Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 August 1914 — 2,000,000 TROOPS ENGAGED IN FIGHT; GERMANS LOSE [ARTICLE]

2,000,000 TROOPS ENGAGED IN FIGHT; GERMANS LOSE

Thousand Killed or Wounded in Belgium. 1.000 FRENCH ARE CAPTURED ') Belgians Disable Huge Seige Guns of Kaiser’s Forces Before Liege— Many Wounded in Battle at Muelhausen. London, Aug 14.—Reports of Ger* man successes were received here. The Rotterdam correspondent of the Daily News in a dispatch says that Hasselt, St. Trond, and Tongres, northwest of Liege have been occupied by German troops. These victories cannot be confirmed. This report followed a Brussels dispatch asserting the Germans had met a second defeat at Heerlen at the hands of the Belgians. in view of the fact that three neighboring cities to Heerlen have been taken, it may bo possible that the report of the Belgian success is an error.

Paris, Aug 14.—The French fimrign minister issued a statement todayaeylarlng that the French troops behind Mulhausen, Alsace, ’have not retired, but have victoriously resisted an entire German army corps. 1 here has been no important change in Lorraine,", he added, "and there is no truth in the report that the Sixteenth regiment of French Infantry was taken prisoner by the Germans at Briey, in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.” « Estimates place the German losses at from 8,000 to 10,000. At the end of his communication the French minister says, "France is gratified by the attitude of America,." London, Aug 14—Desperate lighting is reported at several points along the battle front of ISo miles, before which perhaps 2.000,000 men of the armies of Germany against France, Belgium and England are arrayed. Details are coming in of a terrible two days’ fight on the extreme right wing of the German army at Haelen, Belgium, where 17,000 men were engaged. The Germans were driven from the field on Wednesday and It Is reported more than 1,000 of their men

were knied or wounded. They returned to the attack yesterday and the Belgians, with re-enforcements, are fighting them. The artillery battle over the forts at Liege is still on and the Belgians report they have disabled all of the great forty-ton Krupp siege guns. The forts are holding out and fighting back, shot for. phot, .with the Germans.

There has been fighting, of which no details are given out, at Longwy, where the first German invaders burst through into France on the border of Luxembourg. A German report asserts that 1,000 French soldiers were taken prisoners. Germans Lose 10,000 at Muelhausen. The fighting about Muelhausen, in Alsace, has been especially severe, though the war offices refuse all details. From Switzerland comes the news that the vast number of wounded from the battlefields has filled every hospital, school, church and convent and that thousands of wounded have been taken away on trains and some into Switzerland to be cared for. The German loss is placed at 10,000. Another artillery battle has been going on for two days between the Belgians and Germans at Huy, about half way between Liege and Namur. The opposing forces have intrenched on opposite sides of the Meuse river and are shelling each other. The inhabitants have taken to caves. Belgians Driven From Headquarters. One significant admission by the French war office is that the Germans moved on Louvain, Belgium, and drove ~ the French and Belgian forces out. The war office asserts, however, that the allies returned and routed the Germans. Louvain is the Belgian army headquarters, where King Albert In person commands, and is only 15 miles from Brussels.

The first indication that the English have taken a hand in the fighting in Belgium came when a number of wounded soldiers arrived at Southampton. No mention of the home troops has been permitted to pass the censors since the first detachment of 22,000 was landed more than a week ago. The French war office announces that in the first battle on the Othain river, near Spincourt, 15 miles south of Longwy, the French were forced to retreat, but that later the French, with re-enforcements, made a counter attack and captured a German battery. The office also says that pine officers and 1,000 men of the Twenty-first German dragoons have been made prisoners. BY C. F. BERTELLI. Germans Beaten at Two Places. Paris, Aug. 14.- —The German army has been badly beaten at two vital points during the last two days. The advance guards of the right and left wings of the German army which are now massed between Liege and Thionville have suffered serious defeats atthe hands of the French and Belgian troops. While the Belgians inflicted great losses upon the enemy at Diest, northeast of Brussels and obliged the German cavalry to retire precipitously near St. Trond and Hasselt, the french forces, stationed around Ixlpgput a numerically superior German force to rout. German Dragoons Annihilated. , A brilliant military feat was accomplished by the French soldiers during the fighting when a French battery surprised the Twenty-first German dragoons which was serving infantry and annihilated them. Two battalions of French infantry which had been at tacked by a German force, much superior in numbers, took the offensive and by a very vigorous counter attack compelled the Germans to retreat. In the course of their flight the enemy lost numerous killed and wounded. During this engagement which lasted two days the French took as prisoners nine officers and 1,000 men. In addition a battery of artillery, three machine guns and several cases of ammunition fell into the hands, of the French.

Germans Forced to Retreat. As a direct result of this double victory the advance movement of the German forces has been repulsed and the enemy is in retreat, closely pressed by the French. The inferiority of the German artillery has already been conclusively proved. Their shells burst before they reach their mark and the heavy German artillery which on Wednesday bombarded Pont-a-Mousop with more than 100 projectiles, each weighing more than 100 kilograms and charged with an enormous quantity of dynamite, did such insignificant damage that there were only four killed and a dozen wounded amongst the French. French military experts are con vinced that this inferiority of artillery will be one of the principal factors in the eventual complete defeat of the German army. Belgians Chase Kaiser’s Air Scout. Brussels, Aug. ' 14,—An exciting aeroplane chase was' witnessed in the evening close to Namur. A German aeroplane which for three days had persistently reconnoitered the Belgian position vas observed hovering over an important fortified position on the banks of the Meuse. Two Belgian biplanes immediately gave chase and the enemy's aerial scout, finding itself pursued, turned and tied at full speed toward Huy and Liege. One of the Belgian machiens had risen high above the German air scout when darkness fell leaving the result of the chase, as far as could be seen, undecided. Stray bands of Uhlans are still being captured at various points east and south of Brussels.