Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-08-31
CORRESPONDENTS STORY IS MOST
PESS|MIST|C FOR BRITISH HOPES
GERMANS ADVANCING STEADILY
Declares kasers Troops Gain necessarily in Their Invasion
French Territory-Report Is Heavily
Gems Ored

London, Aug 30.-(6.35 A. MA
pessimistic view of the situation of
the allies is taken by the Amiens cor
respondent of the Weekly Dispatch.
| Telegraphing under yesterdays date he
says:
This is pitiful story which have
to write. The time for secrecy is
past. What you know in England may
be something like the truth, but write
with the Germans advancing incess-
antly while all the rest of France be-
lives that they are still held near the
frontier.
THE best hope of holding them lies
in the hourly expected arrival of an
army from Alsace under General Pau
who so brilliantly retrieved the blum
der at Muelhausen. So far the Ger
mans have carried all before them,
partly by sheer weight of numbers,
and partly by deadly hail of bullets
from their numberless Maxim guns.
Just now an American Red Cross
volunteer inquired from the official in
command here how he could motor to
Paris. Take any road was the re-
! ply. You are covered by between
! 100000 and 100000 men.
THE first inkling that I had that the
Germans had penetrated far into France
was this morning when on the road here
| from Dieppe. In village where BAN
ner inscribed Honor to the British
army hung across the road 1 met the
Royal Engineer column with the pom
toons which had been at (delet-
ed by CENSOR. From some of the men /
learned that orders had been received for
the British base to be shifted with all
possible speed to (deleted). The
staff had left The artillery had left
Everyone had gone except the army and
medical corps, and they were leaving
There was only one possible explanation.
The men greeted me with wan smiles,
because they saw 1 was English. Your
artillery saved u.s. they declared. The
enemy came early Wednesday morning,
outnumbering us hugely. We are only
territorials. In the nick of time your
artillery galloped into position and she'll
ed the Germans away. But for that we
should be-well, not here
What had happened to
(deleted) since they did not know, but
1t must have fallen since the Germans
are we'll this side of it. While we
talked we could hear the guns also
talking
Later I motored out on the road to
(deleted). Here as on the
other road, refugees packed in farm
carts, riding bicycles and driving traps,
were hurrying, all frightened and anx-
ious. Then from the direction of
(deletedD crawled a long
ammunition train.
" How is it going?' / inquired of a,
friendly sergeant. He shrugged his
shoulders. That was all. An artil-
lery duel was going on close by
(deleted). The Germans, were
reported to have stronger batteries.
At dusk the French were falling back
THE tidal wave of German troops
which has swept over northeastern
France will spread still further unless a
miracle happens. Our small British force
could not stand before a volume so pow
erful and immense. Our force has been
scattered all over the country, soil earn
ed from officers and men,
THE headquarters staff has been NOV
ed hastily a long way back from
tdeleted) and cannot stay long where 1t
is. Some army men have been hard put
to it for food in the last few days. One
British officer who was brought here had
had no food for four days.
The retreat of the British aeroplanes
made a wonderful sight. Between 30 and
40 passed over (deleted) on
Wednesday morning flying very high and
toward the south.
~ have aimed at telling a plain tale
of the misfortune of the British troops
but they were set to an impossible task
Let us not try to hush up the facts. Let
US face them and strengthen our resolve