Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-03
Poorer in Volume Control and
Direction, London Official
Bureau Claims.
LACK OF COHESION CITED
IN OFFENSIVE OF ENEMY
Inferior Leadership Held Due to
Great Losses Of Good In!
trenchments Held Proved.

LONDON, October 2-The official
press bureau issued last night a state
ment from the headquarters of the Brit
ish expeditionary forces under date OF
September %, concerning the move
ments of the British forces and the
French armies in immediate touch with
it. The statement follows:
The general situation as viewed on
the map remains practically the same
as that described in the last letter, and
the task of the army has not changed.
1t is to maintain itself until there Is
q general resumption of the offensive.
mo ground has been lost. Some has
been gained, and every counter-attack
has been repulsed-in certain instances
with very severe losses to the enemy.
Nevertheless the question OF posi-,
tion is only a part of the battle and
there has been considerable improve
nent in the situation in another I'M
portant respect. Recent offensive Ell
forts of the enemy have been made
without cohesion, his assaults being
delivered by comparatively small bod
les acting without cooperation Win
those on either side Some OF them. m
deed, evince clear signs OF INFERIOR
leadership, this bearing out stateme nts
made by prisoners as to great losses IN
oficers suffered by the enemy.
Enemy's Fire Deteriorates-
Further, the hostile artillery IRE
has decreased in volume and deterio-
rated both in control and direction.
The first probably is due to the trans
fer of metal to other quarters. but the
TWO latter facts may be the direct re-
suit of the activity of our air craft
and the Interference with the enemys
air reconnaissance and observation OF
his fire.
"The Germans recently have been re-
lying to some extent on observations from
captive balloons sent up at some dis
lance in the rear of their first line, which
method. whatever its cause. ID a poor
substitute for the direct overhead recon-
naissance fobtainable from aeroplanes-
-"As u consequence the damage being
lone to us is wholly disproportionate to
the amount of ammunition expended by
the enemy. For the last few days it
has amounted to pitting certain areas
with large craters and in rendering some
villages unhealthy. as the soldiers put it.
a concrete example of what was on one
occasion achieved against our infantry
trenches is given later.
''Of recent events an actual narrative
will be carried on from the 25th to the
18th. inclusive During the whole of this
period the weather has remained fine,
though it has not been. as bright as it
was. On Friday, the 25th, comparative
quiet reigned in our sphere of action.
German Aeroplane Captured.
THE only incident worthy of special
mention was the passage of German
aeroplane over the interior of our lines.
1t was flying high. but drew general
fusillade from below, with the result that
the pilot was killed outright and the OBJ
S1l TIL
ever, was able to continue the flight for
some miles, but wasi then compelled to
descend, his petrol tank having been
struck. He was captured by the French.
made against the greater part OF the
allies position and 1t was renewed
in the early morning of the 2sth. The
Germans were everywhere repulsed
our lines, where they were caught en-
maSse by our machine guns and howit-
GERS firing at different ranges, it Is es-
timated that they left 1000 killed or
THE mental attitude. of our troops
may be gagged from the fact that the
official report next morning from one
corps, of which one division had borne
She erunt of the fighting, ran thus Ia
eonieAny: The night was quiet except
LOT certain amount of Smelling both
IRON sn, tne enemy and ourselves
AT s,1o am. an attack was made on
our rignt AT am there was a gen.
eral attack on the right of the -th
Division, but no really heavy firing
further Intellectual efforts to drive us
back were made Saturday at am and
in the afternoon and the artillery con-
tinued all day.
Germans Made Good Target.
The Germans came on in r. forma-
tion. several lines shoulder to shoulder.
followed almost Immediately by a COL
umn in support. After a very few min
utes the men had closed up into a mob.
which afforded an excellent target for
our fire.
ION Sunday. the 21th. while the Ger
man heavy guns were in action their