The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-05
'fldiers Move Forward
 1|Amid Storm of Shot and llShell From the German l Batteries
HERMAN TRENCHES 't APTU RED BUILT
 BFOR PERMANENT USE
kerce Hand-to-Hand Fight
 ling Marks Exit of Fleeing |Feuton Soldiery Before
 nBritish Onslaught

British Headquarters in France, Oc- Ter 4-(via London. 1.-The scene oi A British attacks in the Lens region |Ea flat mining country-slag heaps 3le pits, ruined buildings. splintered |H felled trees and earthworks s rned by explosions. with slightly ! Ing ground toward Loos and Lens. i 6Fothing is visible except the soft ||tfs of shrapnel bursting and volumes black smoke from British and Ger <'n high explosive shells, marking po- ' ons where the British troops are HEanizing their gains and tue Ger |1ns are preparing new defensive
 is with infinite satisfaction to the
 tish, who had long looked at the
 sore twin towers of the mining 8rks at Loos. that they now have in Fir possession this German position Ee church at Loos. which has been
 Id as an observation post, is hear Lstone as the result of the lombard Ent preceding the attack.
 E'he normal population of Loos is [p0O poor miners and their families Iree hundred of these remained dur
 the battle, taking shelter in the Bars of their wrecked, miserable Enes. One old woman who cooked E the Germans is now cooking foi i British.
 2ks the skirmish line approached the Zgn it saw six women and a child Ehing toward it in the midst of the ntle. Some of the British soldiers lned from the fierce business of the Urge to rescue them but before they hld get the women under some sort Ishelter two of them were wounded. Fhe elaborateness and permanency the German trenches indicated the parent conviction of the Germans in
 security of their line. Dugouts, en 30 feet deep, were cemented and
 tained electric lights and arm
 frs. Some of them were impene- ble even to high explosive shells big calibre.
 rhe British bombardment cut the Fe in front of the German trenches D bits and battered the firing Enches and traverses into irregular fs of earth. Under such failing shells 1t was suicidal for the Ger Fms to attempt to remain outside the souts or to try to man their ma- {ne guns or use their rifles.
 When the artillery work was per- ft the British infantry sprarg over
 n ro 1af nx inting toward the German trench y arrived almost without opposi- D. Then the German trench was frs, with the Germans who were Fe huddled in their caves Some of
 dugouts had been demolished and
 in them fragments of German les mixed with the debris. Other Fouts had their openings blown in by Il explosions and their occupants fe either buried or suffocated.
 When a dugout had been unharmed
 British soldiers. with bayonets ed or bombs in hand, appeared at
 entrance to find the Germans still Ide or perhaps just starting out.
 in tho dugout might surrender. or the other hand, if British soldier rted to enter or even showed him.
 he was received with a fusillade. case of refusal to surrender bombs Fe thrown into the dugout without
 thrower of them exposing himself. ! Germans surviving the explosion Ially gave in, though not always,
 some of them died to the last man.
 Hand-to-Han Fighting
 pme incidents had 8 humorous as as a tragic side. In these sudden punters at close quarters where the rging Briton met a German emerg- from his dugout the, bayonet, hbs and even. fists were sometimes Iught into play in the ensuing melee. Inc difficulty was the gathering and riding of prisoners in such a con Ia space as the, irregular wrecked hches. With rifles and bombs ly- about the Gerrhahs; even after Etulating were likely to seize them hch or into a shell crater and re-
 the fight.
 The British are Keeping to the tac-
 undertaken by them to gain a ain amount of ground with each Sck.
 he Germans fought desperately and T. viciousness of their counter at ks apparently was due to rage over
 loss of their comfortable duRouts. ch had cost them so much pains- Ing labor, and the unpleasant pros-
 of winter in the mud. building caves.
 he rear of the army during the ac-
 presented g wondrous varied ie. which was the more concen- ed because of the narrow front of operations. There were tho slightIy
 nded walking back, the steady Inn of fresh rerimenfa cnin~ eo- d, processions of swift, smooth hing motor ambulances whose bur-
 would be back in England in 24' rs, longer and seemingly endless eessions of powerful motor trucks 3ed with shells to feed the hun
 ver-thundering unseen guns, kps of reserves in the fields or be-
 the gorged roads waiting their
 while the French population stood kheir doorways and asked for the st news from officers and men who