The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-25

Among the items of news are the following:
 Recently q pilot and observer of lhe royal flying corps were forced by hh accident to descend in the enemy's lines They escaped into thick under- growth. The enemy seized and smashed
 lhe machine but did not search for our ilen with much zeal. The men hid till
 dark and then found their way to the
 Aisne. across which they swan. reach ing camp is safety
 Numerous floating bridges have been thrown across the Aisne and some permanent bridges had been repaired under fire On the 20th Lieutenant
 'nams deieted) of the Third signal corps, royal engineers, was drowned While attempting to swim across the river with d cable.
 Espionage is still carried on by the enemy to considerable extent
 Isecently the suspicious of French troops were aroused when they came across farm from which the horses had Teen removed. They discovered a telephone connected by an under ground cable with the German lines. and the owner of the farm paid the penalty in the usual way in war for
 his trickery.
 After some cases of village fighting earlier in the war some of our officers
 reported that the Germans had at tempted to approach to close quarters
 by forcing prisoners to march in front of them. The Germans recently have repeated the same trick on a larger
 scale against the French as is shown by the copy of an order given below. It is therein referred to as a ruse but if that term can be accepted it is a dis tinctly illegal ruse.
 Prisoners in Front
 "'During a recent night attack Cthe order reads). the Germans drove a column of French prisoners in front of them. This action is to be brought to the notice of all our troops CD in
 order to put them on their guard against such a dastardly ruse. (2) in order that every soldier may know how the Germans treat their prisoners. Our troops must not forget that if they allow themselves to be taken prison 1 CTS. the Germans will not fail to ex- pose them to French bullets
 Further evidence has been collected l of the misuse of the white flag and other signs of surrender. During recent fighting some German ambulance wagons advanced to collect wounded. | An order to cease fire was given to
 our guns. German battery commanders took advantage of the Hull to climb up their observation ladders to locate
 our guns. which soon afterward came under a far more accurate fire than any to which they had been subjected up to that time
 "A British officer, captured by the | Germans who later escaped reports l that while a prisoner he saw men who lhad heen fighting subsequently, put on l Red Cross brassards.
 1 '"rhat irregular use of the protec- | ton afforded by the Geneva conven- ! tion is not uncommon is confirmed by | the fact that on one occasion men in the uniform of combatant units have
 been captured wearing a Red Cross brassard. The excuse given has been | that they had been detailed after the fight to look after the wounded. cav lalry officer reports that the driver of | a German motor car with a machine gun mounted on it wore a Red Cross. Full details of the actual damage ldone to the cathedral at Rheims doubt less will have been cabled home. SC 1 that no description of it is necessary The Germans bombarded the cathedral twice with their heavy artillery. One 1 reason it caught fire so quickly was | that On one side of it was some scaf- l fclding erected for restoration work straw also had been laid on the floor | for the, German wounded. It Is to the credit of the French that virtually all | tie German wounded were extricated from the burning building. There was
 no justification on military grounds | for this act of vandalism, which seems | to have been caused by eXasperation ] born of failure--a sign of impotence | rather than of strength. It Is note
 worthy that a well known hotel mol 1 far from the cathedral, which was kept | bv German was not touched"