Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-14
Capture Of 1000 Yards of
German Trenches Is Pre-
Ceded by Most Tremendous
Artillery Fire of Half Hour.
DESPERATE RESISTANCE
PROVES INEFFECTIVE
TeutOnic Defenders Are Over
wheImed and Buried in
EathworkS by Shells In
tantry Assault Follows.

iar "oRTlro JOURNAL SPECIAL LrAstp wlRri !
London, March l3 G0;l0 p. M 30 I
/ The British offensive which resulted /
| IN the capture of Nucyo Chapello and |
! the country heyona IL began early In |
/ the morning Of March 10 with bonn |
bardment by large number Of guns
! and howitzers, according To an "eyc- {
( witness with the British expedition /
/ AIRY force in France.
"Our men in the trenches" he says. |
describe this fire as being the most
| tremendous. both In point of noise
and in actual effect they have ever
seen or heard. The shrickng OF
shells In the air. their explosion and
( the continuous thunder OF the bait
! teries We're an merged into one great
volume OF sound. The discharges of
/ the guns were SO rapid that they
sounded like the fire of a gigantic
/ machine gun.
Trenches Quickly Taken.
During the thirty-fiye minutes III
: continued, our men could show them
selves freely and even walk about in
/ perfect safety Then the signal for
/ the attack was given and in less than
I half an hour almost the whole of the
/ elaborate series OF German trenches
IN and about Nucve Chapelle was IN
7 our hands
Except at one point there was
( hardly any resistance for the trenches
which in places were literally blottcd
out, were filled with dead and dying
] partly buried in the earth ana debris,
ana the majority Of the survivors were
in no mood for further fighting,
ITO the northeast of the village,
however, body of Germans en-
sconccd in some enclosures still con-
tinued to hold out for few hours
Three attacks, in spite of the extreme
( gallantry with which they We're con
: Quoted, failed to dislodge them, but
by about noon the arrival of rein
| furcements drove the Germans from
( their last stronghold In the village
Other Hard Fighting
This part OF the fighting was re
markablc for the manner in which |
/ every part of the attacking line az |
/ forded one another mutual support
Meanwhile, on the right from the T,
direction of Richebourg, similar adj /
vance had been made toward Bois du /
/ Bioz a small rectangular wood lying
Iabout 900 yards TO the southeast Of |
! Nueve Chapelle Here also little re-
/ sistanee was met with ana our line /
! reached u point about 400 yards from |
/ the wood
! In the afternoon the troops who I
/ had seized Nueyc Chapcllc advanced /
( still further to the cast gaining 400 |
( yards while on their left again, north ,
| of the village, our forward move |
/ mcnt progressed for a considerable I.
distance and the fighting continued /
/ long after darkness had set in.
Enemy BADLY Stunned
"Tbe enemy were by this time thor
oughly shaken and in some parts Of +
, the field were surrendcrng in groups /
I Throughout the day tho Germans
/ continued to hold out, in a strong /
/ position at the angle of the cross
roads south of the village where they
] were established In perfect network |
Of trenches and harbcd wire. This
! position had been known as Port Ar
! thur and a hard strgglc ragged for
some hours around it, until at $50 i'm
the evening, when it was st0rmed at
the point Of the buyonet
by nightfali we were in possession
Of all the enemy's trenches on a front
of 1000 yards. representing an adj
vance Of more than l200 yards from
our original trenches at the furtherest
point rhc number of prisoners cap
tured rs officially reported to be $50,
but there Is reason to believe that 9TH
ers were taken who have not yet been
sent in
Icats by Airmcn.
During the day two remarkable
feats were performed by our airmon.
one, flying at a height of only l50
feet, in order to make sure of his
mark, dropped a bomb on the impOr-
tant railway bridge at Menin destroy
la. ,f ba YI. A flAtIw !
over the Courtrai railway junction,
dropped a bomb on the station and
completely wrecked IT, These two
points are of vital importance to the
German communications.
"The German batteries on this day
made am effective reply to tho aftil-
lcry fire
"On Thursday. March f. the fight
Ing continued almost as ticrcclY 1a
on the previous day. The enemy al
tempted counter attacks at Nario1S
points, and especially from Hois du
Bicz but our guns opened on the
wood with so much effect that tho
Germans did not emerge from It's
shelter A little ground was gain d
at various points. but on the Whola,
the situation remained very much as
It was ON the previous day.
Repulscd COuntcr-attacke.
"The enemys resistance had stlf-
fened but all his efforts 10 drive US
from the positions we had gained were
rcpulscd with loss The German ar
ullcry has now becoma more active;
Nueve Chapele was heavily sheilcd
and the whole line was swept with
shrapnel l.
"1t is difficult to give an idea of the
result of this striking success upon
our men They have been paying off
old scores; they have now inflicted
on the enemy something OF that or
deal which he inflicted upon Us IA
the earlier stages Of the war by dint
of superior numbers and weight on
artillery. The enemy for the time be- =
j