Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-29
GERMAN SOLDIERS
FIRED ON COMRADES
IN NIGHT ASSAULTS
Infantry Made Fatal Mistake
During Advance, Says Re-
port From English Head
quarters at the Front.

LONDON. Sept. %.
The British Official Press Bureau has
| Issued description of the operations OF
the British force in France and the
french armies In immediate touch with
1t, communicated by an eyewitness at
the headquarters of Field Marshal Sir
John French. This account supplements
that Issued September "a 1t says:
september 25, 19li.-For four days
there has been comparative lull all
along our front This has been accom-
panied by spell of fine weather. though
the NIGHTS are now much colder One
cannot have everything, however, and
one evil result of the sunshine has been
the release of flies, which were torpid
during the wet days.
Advantage has been taken of the ar
rival of reinforcements to relieve by
fresh troops the men who have been in
the firing line for some time Several
units, therefore, have received their
baptism of fire during the week.
ATTACK IN DARK.
Since the last letter left general
headquarters. evidence has been re-
ceived which points to the fact thai
during counter attacks on the night -
Sunday, the 2Oth the German infantry
fired into each other as the result of an
attempt to carry out the dangerous ex-
pedient of a converging advance in the
dark
Opposite one portion of our position
a considerable massing of hostile forces
was observed before dark, and some hours
later a furious fusillade was heard in
front of our line, though no bullets came
over our trenches.
This narrative begins with September
81 and covers only two days. on Monday,
the 2lst, there was but little rain, and
the weather took a turn for the better
which has been maintained No OF
was practically confined to the artillery,
our guns at one point shelling and drv-
ing away the enemy, who were endeav-
oring to construct redoubt. The Ger
mans. for their part expended a large
number OF heavy shells in long range
bombardment of a village
FOUND TRENCHES DESERTED.
Recommending parties sent out during
the night OF the 21st-22d discovered some
deserted trenches, and in them, or near
them in the woods, over lo0 dead ond
wounded were picked up A number
of rifles, ammunition and equipment were
also found. There were other signs that
portions of the enemy's forces had with
drawn for some distance.
TUESDAY. the 22d was also fine. with
less wind and was one of the most un-
eventful days that has passed since we
reached the Aisne-uneventful, that is
for the British. There was less artillery
work on either side, the Germans never
theless giving another village n taste of
the Jack Johnsons
"The spot thus honored was not far
from the ridge where some of the most
severe close lighting in which we have
taken part has occurred. All over this
No Mans Land, between the lines. the
bodies Of German infantry are still living
in heaps, where they have fallen at diff
ferent times.
Events have moved so quickly during
the last two months that anything con-
nected with the mobilization of the
British eNpeditionary force is now an
cient history. Nevertheless. the follow
ing extract of a German order is evil
denCe of the mystifiCation of the enemy
and is a tribute 10 the value of secrecy
we'll and Loyalty maintained at the time
in England:
" Tenth Reserve Army Headquarters.
Mont st. Guibert, August %. 1914
" The French troops in front of the
Tenth army corps have retrcated south
across the Sambre. part of the Belgian
army has withdrawn to Antwerp. 1t is
reported that an English army has dis
embarked at Calais and Boulogne, en-
route for Brussels"