The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-17
GERMAN ATTEMPT
 ID TURN FLANK OF
 ALLIES HAS FAILED
Kaiser's Troops Forced to Fall Back After Severe Fighting-French and
 English Confident

From the Battle Front, October 16.--
 (Via Paris, 11:45 D. m.)-The attempt by
 the Germans to turn the flank of the
 allies and obtain possession of the ports of ostend. Dunkirk and Calais has been unsuccessful, for the Germans came face
 to face with a strong opposing allied
 army. which compelled them to fall back
 after severe fighting
 What is known as ''the marching wing" of the allies Is continually in contact with the German troops and completely covers the approach to the coast towns l When they fought a pitched battle west of Lille, the Germans were forced to make a marked retirement from Laventie in the direction of Lille, their occupation of which last Tuesday by 5000 men ap- bearing destined to be of short dura- ton.
 | The line, of the battle of the north ex- tends over the most historic ground in Flanders, where, on the field of the cloth of gold" Francis I and Henry VIII had their celebrated meeting in 1920. Ow- 1 ing to the sinuous character of the line
 of battle. the total length of it, from the coast Of Belgium to the Swiss bor- der, now reaches nearly 360 miles
 Believe in Success
 | Belief in their final success appears to l have taken a firm hold on the allies. All the men display confidence in their com-
 manders, who are doing everything pos l sible to spare their troops. The allied
 soldiers are fighting with vigor. They
 often perform marches which seem be- yond human power. This Is made evil dent often when small attachments are acting apart from the main bodies. | French dragons recently were intrusted with the task of covering the passage
 of river by artillery. They met body | of German Hussars in a clash. Both 1 sides charged simultaneously and the melee lasted 10 minutes, during which l the men slashed and pierced each other l with swords and lances, while the offi- l cers' revolvers cracked. Finally the Illus
 sars broke ranks and galloped off, leav- 1 ing many of their men on the field. The | dragoons also suffered severely but at-
 tained their object-that of securing | safe passage for their comrades. | French officers in the immediate vi- | cinity of the firing line recently were | amazed to see two motor cars containing l seven children, all under 10 years of age, | and two grown persons enter the battle | l the cars in French were the words, lin l the service of the ambassador of the | United States" On being stopped it was | found that Eric Wood, one of the at- | ts.ches of the American embassy in Paris was in one of the cars, with MT. Cordy,
 a volunteer attache of the embassy. | Accompanying them were the children | of Count Teadyski, a distinguished Hun l garian nobleman now i'll in Paris. The | children had been rescued from chateau in north France, where they had been with servants since the outbreak of the I war, by an expedition sent out by Myroh T. Herrick, the American ambassador.
 Party Arrested
 During the trip out the party was ar rested several times. Their families ar rest occurred near Campiegne, a French territorial who stopped them, pointed out a village spire in the distance, saying
 Germans are bombarding." The party desired to turn back but the soldier in- formed them that they must go to the l village and see the colonel of that sec tion.
 When the party arrived the lombard ment was very heavy. Houses were being struck by Shrapnel and collapsing every minute. While their papers were being examined in front of the colonePs head quarters shell burst directly over head but as soon as the nUise subslded the colonel continued his conversation as
 though nothing had happened. The Amer jeans had difficulty in finding their way through Senls, Amiens and Boulogne.
 owing to the disappearance of signposts | and the refusal of the peasants to give | them any information. One place they | passed had been taken and retaken six times by the French and Germans and | consequently the inhabitants feared to 1 give them directions on the ground that
 they might be spies.
 l On the eastern section of the allies | line the fighting still continues severe. | The Germans today made a strong att l tack on Malancourt. northwest of Verdun, | which, however, was unsuccessful. The l French have even made some progress here and also in Alsace despite the Ger | man efforts to hold them or force them 1 back.
 | A large number of Paris firemen, l equipped with sort of oxygen helmet. have arrived in the region of Rove to bury the German dead on the battlefield, where they have been lying for three weeks The firemen brought large sup ply of disinfectants with them in order | to lessen the danger of contracting dis l ease in handling the bodies. On the bat tefield, it is said, they are between 400O and 5000 bodies.
 VyY nprs C