TRAIL OF DEAD AND DYING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 235, 7 November 1914, Page 9

TRAIL OF DEAD AND DYING.

GERMAN MASSES DECIMATED. DECEIVED BY BEITISH SILENCE. (Received November 7 r 8.50 a.m.) ; LONDON, November 6. Mr Martin Donphoey the "Daily Chronicle's" , correspondent, says:— "The Germans;for two days fiercely attacked on the Armentieres-Arras line. Enormous masses of them were hurled against Armentieres, using a new type of mortar, throwing a projectile weighing several hundredweights. Under cover of night they dug a huge pit, which they filled with concrete and mounted the mortar on a wooden platform. At dawn our trenches were raked by high angle shell fire, but the result disappointed the Germans, as the projectiles buried themselves in the soft ground, and merely gave the British a mud bath. Lying in their bomb-proof shelters they did not reply, and the Germans, misinterpreting, their silence, advanced in mass formations. The British

silently remained in the trenches, and the artillery cleverly concealed by brushwood in a field behind them opened fire, and tore great rents on the coming mass. Rifle fire also punished the •advancing Germans terribly. The attack was an utter failure. The Kaiser and the King of Saxony iwere present, and the Kaiser, in ordering a charge, pointed coastwards, and \ cried, " Go on to Calais.'' j Then followed another hour's shell Hire, before the Germans again essayed to advance. One couldn't help admiring their bravery as they marched slowly to certain death. Urged forward by their officers, they advanced, leaving a trail of dead and dying. A withering fire decimated them, and for a second ■ time they wavered and sought cover. CHECK IN RECRUITING, ANXIETY IN ENGLAND. COMPULSORY SERVICE ADVOCATED. (Received November 7, 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, November 6. Owing to the check in recruiting during the last three weeks, and the wear and tear of the army in Flanders, the newspapers are prominently discussing the need for compulsory service. The leading journals show some anxiety in the matter. ' Lord Selbourno, speaking at Chiswiclc, said that the voluntary response has been wonderful, but young men who didn't enlist, although they had no one wholly dependent "on them*, wer<s; shirkers, and should be compelled, if they did not Come voluntarily, because the existence of the nation was at stake. A GENERAL'S SUICIDE. FOUND SHOT DEAD. ILL-HEALTH AND GRIEF. LONDON, November 5. .: General Robert Kekewicli was found dead; shot in the head, at his residence in Devonshire. (Received November 7, 9.20 a.m.) LONDON, November 6.

General Kekewich had fired off a gun which was found beside his body. He had been appointed to a command in. Lord KitchenerV Army, - but was at : tacked by a nervous breakdown and insomnia, and was depressed by the death of many friends at ihe front. [Major-General Robert George Kekewich was retired from active service. He was born in 1854 and entered the. Army in 1874. He was LieutenantColonel of the North Lancashire Regi-. ment in 1898-1904, and served in the Malay Peninsula in 1875-76, in the Nile Expedition of 1884-85, during which he was mentioned in despatches and received his brevet of Major and the Khedive *s star, served as Adjutant-General at Suakim in 1888, and was'again mentioned in despatches, and in South Africa in 1899-1902, when he defended Kimberley and was promoted to be Major-General.] .;