Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-11-06
Allies Open SIuiees Along the
User Canal
TEUTONS LOSE HEAVILY
Artillery Fire Completes Havoc In
Retreat of the kaiser's Forces wear
Dixmunde.

allied armies at Flanders to rout Tue
German forces that had crossed the
| river User within the uast week anu
refused to be dislodged in spite OIL a
most terrific cannonade from the lanu
and sea batteries.
Without a sign of warning the In
yaders found themselves suddenly ID
front of madly rushing walls OF wa
ter, the work of the Belg1ans, VINO
had opened the sluices of the User
canal.
Themselves forwarned by their
commanders, the allied forces haa
Withdrawn slowly as the time for In.
undating the territory occupied Dy
the Germans arrived. The latter, how
ever, were caught in the surglng TIDE
as it rolled over the battlefield and
sngulfed them.
Thousands are believed to have
drowned before the signal was sound
ed for a general retreat across the
river. Many more were washed 70
their death when the German forces
had already begun to fall back, while
hundreds of others were torn TO
pieces by shells from the heavy Bel
gian, French and British artillery
which had been mounted In positions
that commanded the retreat across
the river. The onrushing waters made
a reply to the cannonade from the
German batteries impossible.
On the line between DiXmunde and
Nieuport, in Belgium, the German at
tacks delivered by other units than
those who Jared so poorly on the
User, were repulsed, according to the
official French statement issued in
Paris, with heavy losses. At La Bassee
the British troops found themselves
under the heavy onslaughts of the in
vaders' artillery and infantry, but al
no point were they compelled to fall
back.
Further south there have been few
important actions along the great bat
tie front, although the French claim
to have occupied a number of villages
after engagements around Albert and
Arras. Progress is also claimed by
the French upon the heights of the
right bank of the Aisne, down stream
from Soissons and in several sections
along the Meuse to the south Of Yer
dun.
The Amsterdam Telegraf states
that fierce fighting between the Ger
mans and the allies was restarted in
Flanders. Heavy firing was heard and
German troops continually were NOV
ing to Zeebrugge, where the garrison
had been reinforced by 1000 ma
rines stationed near Heyst.
A dispatch from the correspondent
of Reuters Telegram company at
Paris says:
"The news is excellent. I am able
to state on the best authority that
the efforts of the allies are being
crowned with success.
"In consequence of the opening oil
the sluices of the User canal thou
sands of Germans were caught. Those
who escaped drowning were harrassed
by the artillery.
"Some points of extra strategic i'm
portance have been occupied by the
left wing of the allies, while along
practically the whole rest of the front
as far as the French eastern frontier
the allies progress continues.
"The German losses are terrific"
In a dispatch from Amsterdam a
correspondent of the Central News
quotes the representative at Ostenl
of the newspaper Tyd to the effect
that thousands of wounded Germans
are returning from the battlefe.ds in
Flanders. Loaded into all kinds Of We
hicles, the sad procession of wound
ed men is moving northward; those
not too seriously wounded are travel
ing Oh foot.
Thousands of unburied bodies GOV
er the battlefield, the sponaenl
continues, and no one can form all
adequate idea of the awful number oil
victims falling every moment in this
mad fight.
Between Leps and Middiekerke the
Germans have ceased firing because
their shells would kill German troop:
as well as the soldiers of the allies
Consequently only hand to hand fight
ing is taking place.
A Daily Telegraph correspondent
sends a dispatch from the Belgian
frontier that the Germans are makins
preparations to retreat from thei
present positions in Belgium. TheI
are removing their wounded froli
Bruges to Brussels and are throwing
up entertainments all the way alonI
the proposed line of retreat from Os
tend.
"All that has been said regarding
the severity of the fighting around
Dixmunde," continues the dispatch
"has been too mild. DiXmunde itsel
is in ruins and not single house IL
standing in the adjacent villages oil
Beerst, Keyem, Essen and Vladsloo
All five places are practically a sham
bles, the streets heaped with German
dead left behind in the retreat force
by the allies artillery.
MANY German stragglers IL =.