Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-09-21
DIG, FIGHT, ADVANCE.
Correspondent at Front Describes
Battle Of British Soldiers.


Battle Of British Soldiers.
London, Sept. 21-Dramatic and
thrilling Is the description of the bat
tie in France that reached the Times
from a correspondent behind the Brit
ish lines" 1t Is dated Sept. 10.
This is battle to the last ounce of
strength, in which man and horse pour
out their whole lives in few frenzied
moments" the correspondent writes.
Day and night the combat has ragged
without intermission, ebbing and fiow-
ing like tine tide, seething like caui-
dron.
Into the hell strong men went. Oh!
1t was a brave sight to see them go,
gaily and light heartedly, to return
perhaps in a few hours broken for life
or, 1t may be. never to return at all,
for the loss was terrible.
Dig, Fight and Advance.
"The great battle draws to a close.
Exhaustion, rather than shot and shell.
has wrought a terrible peace along the
river banks-a peace which my experi-
ences Of the last few days lead me to
believe may be the herald of victory.
Il have seen our troops and the
French go into battle these last few
as conquerors. have seen them return
wounded from this valley of death with
the conquering spirit famed to fierce
fury.
Here is typical description from
the trenches:
1--WE are slowly beating them back.
We have to do 1t foot by foot, for they
have huge guns and their shell fire Is
L <or In De-
How. Well. we dig ourselves in-we
IBrtttah ladarhaHe learned that lesson
ana tneM we egU- on 1ienSIng nnda ssha-
ing until the moment comes when we
can make a small advance We crawl
up again and dig ourselves In, and so
on
At the end It comes, Of course. to
cold steel. We are all right there
Hardest Battle Of War.
Understand, this Is the hardest
fought encounter Of the war. It has
been frontal attack against power
full foe splendidly en.renched and
strongly situated. Only the better
fighter wins such a battle. To conquer
at Aisne is to prove oneself irresistible
The scene on the river at night was
magnificent and appalling beyond
words. The whole valley was swept
with blaze Of searchlights from dark
ness until dawn. Great beams moved
up and down, searching the skies and
trenches and revealing masked bat
teries on the heights and lark forms
lying along the ridges.
Here and there fash revealed the
bursting OF a shell or a wisp Of fire-a
volley from some concealed vantage
and over all rolled the parpetual thun-
der Of the guns-a fierce and thrilling
accompaniment.
"AAn !ncessant rain, too, flooded the
heroic engineers a veritable task of
Hercules.
German Guns in Quarry.
"The battle westward by the Forest
Of Aigle has been carried back from
the river bank ten kilometers (about
six miles). But at Scissors the enemy
still hold their grounds.
Here. in the stone quarries above
the town, they have massed power
full battery Of artillery OF such heavy
metal that our guns have not been
strong enough to cope with 1t.
For this reason. and this reason
alone. they have been able to with
stand our attacks. Happily, the French
have now brought up their heaviest
guns and arc about to open a fresh
bombardment. The one advantage the
enemy possessed he must presently
lose.
Victory is not yet, but we await the
morrow with great hope and conf
dence."