The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-10-28

BODIES OF 2, 500 GERMANS FOUND
THERE sAFTER. NIGHT OF
e FIGHTING.
SAYS NIGHT,
WAS HE'LL FROM DARK III
TIL DAWN. IA
81 AssOf!TATr.D I tsKL;sSi,

4
3Y Associated 't'KEsstl
Y Z. LONDON, Oct. 27.;TT-A correspond
ent In Northern Erhnce, telegraph
ing under date OF Sunday regarding
the lighting on theriver User, says:
{ "There were $500 German bodies
In the User canal this morning after
the lighting in the night. l. Many OF
the dead were drowned and others
were bayoneted. The very waite"
itself was bloody, while in DiXmude
streets were sstrawn, thick with the
dead These ghoulish facts alone
give some idea of tho, sayagenessa OF
lie fighting; and the desperation, Of
he German attack and the Stubborn
ness Of the Allies resistance.
..The night was a hell from dark
10 dawn. At almost every part OF
The line men were opposed By men
sometimes at u few hundred yards
distance. hut oftener in close grip
ace TO face. men even wrestled and
lied by drowning each other in the
canal waters.
The Germans had had orders to
ret through that night. cost what 1t
night. An officer OF theirs who was
captured sntd the delay OF more than
n week in crossing this waterway
had inccuscd the military minds IN
Germany. 1t must be crossed tonight
If it costs thousands Of men. THAT
IN effect was the order given, and
the Germans, all credit to them. did
tI,ofr hest. Probably 5 900 of them
gave their lives last night. ;They
could not gfver moresRIrhey failed
but not becanseflie Gsfpnans did moi
literally obey EoTders.SIis ,t,,
"rhcy crossed: ufeFi&aterway all
right, as they We're bid. but' once
through they could not make good
They were moved down with rife
shot turned into fragments by shells
md bnynot driven back yard by YARD
1ycr their own dead intothe waters
If the canal. Into the very gray OF
lie morning this bloody work went
If so licrcely that there was hardly
i, trench or bridge guard in the whole
line that did not believe that he
had been singled out for special at
tack. ...
1T is believed that some 5000
Germans crossed River User, but
hardly; one of them got back. Those
% north and northeast Of Dixmude,
probably 1000, were met by fine
ally Of the'nelgian infantry and of
thG cavalry, WHO lad tethered the
horses outside were driven by main
force at bayoncts' point to User ca
nal and into it.
There must have been FRANTIC
scenes, and the bodies seen n the
water on the next day gave grim tes-
ttmony OF this. About 5000 German
infantrymcn got into DiXmudc. They
held it for u time. but with shell ana
rifle fire the place was rtddlcd
through and through. The Germans
dashed out OF the crumbIing houses
only to be wiped out by sirroco Of
shrapncI and shot in the streets.
"When Sunday morning broke tn"
dead aud wounded were everywh ere.
Dixmude was II cemetery, but in the
wood mt far away the Germans still
fingered. They held the position I'M
der desperate fire, and eventually
we're reinforced. The Allies could
not Gust them and the Germans are
still across the User. Their presence
may not be permanent, and they may
suffer the same fate as has overcome
hundreds of their fellows during the
week. who got over only to meet
their death, but the Belgian and
French lines for the time being. at
least. have been drawn back about
this point" frass,