRING LINE.

(Received 8.30 a.m.)

At Dixmude the Allies have transformed a barn half a mile behind the French firing line into a music-hall. Candies are stuck on bayonets and take the place of calcium lights, and ammunition boxes make a good stage. The performance begins as soon after the relief guard has gone to the trenches, and concludes with popular choruses in French and English. The performances are often interrupted by regimental bugle calls, and the performers disperse precipitately to join their detachments in a dash on the trenches. THE MAIL FOR THE FRONT. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS OF LUXURIES AND NECESSITIES. (Received 8.45 a.m.) London, December 23. The mail for the front carries abundance of necessities in clothing, and there are streams of Christmas luxuries. Splendid postal arrangements have been made. GERMAN REINFORCEMENTS ON THE COAST. (Received 8.50 a.m.) Rotterdam, December 23.

The Germans are daily reinforcing on the coast. There are now 171,000 at Heyst, being mostly youths. More guns and quick-firers are being posted to Heyst. Masses of Germans have reached Aix la Ohappelle from the Eastern front.