Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1914 — BRITISH FLEET SHELLS GERMAN ARMY ON SHORE [ARTICLE]

BRITISH FLEET SHELLS GERMAN ARMY ON SHORE

Belgians Reported to Have Repulsed Invaders Near Nieuport. OSTHHHEPfiRTEirREMfIt Allle» Advance at Arras and Roy* and Prevent Antwerp Force From Reaching Their Flank. Paris, Oct. 20.—British warships, cannonading the German land forces, who had opened a terrific bombardment of the allies’ entrenched position between Nieuport, on the Belgian North sea coast, and Dixmude, southward on the Ypres canal, repulsed the Invaders by their flanking and enfilading fire.

Thq Belgians, fighting on their own soil to regain their country, dashed forward and in desperate counter-at-tacks are said to have hurled the Germans back. This is the first time in the war in the North that naval vessels of any of the belligerents have effectively aided the land forces in the operations. Ships’ Identity Hidden Two Days. The firing from the guns of war vessels along the coast to the west of Ostend has been heard for two days, but until the official communique was issued from Bordeaux and transmitted for publication to General Gallleni in Paris the identity of the ships and the purpose of their bombardment of the coast remained hidden under the cloak of official military secrecy:

The German attack in this section of the allies' front in northern Belgium wsb directed In a frantic effort to break through alopg the coast and secure a foothold on the French coast line positions before the strength of the allies Bhould have become so great aB to bar their progress without resort to frontal attack, with its consequent Inevitable carnage. Belgians Halt German^ Attack. In their advance which started from the south of Ostend the Germans had singled out the position held by the Belgian forces as the weakest point in the line, because of the reported demoralization the Belgians had suffered in their successive defeats which ended in the fall of Antwerp. But King Albert’s troops had dug themselves in and were supported by their shattered but still effective artillery and rapid-flrers. They brought the Germans to a standstill in their initial assault, one of tremendous weight in numbers of solidly massed troops and heavy gun fire. In the evening, after several hours of furious fighting in which the Belgians maintained doggedly their positions, hurling the enemy back time after time with heavy losses in each repulse, there was heard the guns of the ships to seaward.

Wounded Sent to Rear. And the navy guns had the range, for the first shots were effective and demoralizing to the German attackers.

There was a perceptible cessation in the attack directed against the Belgians, and in the lull, which endured throughout the night, fully three 'railway wagons were loaded down with the German wounded, according to refugees who saw them passing to the rear the following morning.

The attack was renewed with lnereased fury in the morning and lasted all day, the Germans alternately directing their big gun fire against the Belgian positions and the ships at sea, the latter by indirect fire and without effect, so far'as has been reported. The fire from the navy guns became so severe and effective that the Germans started to withdraw. No sooner was this maneuver discovered by the Belgian corps commander than a charge was ordered, and the counter-attack soon tumedi the German retreat into a rout, with the assailants in full retreat.

While the Germans were trying to hammer their way through the Belgian line In the north, other corps of King Albert's army, assisted by the French and British troops, drove forward across the width of the battlefield, routed in their advance the German troops who had bivouacked for the night (evidently contemplating an attack themselves during the day) and swept the expansive field clean of the invaders, pushing them back with severe losses as far as their original position at Roulers. The official bulletin records still further gains for the allies in the region between Arras and Roye, where General von Kluck. re-enforced lav

fresh detachments’from Germany and the crack corps withdrawn from the armies of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and the center army, Is sflll battering persistently at the French and British line in the hope of cutting off the left flank of General d’Amade Germans Reach Dunkirk. London, Oct. 20. —A Marconi wireless dispatch from Berlin says: “The following official dispatch was issued; "’German forces have reached the neighborhood of Dunkirk. Heavy ngntmg la taking place at Dixmude and Roulers. The inhabitants of Dunkirk and Boulogne are in flight’“ Ostend Reported Retaken by Allies. London, Oct. 20.—The Morning Post published a report that Ostend has been recaptured by the allies. The news was received in London with great rejoicing, and while it has not been confirmed, great crowds have accepted it as true, and are parading the city, singing and cheering. Berlin. Oct. 20, via I xmdon.-—Ger-man army headquarters announced the war situation as follows: "The attacks of the enemy west and ,northwest of Lille have been repulsed by our troops with the infliction of severe losses. “In the Eastern arena of the war the situation remains unchanged.”