Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

■ is • * » FI6HTIN6 IN MDSE CELUK^F IMS TOWN ■ i ■ii ^ , ^ RERIHG GERMAN OFFICER >-4irk «S| m British Correspondent Tells How He Directed Oennsn Artillery on the House He Occupied as Prisoner Along With English Officers—Dis- Lodge Germans With Grenades. The British correspondents at the headquarters in France have now been permitted to send descriptions of exciting phases of the great battle of Saturday and Sunday north of Lens. “Now, after the firsUrush is over," writes the Chronicle correspondent, "there is time to tell the story of one of the greatest achievements gained by British troops in this war. There were many battalions of the new army men among those who led the attack, and among them were the Scottish regiments, who had their full share of horrors in the first as sault. “Many of them, though belonging to regiments with famous old tradi tions that have already won glory on the western front, were recruits but hardly arrived in Flanders. “These splendid boys listened through the night of Friday last to the intense bombardment which pre ceded the assault, that in itself was a tremendous test of nerve, but at 6.30 a. m. Saturday, when their officers gave the word, the battalions leaped out of their trenches with a wild hur rah. "They reached the enemy’s lines of trenches without suffering many cas ualties and found the first two lines of barbed wire had been effectively broken down by the artillery bom bardment. The third line was uncut and was very strong wire, with great barba. Hod with a rneh at the bayonet point, a large number of Germans being killed. The nnmt wire made the first check, bat the British, reckless of their Urea, attacked it desperately. They stood up under the deadly fire of machine guns and forced n wny through the entanglements. "Ona of the most extraordinary In cidents among the grim scenes which took place In tha smoke and mist earns when n company of klltinn ad vancing at the charge came face to face with n very tall German who, •ttheagh dead with a bullet through the brain, stood nrect, wsdged in soma way la the trench. "It wan no startling and uncanny that with on# accord tha wavs of men parted and swept on each aids of him an thoagh noma obaeare spectre bar red the way. ' “Rank after rank streamed np, and at Inst the grant tide of men poured through and swarmed forward to the village, and then three-quarters of a mile further oa. An they ran. shout ing hoarsely, they wsrejaced^by fire chine goaa, and from every pert of the village there came the steady rattle of these weapons pouring out streams of lead. “There were machine guns in the windows of many houses and on top of the ‘tower bridge.' the tall mine cranes which rose 300 feet from the centre of the village, and in narrow trenches dug across the streets. In the cemetery to the southwest of the town which our men had passed, there were no less than 100 machine guns, so it was In itself a fort of great strength. “It was 8 o’clock when those who had not fallen reached the outskirts of the village of Loos, and for nearly two hours there was street fighting of terrible character. Many battal ions were mixed up, many of their of ficers were killed and wounded, and the battle was made up of individual combats, or small groups fighting a way froift house to house, and separ ate encounters in rooms and cellars. “Although the town had been se verely damaged by our shell fire and the church in the centre was in ruins, no fire had broken out and the sheila of houses still stood. “These were crammed with Ger man troops, who used the cellars as trenches from which they could Are upon the British through apertures in the street. They also fired through windows and doorways behind the shelter of the walls, and some of ' - -thfim had their machine guns in the garrets. “Here and there small parties of these German troops defended them selves with the courage of despair and would not yield until they were killed to' the last man. “Others were cunning and rather courageous in their methods of light ing. A great mass of them undoubt edly were surprised and demoralized by the rapidity and sweeping strength of the British attack and it was by wholesale surrenders the British took b large number of prisoners. “Men of tl\is class, after the first resistance at rifle range or with ma chine guns, seemed to have no fight in them at all. In one house entered by • little kilted signaller thirty Ger mans, including an officer, surrender ed to him after he had shot down three who tried to kill him. “Yet, as I have said, the resistance was prolonged In some -pterts of the vfllhge, and there were many cellars from which the rapid fire caused heavy losses to the besiegers. They were silenced by bombing parties, who .flung hand grenades into the subterranean- cellars from the head of stairways. In Loos the cellar# are. these celle&s an amaz- Inddent happened wlleh reveals 1 courage and self- i denied the Gar- La battalion which ilaea ln I far this day’s work came into after his men bad already geae . Hill 70. With signal ten aad other men be established quart era, accord lag to previous arrangement. In a house practically untouched by abell Ora. * At this time there were very little shelling, as the artillery officer on either side were afraid of killing their own men. and the house seem ed fairly safe tor the purpose of a temporary signal station. “But the colonel noticed with sur prise, shortly after his arrival, that heavy shells began to fall very close, and the German guns were obviously aiming directly for this particular building. He ordered the cellars to be searched, and three Germans were found, but it was only after he had been in the house forty minutes, that in a deeper cellar, which had not been seen before, discovery was made of a German officer, who was actually telephoning to his own batteries and directing their fire. , "Suspecting the colonel and his companions were important officers directing the general operations, he had caused shells to fall upon the house, knowing a lucky shot would mean his own death as well as theirs. In any case he was certain to die, and he died bravely, having made this supreme sacrifice of courage. The telephone apparatus Is now a trophy In the British hands. “Meanwhile some of the battalion who fought their way through Loos were now struggling ahead to gain Hill 70. It Is nearly a mile further on eastward and southward, and the road was swept with shrapnel and machine gun fire as it rose steadily up to rising ground, which is really a slope rather than a hill. "On a further ridge is a village called Cite 8t. Auguste, held by the Germans, overlooking the advancing British troops. From the windows of the cottages on higher ground, and from intrenchments in the vicinity there was an Incessant stbrm of fire which raked over the approach. “Nethertbeless. the British held on, and finding a kind of ridge or para pet, dug themselves deeper in. so they had useful protection. “The first men to approach Hill 70 arrived about 10 o’clock and clung to their positions at all costs and with heroic endurance until 11 that night, when they were relieved by other troops who carried on the struggle next day. This concludes the chronicle of the battle In and be yond Loos until Sunday, when the po sition was organised and the advance continued with varying success around Hill 70. “But I mast go back to dawn Sat nrday. where another attack was In progress further north toward Hul- lueh. It was another triumph for the new army men. who formed a very good proportion of the masted troops. “The straggle here was fierce and formidable, aad the Britieh had to advance under a terrible fire. That however, was after tha first assault upon the German trenches, which wars carried swiftly. “Tbs British machine guns, of which we bad a considerable num ber. were brought forward rapidly and the Germans lost very heavily, the bayooet fiaieMag the work of the ballets. Then the British stormed or three mile or more nntll they reach efi the outskirts of Huliuch, which brlktled with Oennsn mac blue guns at all points. “Hand to hand fighting took place and the Germans yielded ground wherever the British could coma within reach of them, but were swept back again and again by the tempest of bullets. The struggle continued in this direction for two whole dsys. ■“Some of the men who were en gaged in the first part of the opera tions were enjoying a rest to-day and as long as life lasts to me 1 shall re member these villages in the fighting lines through which I passed to-day. thronged by those tall mud-caked lads who had fought through one of the hardest encounters which ever had given victory to British arms They had seen many of their com rades fall. They tramped on through shambles of battle fields, but they looked proud and exultant because they had led a great assault and broken the German lines. “During part of the day Sir John French rode about these mining vil lages, and whenever he met a group of these men he leaned over his horse and spoke to them and gave them personal thanks for the gallant work they had done." FRENCH AGAIN BEAR BRUNT IN ALLY’S FIERCE ATTACKS BRITISH Altl FIENCI KEEP DP OFFENSIVE AROUND LENS GERMANS ADMIT LOSSES Op Hammering at Second Line of Ger man Trenches—British Forces Now Numl>er One Million. liondoif, Friday: The Frencli are bearing the brunt of the fighting now in progress in the western front. They are .hammering at the second German line tn Champagne, in the direction of the Grand Pre railway, and at the same time dropping bombs on the line and stations to prevent the Germans from bringing up rein forcements. Absence of news from the Bfitsh front apparently indicates that these forces are occupied with consolidat ing their positions in the strip of ter ritory recently won. The British forces now in France are estimated at a round million men, which will be increased by five hun dred thousand. Daily lengthening of the obituary columns of the London newspapers is beginning to measure the jjrice paid by the British for their- recent offensive. There is no notable change on the battle front of the east. Sailing Vessel Sunk. Londqn. Friday: The smiling vessel Helen Beyon has been sunk. . Her crew was saved. The Helen Beyon Is not mentioned in maritime records. r * ■ Amsterdam reports: Six Zeppelins, flying westward, were sighted near Aerachot Thursday. Froyn London and Paris Come De scriptions of Steady Progress of Allied Troops—Towns are Destroy. ed and Railway Communications Threatens—Artillery Fire Heavy. A special correspondent pf the New York World, writing from 'Paris, says he learnfc from the highest possible military source that the German loss es in Champagne alone total more than 60,000, and that, the Kaiser’s advent in that sector is evidence that the Germans fear disaster will over whelm their sorely tried centre. In Artois they have lost between 30,000 and 40,000. Although it Is Impos sible to cable an estimate of the French casualties, I am empowered to state that their total is consider ably below that of the Germans. This is remarkable, In view of the fact they were the attacking force, but It is partly explained in the trif ling number of prisoners taken by the Germans. The number of Germans captured by the French, on the other hand, is amazingly large. Most of the wounds on the French side were caused by shrapnel and machine guns, while the Germans were either entombed beneath the artillery cloudburst immediately pre ceding the infantry attacks, or sliced open by French bayonets.. In the fury of their charge the French had little time to use their rifles ex^ cept for stabbing purposes. "Silencing their machine guns was our hardest Job—there seemed to be literally thousands of these venomous weapons tearing away at us,’’ one of the first wounded officers arriving in Paris told ms. So ear-shattering was the cannon ade, which raged for seventy-two hours before the advance proper be gan. that many caoes of deafness were reported among the gunners, whose batteries were crowded to gether with scarcely elbow room be tween the guns. In those seventy-two hours, from noon Wednesday to noon Saturday, mors than (deleted) shells burst among fhe German intrenchments, in cluding thousands upon thousands of huge projectiles more powerful than any yet launched from French guns in field warfare. On my recent vtait to the Cham pagne front I got a good idea of tha difficultto* confronting an attacking force on either side. Not only are the opposing trenches 300 or 400 yards apart along the Altne valley, bnt to reach the German llnee from the French meant running flrat down hill and then uphill acroee abeolutely open ground covered with pitfalls made by shell erntera, exploded mines and dlaneed trenchee. During their charge the attacking force wonid elweya have to face an intense rifle end machine gun fusil lade, end at many points he enfiladed as well. During my visit seven weeks ago the French sappers were burst ing mines under the enemy almost dally, an operation which at times seemed rather purposeless In the light of present develop ments, it is easy to understand the mining was deliberately designed to pave the way for the artillery cyclone even then In contemplation, by break ing up .the continuity of the German earthworks. For cavalry to traverse territory of this kind appeared Im possible then. In the last three days the impossible has been achieved, however, and at some points horse men have even sabred German artil lerymen. How they managed to get across can not be fully told. The German counter attacks in the Argonne were no surprise to the French high command, which had carefully planned for resistance to just such an onslaught at that point. I n all but a few unim portant places the famous “curtain of shellfire” was sufficient to hold off the Crown Prince's troops, whose losses proportionately far exceeded those of the French in Champagne. London reports: The flower of the British army in France is being hurl ed forward in a terrific effort to cap ture Lens and thus cripple th.e entire system of the German lines of com munication. It is the greatest Brit ish offensive against the Germans since the war began. The English army’s part in the un precedented drive in the west is be ing carried out under special orders from Ijord Kitchener, the British war secretary, to smash the Teutonic lines or exhaust every human endeavor in trying. The sixth day of the mighty battle, whose chief storm ^enters He between Arras and La Bassee and In the Champagne and Argonne regions, found no leT-u^ in the power of the drive against the tw’O -flanks of the German army of invasion. In the lulls between infantry as saults and counter attacks the great guns of the Allies and Germans en gage in shattering artillery duels across fields strewn with thousands of dead and wounded. Every troop and supply train returning from the front is crammed with wounded, and the military hospitals are overflow ing. - . • . La Bassee, Lens, Vimy, Fampoux, Wlllerval, Mericourt and scores of other towns lying within the German lines between Arras and the La Bas see Canal are being pounded night and day by the guns of the British and French. A German salient ex tends west of Lens and this is being hammered on the north side by the British, while the French, from their new position* at hill No. 140, deliver UNY CONHJCTUW HJMtS i * mV on Serbia la Comlmg—AJliea to LAod Troops at Kerala. Rome, via Paris,. Friday: Despite rigorous Bulgarian censorship the Tribune claims to have dispatchee from Sofia stating that the situation has been complicated by an apparent change' of front by King Ferdinand, who has recalled the appointment of Crown Prince Boris as commander- in-chlef of the army. Sentiment in favor of Russia is reported to be in creasing in the rural districts. The Tribune’s dispatches assert that mobilization Is proceeding under a German staff officer, but will not be completed for another fortnight. King Ferdinand, it is reported, has received a promise from Berlin that eight hundred thousand Austro-Ger- man troops will undertake a march through the Balkans to Constanti nople. Three hundred thousand Ger mans have been concentrated at Tes- mesvar, Hunbary, seventy-two miles northeast of Belgrade with three hun dred cannon, including fifty siege guns and sixty aeroplanes but will not be ready to attack for two weeks. It is believed here that if the Allies sent an expedition against Bulgaria it will be landed at Kavala on the Ae gean Sea, which would, enable the Allies to threaten both Phillipopolis and Sofia. It is said two ultimatums soon will be addressed to King Ferdinand, one by the central empires and the other by the Quadruple Entente making imperative an immediate decision as to the part the country is to play in the war. FIGHTING FIVE MILLION MEN imn ON WESTERN MTTLE LINE FIERCE COUNTER ATTACK ESTABLISH NEUTRAL ZONE Berlin Report* Agreement Between Bulgaria and Greece. Berlin to America by wireless Wed nesday: The Overseas News Agency says that according to rpliable infor mation Bulgaria and Greece have agreed upon the establishment of a neutral zone between these two coun tries. The suggestion of s neutral zone, the news agency says, was made by members of the Greek general staff, who acted in concert with King Con stantine. The Overseas News Agency adds: Bulgaria agreed and there is no doubt that she Is ready to yield to Greek wishes about the Serbian terri tories of Dloran and Gevgetl. This means that the attempts of the En tente killed powers have been frus trated. era side Bettered trenchee, over which the .Allies swept wbea the bottle oa Hetardey. are ■till choked with Germaii dead. The British and French are relyiag upon their artil lery and the bayonet; the chief hope of the German defenders Is their ma chine guns, of which they have hun dreds. Loos. Huliuch and Angres, which have been captured by the Alliee since the “fall drive’*/ began, are heaps of ruins, the shattered houses standing like grim monuments above pilee of English. French and German dead who fell In the hand-to-hand fighting in the streets. Every dispatch from the front, of ficial and unofficial, emphasizes the bravery shown on both sides. No quarter was given nor asked In the greater part of the Infantry fighting on Sunday and Monday. In tlie ArtolH, where the country is thickly nettled, the tiernuuia fortified mil the ItouneM on their front, turning the ancient stone buildings of the French into fortresses with machine guns bristling from every window. Even the churches were turned Into blockhouses and guns were placed in the belfries. On the other hand, the fighting between the French and Ger mans in Champagne and the Argonne is taking place in the country where the soldiers embrace in their death struggle in the field and atoidst the hills and the forests. Tremendous efforts are being made by the French in the Argonne to dislodge the Germans from their trenches at La Fille Morte, “the gir dle of death.” Never was a name more appropriate. The first line of German trenches there are level with corpses and the fields before them are strewn with the dea'd of the at tacking forces. In the Argonne the fighting line lies north of the old Roman road, a monument to the handiwork of Cae sar’s legions, which has withstood the ravages of time for centuries. North of Auberive, Souain, Perthes, Les Mesnil, Beausejour, Massiges and Ville Sur Tourbe the French are at tacking over a front about twenty miles wide to drive the Germans from the Tahure-Cernay highway and from their works defending the railroad that passes through Somme. All the roads for miles behind the German lines are shelled constantly to prevent the shipment of ammuni tion and soldiers to the'front. Masses of fresh troops are held In reserve by the French and as soon as the first line is exhausted reinforce ments are rushed forward. Field Marshal Sir John French Is reported to be in personal command of the operations from the Lens sphere to fpres, while General Joffre Is said to be in the Champagne. Russia Wants Peace? Berlin reports by wireless: German official circles heard rumors that Russia Is about to express its will ingness to make peace under certain condition, and that these conditions axe now being discussed by the Czar and his ministers. 900 Cases of Cholera. Amsterdam reports' via London smashing attacks against the south-fFrtday that cholera Is raging In Gali cia, the Telegraf says, and according to the horn* Office three hundred have baaa reported. Allies Hold Gains But Berlin Reports Contradict French—Teuton Line Holds Despite Terrific Frontal .At tack#—British and French Offen sive Loses Idpetoous Momentum. Furious counter attacks, in which asphyxiating gases, liquid fire, artillery and the bayonet are employed are being launched by the Germans against the Allies over the greater part of the 850- mile battle front H ia the western theater, except at the eastern ex tremity, where, storms have brought about a lull. , Five million men are believed to tie engaged in this mighty battle, In which the Germans are trying to check the great Drive of the Anglo- French and Belgian forces. Not all these troops are actually on the firing line, a big proportion of them being held in reserve for qnick transportation to points where the greatest danger threat ens. More than six hundred aero planes are taking part. Terrific fighting is reported from the Champagne and Argonne for est, where the Germans are des perately attacking |n an effort to regain lost ground and remove the menace to the German lines of communication, which are being •helled by the heavy French guns. Berlin: The Germans have not only stopped the general allied offensive but by counter attacks have gained considerable territory. The official bulletin says: “The enemy continued Tuesday his attempts to break through our lines without achieving any result. On the contrary, he suffered in manp places very considerable lozses, besides bringing us an appreciable gain in territory. “Our counter attack resulted In our rapturing twenty officer# and •even hundred and fifty men, increas ing the number of prisoners taken in this locality to iL9»7 men. including a number of officers. Nine addition al machine guns were captured. “At Souchez, Angres and Roclin- court and also along the entire front from the Champagne to the Argonne attacks by the French were repulsed without a break. “In the region of Souain the enemy actually brought forward masaes of cavalry, showing a remarkable lack of appreciation of the situation. Naturally many of them were shot down snd the others forced to flee as quickly as possible. “During the repulse of these at tacks the Saxon reserve regiment snd the troops of the Frsnkfoir-dfc-the- Maln division especially distinguished themselves. “In the Argonne s small advance was made on our part to improve our position st La FI Us Morte. The move ment brought us the desired result, besides securing for us as prisoners four officers and two hundred and twenty men. “On the hill at Combres the enemy positions were blown up by extensive mine explosions.” I.»nd<>n ! r%. D official communica tion just made public dealing with the operations in France Tuesday, says that in the heavy fighting around Loos the British have taken exceptionally strong German lines of trenches and bombproof shelters sev eral hundred yards in extent. Having taken the German second line, the statement says, the British are now’ after the third line of trenches. In all more than three thousand prisoner# have been taken ami twenty-one guns and forty ma chine guns have been captured and others destroyed. In Champagne the French are at tacking the German second line of trenches and are making further pro gress but seemipgly the Allies’ offen sive movement is not being carried on with the same Impetuosity which characterized the first two days’ op erations. The successes won are rec ognized as important but the main object—to break through the German linen—has not been accomplished. Both the British and French have greatly improved their positions, and, by gaining the hills and crests from - which they can dominate the Ger man lines of communication, their next attempt to secure a decisive vic tory should be easier to carry out, in view of experts here. While in Champagne and Artois the French and British infantry, fol lowing up the brilliant successes of their great simultaneous onslaught of Saturday and Sunday, already are hurling themselves at some points agkinst the second German line of defense, up to which the first rush carried them, at other points they are being called upon to face desperate German counter attacks, bent on wip ing out the successes already won. So far, Judging from the official reports, these counter attacks have proven unsuccessful, the Allies hold ing grimly to the hastily intrenched positions taken before the German second Hne, In the face of every gnu the Germans can bring to bear upon themv At the same time a German counter offensive-in the Argonne, a few miles east of the scene of the great French victory, has been stop ped short, the French official state ment says. Meanwhile fuller and more accur ate details of the results ol the first two terrible days of the attack which broke through the German fortified Unee are given in the official state- men ta. They alter the poaltlon of the lines gained in one or two minor par- ticulara and add to the number of AUSTRIA’ INQIENT CRNSBERER QM® Ambassador Has called by HI# Leaves on October 5. Dr. Constantin T. Dumba, Austrian ambassador to the United States, has been formally recalled by his govern ment and the state department is ar ranging with the British and French ambassiesifor his safe conduct on the steamer Nieuw Amsterdam, sailing October 5. This announcement was made Tuesday, by Acting Secretary Polk, after receipt of a cablegram from Ambassador Penfield at Vienna, tell ing of his conversation with Austrian officials and a message from Dr. Dumba himself asking /safe conduct in accordance wjth instructions from his government. The incident now ia considered closed. State department officials explain ed that when the original note asking for recall was presented by Ambassa dor Penfield, the Austrian foreign of fice contemplated recalling Dr. Dum ba “on leave of absence.” Dr. Dum ba himself received word to that ef fect and asked for safe conduct. Am bassador Penfield, however, was in structed to make clear to the Aus trian foreign office that Dr. Dumba’a official relation with this government must be severed and “leave of ab sence” would not be satisfactory. ’ The Austrian foreign office then instructed Ambassador Dumba to re turn to Vienna and at the same time told iMr. Penfield that the recall is as a matter of course final. -—. It has been thought that a formal answer to the note asking for the re call of Dr. Dumba might be awaited before safe conduct was obtained, but the informal assurance of the Aus trian foreign office was regarded as sufficient. BORDER SITUATION SERIOUS; ARTILLERY PUT ON BORDER Colonel Telegraph* That it May be Necessary to Follow ladepend- eat Gang* Into Mexico. Conditions along the Mexican bor der again have become acute, Maj. Gen. Funston reported Tuesday, and a battery of mountain artillery have been dispatched to Progresso, Texas, to prevent a raid by five hundred bandits who threatsn to cross Into American territory. Col. Blockeom reported through Gen. Funeton that the bandits seem ed to constitute an independent bead. “If Carranza does not atop these ban dits,’’ he telegraphed, “1 believe we soon shall be compelled to follow them acroee.” Secret try Garrison said he inter preted the telegram to mean that If conditions did not improve Col. Blockeom would find It necessary to recommend that American troops be permitted to pursue attacking forcea across the line. Information placed in the hands of the department of Justice by T. B. Beltran. Carranza consul at San An tonio, bears out to an eztent Col.’ Blockeom e report that the bandita seem Independent of Carranza con trol. Beltran contends that former followers of Jesus Florez Magon. leader of Socialist movements in Lower California, have organized to foment trouble between the United States and Mexico. There ere Intimations that outside Influences are supplying fund# for the alleged plot and department of justice officials hare started an In vestigation. Officials hope relief for the situation will come through vig orous measures by Carranza com manders. EXPECT BILQARS TO WAR ON SER0IA IN A FORTNIGHT German Officers Assist Rulgariai General KUff in Drawing Up Its Plan of Attack. The Athens correspondent of thi Havas News Agency In a dispatch t< Paris Wednesday says it is now ex pected that Bulgaria will begin an at tack on Serbia within fifteen days. Plans for the campaign are now be ing drawn up by the Bulgarian gen eral staff,’ the correspondent says with the assistance of numerous Ger man officers who have arrived ii Sofia. Bulgarian officers say no at tack will be made on Greece. prisoners and booty taken. Seventy cannon of all calibre vast number of machine guns serenades, trench howitzers and o war material not yet counted fell the hands of the Allies, accordin the French statement from Pi This is the number actually kn to have been taken, and the total exceed this. Paris: “Our troops Tuesday tinued to gain ground foot lyy foe the direction of the ridges to east of Souchez. We took about hundred prisoners, among w were men of the guard corps broi back a few days ago from the 1 sian front. — —• “In Champagne, likewise, progress has been realized, part larly to the-aorth of Massiges. wl we have tsdten an additional e hundred prisoners. “The enemy has directed aga our trenches in the Argonne a vio bombardment, to which we have caciously replied, but he has attei ed no infantry action. “Engagements with grenades 1 enabled us to regain some part our first line where the enemy maintained himself since Monday “There has been intermittent nonading in the forest of Le Pr and the region of Baa de Sapt.”