Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1914 — GERMANS WIN GREAT BATTLE WITH ALLIES [ARTICLE]

GERMANS WIN GREAT BATTLE WITH ALLIES

Namur, Nancy and Other Cities Are Taken by Teutons. 816 LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES Killed and Wounded In Stupendous Three Day Clash at Charleroi Outnumber Casualties of Any Modern Battle. London, Aug 25. —Namur has fallen. The fortress upon which the allies placed their main dependence to hold in check the advancing hordes of the German main strength after they had swept past Liege has given away before the advance of the enemy. The news came as a surprise, but was officially confirmed. The war office In giving out the tidings added this significant note: “This necessitates the withdrawal of a portion of the allied troops from the line of the Sambre to their original defensive position on the French frontier.” Namur is at the junction of the Meuse and Sninbro rivers. Its fall without a word of warning of any such prolonged slego of guns as was deemed necessary to reduce It to submission before the German advance Indicates that the uttack must have been sudden, sharp and terrific, and that the main strength of the German field forces must have been centered for the time being on this one objective.

London, Aug. 25 - The allied armies along the lino from Mona to the Moselle have suffered a severe reverse, according to an official statement from Paris. This statement says the English and French, after lighting both east and west of the river Meuse in ltelgtum, fell hack to the “covering positions.” The location of the new position of the allies is not specifically mentioned. It is thought, however, that they have taken their stand on the first line of fortress defenses across the border in France. Tho statement admits that the theater of action for the next few <lay& will he in French territory. Allies Loss Is Great. The statement adds that the casual’ ties suffered by the allies was great. It giv<s no figures, but asserts that the German losses were even greater than the combined French and English, ‘ The officials declare that the assumption of the defensive is temporary It is claimed that “at the right moment, to be decided upon by the commander in-chief, the French army v.lll resume a vigorous offensive.” Heroic work by the French is told. It says one brigade in the front line, carried away by their eagerness, were received by a murderous fire They 6id not give an inch, but, counter attacked by the Prussian guard, they were obliged to retire, only after inflicting enormous losses. Other French Reverses. Other reverses to the French army were described in inessa.ges. A dispatch from Paris said it was officially announced that Lunevllle, A mance and Dienloard, in the department of Meurthe-et Moßelle. had been occupied by the Germans. Germany Wins Three Days’ Fight. Londoiq Aug. 25.—Germany has won her great three days’ battle at Charleroi, Belgium, against the and English army. The press bureau of the war office announces that the Germans have taken the first line and that the French and English have been forced to fall back inside the French frontier. The battle has been by far the bloodiest the modern world has ever known. No one will undertake to estimate the losses. The war office merely says: ‘‘The killed and wounded already outnumber th ( ose of any battle of modern times. The figures are so stupendous as to mean very little.” Pressing steadily after the retreating allies, the gigantic invading force of the kaiser, estimated at 2.000J000 men, now has a firm footing on French soil. Three Other German Victories. At the moment of this victory on the Sambre comes the claim from Berlin —which is not contradicted —that three other great victories have crowned the German arms. The German army tinder Grand Duke Albrecht of Wurtemberg overwhelmingly defeated the French forces

at Nefchateau, Heigian LalxemDourg, ■with the . capture of seven French generals and many men and guns. This Is asserted In an official dispatch sent out fcy wireless from N*auen, Germany. 1 ' Simultaneously comes the wlreleM 1 announcement, also official, that Crown 1 Prince Frederick Wilhelm's army northwest of Dledenhofen (thlonvllle) has Completely routed the French anfi/ hi five corps, driving them Across the Meuse river and chasing thsifl peyond Longwy. Advancing toward Maubeuge, the Germans met and defeated a brigade of British cavalry, The French, the report says, no longer dare iface the terrible German infantry. French Will Abandon Alsace. Farther south, In the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, a German army under Rupprecht captured Lunevllle, Blamont and Clrey, taking 130 guns. It Is admitted at Paris that Lunevllle has fallen. The German official dispatch says: J “The retreat of the southern French wing on Verdun has been cut off.” The French war office makes this announcement; “The general situation has determined us to bring back our troops.” This means the abandonment of Al-sace-Lorraine and the concentration of the P rench armies—if their retreat be not in fact, cut off—on the fortifications Inside the frontier. All along the Vosges mountains, a fierce battle is now raging and the Germans are evidently bent on driving the French out of the department, at once, though Paris dispatches declare the French arp acting on the offensive. Muelhausen and Nancy Taken. One dispatch from Paris declares that the battle in the Vosges is a terrific affair and may last for days. "It will be impossible to follow the movements of each of our armies,” savs the renort. "The campaign is .be-

ing carried out methodically and, with the co-operation of the English and Belgian troops. In several places the French have fallen back, but that was because the positions they held were no longer of strategic Importance.” A dispatch from Basel, Switzerland, says that the Germans have again taken Muelhausen, and there is an unconfirmed rumor in Paris that Nancy has fallen. But the point of breathless interest to all is In southern Belgium, whffre the British and French have for three days been in a terrible struggle to stem the tide of the German advance. There is being fougnt the really decisive action of the campaign. As the details of the early fighting begin to filter through it appears that only on Monday did the allies begin to lose ground. The first day's fighting—Saturday—was apparently a draw. On Sunday the allies assumed the offensive and at one point drove tlie Germans back westward as far as Hal, to tire south of Brussels.

But the terrible German machine, with 800,000 men in its first line, and perhaps 1,000,000 at their backs readv to fill up the gaps left by killed aha Wounded, pressed on with relentless force. Tho German host marched to the south in three columns —one by way of Ninovo and Grlmmont toward Valenciennes, one by way of Lessines and the third toward Hal, Braine-le-Compte and Mona. The lino of battle extends In the rough form of a letter “Z” for perhaps one hundred miles. The upper part of the ILne runs from Audenarde to a point south of Brussels. Thence the direction Is southwesterly to Mons, and from Mons in a general easterly direction by way of Charleroi, Lhttre and down tlie Sambre river toward Namur. 1 he Immense line extends through fields and meadows, over rough hills and through thick woods where artillery is almost useless. Such a formation gives opportunity for the exercise of military genius In seizing positions of advantage and maneuvering the troops which can best be used on any particular part of the field. I he French-English line was ostensibly meant merely to halt the German advance, but dispatches indicate that the allies did more than this—that they actually flung their weight against that ponderous, deadly German war machine and tried to break through its lines. Infantry Loses Positions. This accounts for the ferocity of tho struggle about Charleroi, where ;t/ter artillery fighting for hours, infantry charges were resorted to and positions taken at tile point of the bayonet, only to be lost again when the enemy’s shells tilled the spot with clamor and

aeatn, ana under cover or the artillery Are the enemy’s column came on In an Infantry charge that would not be denied In places along that 100-mile front the Germans broke through the line of the allies, at fearful cost of life, and were hurled back as the French artillery rushed to the rescue from some reserve spot and poured a hail of shrapnel on the Invaders. At other points the Germans, shelling the allies' position steadily for hours, would make a magnificent Infantry charge, facing first artillery fire, then the machine guns, and lastly the French and English riflemen, with splendid gallantry, and finally were forced back —sometimes repulsed from some especial point, but never beaten—never really defeated. Three days of this, with the dead lying In windrows over hill and valley and plain, and the unceasing moan of wounded rising like a dirge from that hundred miles of battle front. Three days of charge and counter-charge, with the heroic defense of the allies equaled only by the magnificent courage of the Invaders, until finally, by sheer force of strength and persistence, which crowded two men forward wherever one fell, the Germans broke the line. And this battle was decided. London Is gloomy. Though the war office had already discounted the defeat and warned the people to be ready to bear temporary reverses with fortitude, a victory had been expected Now there Is a renewal of the fear of raids by Zeppelin craft with bombs