The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-12-10
GERMAN ACCOUNT
OF LOOS BATTLE
British, Led BY SeniIe officers,
Marched Bravely Into a
Death Trap Z.

Debility NONcHDcI 10 kSOFT'b-
pondenee Of the Associated Press)s-
The fighting around Loos, where the
British succeeded in capturing u part
of the foremost positions OF the Ger
man lines in September, is still the sub
jeet of descriptive reports in the press.
One Of the most animated Of such de-
scriptions is from the pen OF Bernhard
Kellormann, known In America as the
author of 1.-THE Tunnel"
He says that after four days of In
conceivable heavy artillery FIRE the
British began a gas atsacK ON the
morning Of September 25. Four sop
arate waves of gas, alternately white
and dark gray, were blown forward to-
ward the German lines; and at the
same the British artillery was hurting
gas bombs upon the Germans. Tna
latter coughed and held their ground
as long as they could, but many fcl,
unable to resist the fumes In the midst
Of all this the Germans were preparing
for the expected infantry attack. Fan
ally the British appeared, emerging
suddenly as IT from nowhere, behind
cloud Of gas, and wearing masks. They
came on in thick lines and storining
columns. The first line of the attack
eTs was quickly shot down by the hail
of rifle and machine gun bullets that
rained upon them from the shattered
German trenches. The hand grenades
especially wrought terrible havoc, some
of them cutting down six or eight men.
The dead and wounded soon lay like a
wall before the German position. The
! second and third lines Of English suf-
~ h Noka a "A
that the number of British killed be-
fore this German division alone reached
5000 to 10000.
Few Germans Returned J
The fourth line Of attackers, how
ever finally succeeded In overrunning
the deeimated front line of Germans,
who stood by their guns to the very
last. Those of them who had not fallen
were made prisoners. Not one Of them
returned to tell what happened in this
| terrific fighting On the neighboring
front, too, the British succeeded in
breaking the German first position; and
gained here from 500 to 1000 yards Of
! ground. At the second German posi-
ton, where their reserves were in
waiting, the attack was completely
checked. The fighting lost something
| Of its 6erceness as the afternoon
| wancd; and September 25 ended with
hand to-hand encounters end hand gren-
ade attacks at yarions points along the
front The GernIans made an attack
during the night and regained part
/ Of the lost ground
\ The British renewed the next morn
ing their attempts to break through
\ the German lines. ''They tried with
| quite new taeties--or, rather, with very
! old tactics that are out of date In this
war. II was q thing wholly unexpect-
! ed; and the staff officers looked ON with
| open-mouthed wonder. Shortly hefoore
noon IL was observed that the British
thickly massed aud in ochelon foWma-
ton of eight ranks WIRE advancing
from Loes 60 attack us. Their artillery
was sending down a hail of shells to
beat open a path for these storming
masses ~ 'H . "
Anticipated Tactics ,I... T... ~
! At the same time tho enemy mounted
artillery, in broad daylight. rode up to
take up position upon hill 20 to the
cast Of Loos, which is nothing more
than slight elevation in the landseape
hardly noticed in riding across the
fields. The batteries were carrying
bridge material with them to enable
them to make crossings over trenches
AID natural OBJ tructions Still more
on" or two mounted cavalry regiments
were observed on the plain far to the
rear, - 49, ...tl.-af.
"Ei"ht ranks OF infahtry. mounted
artillery; cavalry IN the background
that WIS ton much, A veritahle battle
rlan OF past age, the proauct Of n
"ipd in its dotage and half century
behind the times Commanders of ar.
mics get ont of date in our times as
rhnidlv rs Inventions and sciences,
whoreaS The I-ss0n tanPl-t Nv thia war
Is that the lives of soldiers should be
entrusted only to the most modern, the
most elsstie aud most highly endowed
minds-the ve-v nirF Of = natian s
best talent The English should have
sent back their Oh celeb. tiles to take
t.ehR ~ge Of COMMUNICATIONS,
Blvd ocurp~e Fatal
"SpIendidly, with admirable COURAGE,
the English trOons came forward to thl
attack. Thew were yonng, wore no
decorations; they c.Fried out with
blind eeura"e what their senile com
manders ordered and this IN period
Of mortars. machine guns and tho I l.,
4 phone. Their behavior was splend 4
but all the more pitiable was the bronx
down Of their attack. ..,E.e
"The eipht.ranks columns, before
they had sdvaneed ten paees got into
orr mi~sa FIRE ~ rifles mrchirH ~r-'
and artillery-all at the call of the
telephone. Our batteries were only
awaiting the signal. His En"lish ex
celleney was not prepared for this
Fresh reserves were put into action
only TO be moved down Nv the cross
fire. of our marhin" guns Tho Englist
mounted artillerv had 4 wretched end
it not only got into the range Of oul
machine guns, but at the same time oul
heavy mortars (called by telephone)
raked it 10 rapidly and thoroughly tha
the men did not even have time 70 lin
yher their guns The.cavalry regiment
waiting in the background for the or
der 10 attack were greeted with som,
salvos Of heavy sabrrs from their scab
hards That ended the battle. The at
tack broke down in front OF our wir,
entangleInents. @|@stj.&$. < ,h' SIM
dan annrt,.ot,p ,,,,,l,a, 81 l,aI l.,