Evening star., 1914-11-20

men have at least the consolation OF
knowing that the enemy were in q
worse plight, for the wind blew stead
lily in their faces.
:, "On our left, the morning passed in
I desultory shelling, which gradually
swelled in the afternoon into a fierce
bonn bardment of the section of our line
i, running south to the inYpres road
E This was the prelude to an attack
: along the whole line. Around Ypres the
enemy rushed our trenches at one
point. but they were driven out again
and the assault was repulsed. Here
again our losses, though heavy, were
much less than those of the Germans.
Town Under Furious Bombardment.
"As each successive attempt to take
Ypres by assault fails, the lombard
ment of the unhappy town is renewed
with ever increasing fury.
Further to the south, on our left
center, the situation remained practi-
cally unchanged. a little ground being
lost here and there and then regained.
On our center and right, and. indeed,
along the whole of our line. the hostile
artillery appears to have received
orders on this day to search the area
| in the rear of our trenches. This, no
doubt, is part of the policy of wearing
down.
"On the right, on the night Of the
| 13th-14th, a German trench was taken
| by A portion of our battalions, the oc-
cupants being bayonetted or taken
prisoners. Part Of another battalion.
! which also advanced during the night,
encountered some of the enemy VINO
| were attempting similar operation
A handto-hand fight ensued. IN Wnich
| we came off the victors; we killed
| twenty-five Germans and lost only two
men ourselves.
Saturday was very cold and there
l also was some rain. On our left, pro-
! $nr ta1 Hr-{f
heavy shelling and the Germans again
| resumed the offensive in the afternoon
south of the Menin- n-Ypres road, with
similar result to that obtained on the
! previous day. They penetrated our line
at one or two points. but were soon
driven out and the line was almost
completely restored.
French Gain Some Ground.
FARTHER to the south the French
made an attack near Wytschaete and
| gained some ground under cover of a
very heavy fire from their guns. In
the afternoon our left center was sub
| jected to shelling alone and in oui
| center Armentieres was subjected to
! similar treatment. The town is now
practically deserted by it's inha bitants
During the day Bethune was bonn
barded by the enemy, who continued to
devote his attention to the towns, viii
lagos and roads in the rear of our
line. rather than to the trenches them
selves.
Sunday, the 18th, on our left, east
of Ypres, a we'll conducted counter-at-
tack was carried out against that por-
tion of the line occupied by the enemy
on the previous day. where he had es-
tablished himself in some stables and
trenches. Two attempts already had
failed when. at $50 am. gun was
brought up to within 800 yards range
After four rounds had been fired. a
party succeeded in carrying the posi-
ton. the subaltern in command being
killed.
The attack was led by the company
sergeant major. This non-commissionet
officer was awarded the distinguished
conduct medal, but has since died o,
his wounds.
Cannon Fire Slackens.
"The bombardment slackened consid
: erably in this quarter during the day
On the southeast of Ypres, between
Hollebeke and Wytschaete, there wa
some hard fighting. in which the Frenc
held their ground. On our left cente
! nothing occurred beyond the uSua
Smelling. In the center we scored 10
cal success. Some of the trenches an
houses lately captured by the German
were heavily bombarded by our howitz
ers, with the result that the defender
bolted from the position and wer
caught by the fire Of our machine gun
as they retired, losing about half o
their number.
"On our right all was quiet. TIL
weather on this day was about tn
worst we have yet experienced. It wa
bitterly cold and rain fell in torrents
Nevertheless, in spite of all difficulties
our aviators carried out a successful
Reconnaissance. For some time the,
lowered over the German lines. observ
ing the emplacements of the batterie
and searching the roads for hostile col
umns, in the midst of storm of driv
ing snow and sleet which was enceun
tered at high attitudes.
Further information has recent.
come to hand regarding the enemy
method of sniping and spying. Non
commissioned officers are offered irol
crosses if they will penetrate our line
at night. Those who attempt this work
having discarded boots. helmets an
! other impedimenta. crawl as close a
! possible to our defenses and try to at
tract the attention of one of our sen
tries by throwing stone in a direc
tion contrary to that In which the,
are crawling. This generally cause
neighboring sentries to fire, thus be
traying their positions and that of ou
line Of trenches.
Shippers in Disguise.
These spies or snipers often wea
khaki uniforms and woolen caps simi
lar to those worn by our men, and, thu
disguised. sometimes succeed in get
ting right behind our lines to favora
BILE spots, from which they shoot me-
passing to and fro. Many Of ther
speak English well and display gTea
ingenuity and effrontery in getting ou
of tight corners.
Another reason for penetrating gu
mes is the cutting of telephone wires
md behind one section of our from
heaks have of late been very frequent
THAT the damage has not been entirel
xi,,er oh
lproved by the capture of one of tn
n nemy's secret agents carrying wir
utters and a rifle. The man was know
o have been on intimate terms wit
n he Germans before they retired fror
u he area now occupied by u.s."
II The eyewitness" closes with a eulog
u of a French doctor who. with severa
nuns, remained in Ypres during tn
bombardment nursing fifty-two Ger
man wounded, and was finally kille
Inv a she'll The day after his death tn