Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1914-09-01
AFTER CASUALTIES MORE THAN 5000 ARMY HAS BEEN RE-
1NFoRCED FOR THE NEXT GREAT BATTLE, ACCORDING TO
ANNOUNCEMENT BY LORD KITCHENER, SECRETARY OF
WAR REPORT OF GREAT BATTLE.
THE GERMAN army IS NOW AT A STANDST|LL
LORD KITCHENER TELLS OF ALLIES FOUR DAYS STRUGGLE
WITH MvADERs-sUPER1oR STRENGTH CoMPELs THE BRIT
1sH TO MAKE NEW LINES OF DEFENsE-THE ENEMYs
FORCE IS MISUNDERSTANDING CONTINUES.

London, Aug. 31.-After foul
days of desperate fighting with cas-
ualties between 5000 and 5000, the
British army in France is rested. re
fitted and reinforced for the neX1
great battle, according to announce
ment yesterday by Lord Kitchener
secretary of state for war.
In a statement based on reports
from Sir John French, commander
of the British expeditionary forces
the secretary says that the British
after struggling against tremendou!
odds, retired to new line of de-
tense, where they have not beer
molested since Thursday.
Since this fighting ceased the
French on the right and left have
brought the German attack to a
standstill, it is declared.
Lord Kitchener's statement
which was issued through the medi-
UNI of the official information bu-
reau, follows:
ALTHOUGH the dispatches of Sir
John French as to the recent bat
tie have not yet been received, it is
possible now to state what has been
the British share in the recent OPP
erations
There has, in fact, been four
days battle-on the 23d, Gath, 25th
and 26th of August. During the
whole of this period, the British. in
conformity with a general move
ment of the French armies, were &C.
cupied in resisting and checking
the German advance and in with
drawing to new lines of defense
CHECKED BY BRITISH.
"The battle began at Mons on
Sunday, during which day and part
of the night the German attack,
which was stubbornly passed and re-
peated, was completely checked by
the British front. On Monday, the
oath, the Germans made vigorou,
efforts in superior numbers to pre-
vent the safe withdrawal of the
British army and to drive it into the
fortress of Maubeuge.
''This effort was frustrated by the
steadiness and skill with which the
British retirement was conducted
and, as on the previous day, very
heavy losses far in excess OF any
thing suffered by us, were inflicted
on the enemy, who, in dense forma-
ton and in enormous masses,
marched forward again and again
to storm the British lines.
FIGHTING CONTINUES.
1.-THE British retirement proceed
ed on the 25th with continuous
fighting, though not on the scale of
the previous two days, and by the
night of the 25th the British army
occupied the line of Cambria, Land
recies and LIE Cateau. (Cambrai is
a fortified town in the department
of the north, thirty-two miles
southeast of Lille on the river
Schiedt. La Cateau is fourteen
miles east by southeast of Cambrai)
''It had been intended to resume
the retirement at daybreak on the
26th, but the. German attack, in
which no less than five army corps
We're engaged was so close and fierce
that it was not possible to carry out
this intention until the afternoon.
WAS DESPERATE BATTLE.
THE battle on this day, the 26th,
was of most severe and desperate
character The troops offered SUI
perb and most stubborn resistance
to the tremendous odds with which
they were confronted, and at length
themselves in good order
though with serious loss and under
the heaviest artillery fire. No guns
were taken by the enemy except |
those the horses of which had all |
been killed or which were shattered |
by high explosive shells.
General French estimates that
during the whole of these opera
lions, from the 23d to the 26th in
elusive, his losses amounted to
5000 or 5000 men, while, on the
,ther hand, the losses suffered by
he Germans in their attacks across
he open and through their dense
are out of all proportion
o those we have suffered"