The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-12-14
Flood and Fire Have Stop
ped German Advance on
Calais This Way
BRITISH BAYONET
CHARGES TERRIBLE
Germans Unable to Stand Against
Fearful Rush--Als0 Proving Fine
Riflemen-Repulse Along Coast
Maddened the German Staff
BY c. r. BERTELLE

Paris, December 13.-(Special.) Flood
and fire-particulariy fiood--have once for
all barred to the Germans the road to
Calais by way of the sea-washed strip OF
Flanders bounded by Dixmude.
From Newport to Dixmude the User
and its small tributary the Mperlee are.
n shimmering Icy lake ON which innum-
cradle corpses float, many already in an
advanced stage of decomposition, pointed
helmets, shell baskets and other grim
accoutrements of war.
AS long as the allies confined their de-
fensive measures to shot and shell and
bayonet, the Germans. frightful though
their losses were, poured an endless
stream of fresh troops into the fighting
line and came on. That they gained only
100 yards or so in a week did not in the
lease shake the iron determination of
Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who is in
Flanders, squirting on his army to fresh
sacrifices.
But when to fire the Belgians added icy
water to the depths of mans stature,
the Germans had to call their infantry
off and send them further south to as
sist in the attack on Ypres, where the
British forces are fighting as they have
never fought since the campaigns of the
Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of
Wellington in this same corner of the Eu-
ropean continent.
Bay0net Charges Terrible
A French staff officer who has just ar
rived here from Ypres tells me that the
British bayonet charges are terrifying to
behold. The French pride themselves on
the use of white arm" but with the pos
sible exception of the zouaves they are
children with 1t as compared to their al
lies, while the Germans are helpless. The
reason is that British troops are exhaus-
lively trained In the manipulation OF rifle
and bayonet. They thrust at the Germans
with a smooth, piston-like drive and
rhythm; they also cover ground at an
amazing speed and are in the German
trenches piling UP the dead before the
enemy fully realizes what has happened.
The English as a body are also proving
the finest riflemen on the battlefelds of
Europe, their wastage of ineffective cart
ridges being comparatively small. This
the French readily acknowledge, though
they are slow TO admit that any troops
are superior to theirs with the bayonet
Nothing but the splendid training. physi-
cal fitness and steady cheerfulness of the
British army corps could have enabled
them to achieve in the repulse of two
brigades of the Prussian guard at Ypres,
the finest feat of the war and to continue
for weeks to hold at a respectful distance
troops 10 times their number.
The resistance with which the Germans
are meeting all along this front-the rear
of which l have just traversed in an au-
tomobile-has maddened their general
staff according to prisoners stories. The
allies draw the same conclusion from the
enemys tactics. One of their divisions
posted in the small wood of Het Sas, be-
tween Bixschoote and Boesinghe, was an
initiated by an avalanche of French
shells.
In revenge the Germans bombarded the
villages of Noordschote and Reninght,
topping every house to the ground,
though the places were of no value to the
allies. who had no more than few dozen
troops quartered there.
Harmless Villages Shelled
On the coast, where the French have
been very slowly advancing. the Germans
suddenly shelled Ost-Dunkirk, a small
village between Newport and Coxyde,
killing a dozen inhabitants. The shells
were aimed well above the French lines,
and tons of lead were poured out for no
useful military purpose.
Not only are the Germans sacrificing
Wnole pr1gades IN the frontal attacks, but
they are frittering away battalion upon
battalion in eager, ill-umed advances, as
an incident related TO me by a wounded
French captain shows.
Northeast of Ypres the French quilted
one of their advanced trenches and sought
better cover 100 yards to the rear. What
the French commander expected immedi-
ately happened in the German lines A
battalion of experienced Bavarian soldiers
was prepared, and when it was dark was
ordered to occupy the empty trenches.
The Bavarians stealthily emerged from
cover, and crawling along the ground like
redskins were half way across when the
French poured whitening stream of lead
upon them They endeavored to retreat,
but We're fired on from their own lines,
and unable to seek safety in that direc-
tion they leaped up and dashed forward
in face of the French fire.
OF the 400, only 14o reached the aban-