FOUR THOUSAND DEAD.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 252, 27 November 1914, Page 8

FOUR THOUSAND DEAD.

FURIOUS BATTLE NEAR NANCY.

"' * GERMANS FALL IN DENSE • MASSES. LONDON, November 25. French infantry held a village near Nancy against twelve thousand Germans, who fired four thousand shells at the village. For three days the French batteries allowed the Germans to waste ammunition without returning the fire. The German commander, deceived by ,the silence, ordered an attack. The French batteries pounded at the closely-formed ranks, but did

not arrest the advance. The French infantry were- directed to let the assailants get within three hundred yards. Then the officers shouted '' Charge with bayonets " The infantry had been warned, instead of obeying the command, to stay .in the trenches. The Germans bearing the order, rose from their crouching positions, and hurriedly fixed bayonets to repel an attack. Volleys from the trenches caught them just as they reached the entanglements, and they foil in dense masses. The 1 men behind scaled the entanglements over their bodies/but got no further. Four separate assaults were repelled, and four thousand dead were left in

front of the trenches. At nightfair the

Germans retreated. Some lost their way in the darkness, and fell into the " river Loisy. The survivors christened the town the "Hole of Death."