Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-10-05
french DEFEAT
TOLD BY GERMANS
General Staff says Bavarians
Lost so Per Cent in the
Lorraine Campaign.

London. Oct. 5.-How the French
Z invasion Of Lorraine early in the war
was turned back by counter attach
of the Germans. eliminating IN tne
battle of Saarburg, is told in a letter
from Berlin by way of Copenhagen.
The letter contains the first detailed
report of the kind from the German
general staff and states that the Ger
man losses were heavy, in some cases
from 25 to so per cent. The report
says:
After the daring invasion of
French territory in which the first Ba-
varian army corps. unassisted, had
fought it's way beyond the line of Bia- :
mont-Badonvlller, the corps had TO
fall back behind the Saar river. the
leaders having planned to offer here
an energetic defense against the su-
perior French forces. The French
advance guards followed close upon
the heels of the corps, the mass of
the French army opening in their rear
Its great offensive movements into Lor-
raine. An August is the corps again
reached Saarburg, where it had been
detrained ten days earlier and reluct-
antly saw itself obliged to abandon
this town temporarily, since it's posi-
ton for the coming battle lay to the
north and east of the city.
ATt1lIery SCdtUnTS HOrSeHcu.
"On the morning of August 10 two
French cavalry divisions appeared be-
fore Saarburg. moving out in mass
formation without cover. A few shots
from our heavy artillery. which land
ed in the midst of their ranks, forced
them to scatter. The French infantry
that afternoon and during the night
pushed gradually on Saarburg and the
woods to the left filing up more and
more with hostile infantry. 1t later
developed that the entire eighth and
part Of the thirteenth army corps
were facing the first Bavarian corps
THE orders for the fret had been
that it was to defend decisively Its
Riedeng. In the night of August ~
came the joyfully received new order
for a general attack along the whole
front at II a. IN. next day.
'It was plain that this attack would
be difficult, for it required an advance
over open territory before the Ba-
varians' own positions. But the enemy
was massed and in attacking distance
Heavy BOmbardment Begins.
Beginning with the first gray light
of the morning, the artillery of both
heavily. The infantry. which
lay in trenches under the extremely
heavy fire Of the French artillery and
the infantry at the rear, which cover
ed itself successfully behind the natur-
al defense of the field, arranged its
formations for the coming attack and
awaited eagerly the hour of its begin
ming.
I'm the meantime the corps had
had prepared Its formation for the
attack without the enemy's becoming
aware of it.
1.-The heavy batteries Of field how
itzers remained in the rear The cav
airy was with the artillery. The bal
loon of the field airship department
had ascended near Kirchberk. To its
observation is to be credited, in great
part, the accurate craftsmanship of
the heavy artillery.
The attack began with great We
femence at the stroke of IL, with an
advance of the first line. The neigh
boring corps on the left, the Badense,
Joined in. The dust clouds thrown up
by the artillery proiectiles showed
how the enemy's lines were breaking
UP. The French artillery, which was
stationed north of Saarburg and in
the woods west of Saaraltdorf- Finstin-
gen, was completely surprised by the
attack.
Whole Companies Moved Down.
The German artillery, which had
cleared the way for the infantry at