DESPERATE BAYONET CHARGES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 174, 28 August 1914, Page 5

DESPERATE BAYONET CHARGES.

BIG- BATTLE AT MALINES. GERMANS AND BELGIANS LOSE HEAVILY. AMSTERDAM, August 27. A fierce battle raged at Malines (Mechlin) all day. Fresh German troops came from the eastward, but the enemy was repulsed on the southern side of the canal. The Belgians made desperate baycwiet charges at several places, and the bodies were piled to a height of five or six feet, N The greater part of Malines was destroyed. The Belgians blew up part of the town to enable the forts to use their guns effectively. It is estimated that the Germans lost two thousand. The Belgians also suffered severely. The Louvian railway station has been transformed into a huge repair shop. Elsewhere great bakeries, kitchens, and slaughter-houses have been established. The Germans leave no troops upon their lines of communication. A battle is now raving between Dinant and Maubeuge, on the Franco-Bel-gian frontier. ROTTERDAM, August 27. Travellers state that the Germans are very nervous about Italy's attitude, and express the hope that she will keep neutral:. THE FIGHTING AT CHARLEROI. BATTLEFIELD BLOCKED BY DEAD. FRENCH MAKE GALLANT RESISTANCE. LONDON, August 27. For three hours four French mitrailleuses held up two thousand of the enemy coming into Charleroi by the northern road. French infantry came to their assistance, but were not sufficient in numbers to make pursuit possible. Later reinforcements of Zouaves arrived. Some of them disposed of German incendiaries within the town, while others, crossing the Sambre at Thiun, pursued the enemy as far as Fontaine and Leveque. At. many points the battlefield could be described as bloeked by masses of killed and wounded, so that the cavalry, found it difficult to charge, while the perpetual flight of shells and. the bursting of shrapnel, especially during the uight, made a wonderful and terrible spectacle. the Slower of the army. GERMANS AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS. STUPENDOUS DISREGARD FOR LIFE. PARIS, August 27. Refugees and wounded state that

150,000 of the best German troops were

brought up against the British. The Germans' disregard for life was stupendous. Orders were apparently given to forfeit, if necessary, 50 per cent, of the army to secure victory. As one German regiment was driven back its place was taken by fresh troops. The artillery fire was less efficient than tiiat of the British Ariuv, which was in position on the hills behind Mons. The German artillery was regulated by signals from an aeroplane flying over the British position. The British showed marked superiority in bayonet charges. THE BRITISH WOUNDED. GERMAN METHODS AT CHARLEROI. UHLAN RAIDERS WIPED OUT. LONDON, August 27. Some British wounded lmve been taken to the base hospital near Boulogne. French wounded state that the Germans at Charleroi always used the same methods. They mounted Maxims on ridges deeply entrenched, and the French carried these death-traps at the point of the bayonet. Uhlan raiders from Mons crossed the frontier on Monday evening, and rounded up women, children, and convalescents with revolvers." They then forced them to march all night through French villages, striking terror into the peasants. Thfey burnt the Town Hall in Somain, and tore up a length of the railway along the canal close to Bouchain.

At four in the morning they met a French artillery regiment, and after four hours' fighting the Uhlans were annihilated.

A band of Uhlans was captured at Courtrai, commanded by Count von Sehwerin, nephew of the Kaiser. The latter's sword, a present from the Kaiser, lias been presented to the wife of the officer who captured him. ' ■ : BEFORE THE WAR. BRITAIN AND GERMANY. A CURIOUS MISUNDERSTANDING. LONDON, August 27. A curious misunderstanding en the part of Prince Liehnowsky, German Ambassador in London, is revealed. On August 1 he informed the German Chancellor that in telephonic conversation Sir Edward Grey had asked whether, if France remained neutral in a Russo-German waiy Germany would agree not to attack France. Prince (.Liehnowsky replied that hie thought he could take the responsibility for that. The Kaiser immediately telegraphed to King George stating that for technical reasons he could not stop mobilisation on the two fronts, but if France offered neutrality, and this was guaranteed by the British Army and Navy, he would cease to consider an attack on France and us« 3 the troops in another direction. King George replied that there had been some, misunderstanding over Sir Edward Grey's and Prince Liehnowsky's friendly discussion as to how hostilities between Germany and France could be avoided while any possibility existed of agreement between Austria and Russia. Prince Liehnowsky admitted that he had been under a misapprehension, and forthwith telegraphed a correction to Berlin. There had never been any question of French neutrality in the event of a RussoGerman war, and Sir Edward Grey merely made a desperate effort to see if Germany would remain neutral if England secured France's neutrality. The German Government published Prince Liehnowsky's inaccurate telegram and suppressed his correction, in order to give fresh proof of British perfidy and Germany's eagerness to accept any peace proposal, s

THE ANGLO-FRENCH LINES. GERMANS SUSTAIN CASUALTIES. THREE DAYS' SANGTJINAR/ FIGHTING. PARIS, August 26. It is officially stated that the AngloFrench lines have moved back a short distance, and.are continuing resistance at a place the name of which has been deleted by the censor. An official bulletin has been issued, stating that the French continue the offensive between Nancy and- the Vosges, though the French right has fallen back too quickly. In the Saintdie district the "tjernians sustained considerable casualties. Fifteen hundred corpses were found in a small area. The French shells mowed down an eutire section in one trench. Three days of sanguinary fighting uear Vise appear to have closed in France's favour. The Germans also retreated near Woevre, near the Lorraine frontier, after desperate fighting lasting' several days, i FOUR RUSSIAN ARMIES. THE INVADING HOSTS. OCCUPATION IN EASTERN PRUSSIA. ' ST. PETERSBURG, August 27. . The Russians now occupy Neidenburgy Sensburg, and Bischofsburg, in East Prussia. A party of village women captured

Austrian aviators Who descended at on the Russian frontier. BUCHAREST, August 27. The Russians have occupied Tarnopol in Galieia, and crossed th« Dneister. Thiee Austrian army corps . opposed them. The High Commissioner reports:— LONDON, August 27. . Reliable. —Four Russian armies axo invading Germany and Austria. The first is in Eastern Urassia, the second is moving in the direction o£ Poseii, the third is in Western Galieia, and fourth, in Eastern Galieia, has occupied Korilsteza and Tarnopol. ST. PETERSBURG, August 26. Lieutenant Skalon was shot in tha cheek at the battle of Gumbinnen, and rode to the rear to have his wound dressed. He then returned and received a bullet wound in the arm. He got a brother officer to dress the wound, and remained in the ranks until shrapnel shattered his shoulder. Many similar instances of heroism reported.