The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-23
GIVES DESCRIPTIVE STORY
 OF WAR ACTIVITIES
Quiet Due to Wintry Wealth CT Marks War Zone and Situation Is Little
 Changed

l 1CAAoOiAs %NOf CiipCi NS.--tO.lO F. It.J-(Otc
 F. D. swinton. British official eyewitness
 with the expeditionary forces on the con tinent, writes under date of November 20: 1 There is no change to record in the sit
 uation, with the exception of an attack
 in force upon our left on November r.. The four days from the 18th to the 18th have been unusually uneventful. l, The great change that has occurred
 has been. in the weather. Winter has now set in in earnest
 Regarding the exact situation at Ypres since certain misstatements have been circulated, it is well to state that Yprez | is in the hands of the allies, and save for prisoners of war or possible spies, no Germans have succeeded in entering the town or even getting near it. The allied position there is stronger than it ever has been.
 Pass Peaceful Day Monday, November Is, our troops on the left passed the most peaceful day during the last month. There was little smelling and no infantry attacks There is no doubt that on the 18th. in masing preparatory to attack, the Ger mans committed certain faults, and our guns and maxims were given a good op- portunity which they at once seized with devastating results.
 "The fighting to the south of Ypres con- | tinued without marked advantage to either side, but the French everywhere held their ground. On the center all was quiet On our right the enemy continued to show some activity, pushing forward the saps and throwing bombs from their trenches and mortars
 "On Tuesday, on our left. the Germans | made another effort in the direction of Ypres. but our infantry made a brilliant counter attack with bayonets and drove them out. A second attempt farther to | the southwest was pressed within five yards of our line before it was broken I by our rife fire. On this occasion the Ger mans advanced obliquely across our front and suffered very severely
 The number of killed left on a front of some 300 yards is estimated at about l 1200.
 Third Massed Assault About p. m. they massed for the third assault, but being subjected to a hot shell | fire, gave up the attempt. On the whole 1t was most successful day for our arms | "Wednesday, November IS, was another i quiet day. Nothing occurred except the shelling of our right.
 Thursday, November 19, also was un-
 eventful. Our trench mortars were used for the first time with good results. l Around Yprez we continually are find- ing fresh evidence of the slaughter in- flicted on the enemy. On November 15 one of our battalions discovered a Ger | man trench, manned by r corpses Forty nine more were in house close by The next day patrol discovered 60 dead in front of one trench and 50 opposite an- other. All the farms and cottages to our l front are charnel houses.
 One German prisoner said there were only 15 survivors, out of his platoon which went into action 50 strong Another re- ported that of 250 men who advanced with him only 19 returned. It is believed one Bavarian regiment, 5000 strong which left Bavaria for the front October 1g, had | only 1200 men left when an attack was made along the Menin- Ypres road on November IA
 Plight Even Worse "The plight of some units of new | formations Is even worse, one regiment | of the third reserve corps having 500 men out of 5000.
 l If the period since the beginning of the war is considered the numbers are ! even greater. For instance, Of the fif- teenth corps. one regiment lost 60 off, cers and 2560 men, Another lost 5000 men, | These figures include casualties of every i kind-killed, wounded and missing. On all four days the sweather has | been bad. Generally fine and frosty in the early morning 1t turned to heavy rain as the day wore on. Thursday snow fell in large soft flakes which covered the ground for two inches and melted under foot l The state of the roads, already bad | was rendered worse and the condition ] of the trenches became wretched be- yond description. From having to sit | or stand in mixture of straw and <; liquid mud the men had to be content , with half frozen slush. It's an i'll wind,
 however, and one good point is that l the ground now is so soft that the | enemy's howitzer shells sink some cepth before they detonate.
 "The problem how to enable the
 soldiers to keep their feet reasonably
 
 tention. At one place certain works | were placed at our disposal as whole
 sale bathhouse and repair shop. In the works are number of vats. large enough to contain several men at one time. They serve most exce1lently for
 the provision of hot baths.
 While the men are enjoying their
 bath their underclothing Is washed or
 burned and replaced by new set
 Their uniforms are fumigated, cleaned
 and repaired by women employed for
 the purpose. At this establish ment
 some 1500 men are catered to.
 What this rehabilitation really means
 to the soldiers can be appreciated from : res lization of their previous state
 They not only had net bathed for
 weeks but they had not been able to take off their clothes. As they troop up to the baths they are unshorn and hasgard and coated with mud. Some are splssh With blood. They come out clean refreshed and reclothed--almos, different beings"
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