The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-01-08

'3' 'ie ioioNlnS account tonight of the
operations in Belgium and northern
France during recent days:
| THE period from December 25 TO Jan.
uary has been marked, Notwithstanding
the wretched state of the terrain and the
| pao weather. by three important actions
| all Of which terminated in characteristic
suecesses-the occupation of st. Georges
| the development of our gains in the re-
gion of Perthes and the taking of Stein.
bach. Everywhere else 1t was water OF
a liquid mud in which one sank to the
knees.
st Georges has been organized by the
enemy into a veritable blockhouse walls
loop-holed, barbados of sacks filled with
earth. with machine guns commanding
both ends). The road was occupied and
guarded by wire entanglements
| The marines. chaussers and cyclists
to whom, with asdetachment of dragons,
| mad been given the honor of taking st
| Georges advanced toward the village by
| excavating through the road and sappine
| passage. From place TO place this pas
sage was enlarged, forming shelter for
| the troops A similar work was exc
cuted along the ditch to the south.
On December p We had reached as
far as ferryman's house north of St
Georges. This point of support fell into
our hands
Assault Carries
The assault was carried out the next
day. Notwithstanding violent fire, our
marines placed a piece of artillery on a
small boat and mounted battery on the
ditch short distance from the houses
| OF ST. Georges. which crumpled up under
| the shell fire
AT the same time to the south the
Belgian troops advanced through the
| mud and a detachment from the warships
Venus and Doris British from Rams
capelle established themselves on two
farms, where by their fire they enfiladed
the hostile defenders OF St. Georges
Groups of riflemen in the excavation
along the road delivered an assault and
the last of the Germans who remained In
st. Georges surrendered. They numbered
not more than 40. In the ruins of the
village and the envrons 300 bodies were
found.
I'm addition to this, on the whole ex-
tend of the front, our aggressive activity
mas not ceased to manifest itself by gains
which will be given later in detail. On
certain points the enemy has been able
to reply in kind: on others he has counter
attacked with violence and has every
Nhtic bttH ItDuiSed. III no part mas ne
obtained results which would appear
from distance comparable with those
that these II days have brought to U.S.
TO the north of the Lys the event Of
most Importance since December % has
been the taking of st. Georges. On ac-
count of the state of the terrain the sue
cess of that operation appeared to be
more than doubtful. but 1t has been COM
plete. st. Georges includes a number
OF houses in ALIGNMENT hat
canal and road. The nundation rem.
dered impracticable every other way of
access than the elevated highway and
| the ditch south of the canal
Our detachment maintained its ground
at st. Georges Notwithstanding return
offensive that our adversary delivered
| on December 30, following violent bonn
| into St Georges and wrecked our
trenches. Five columns of the enemy
advanced by the ditch and the road,
across mud banks and in water. but all
were checked by our fire.
Prom st. Georges to Ypres: Apart
| from the capture of ST. Georges our
| armies north of the Lys, notwithsta nd
ing the execrable condition of the ground,
| have made appreciable progress Night
attacks in the dunes met by violent
bombardment gained $40 feet December
% before Newport. Our gains have con-
| tinued-140 feet December 81 and $50 feet
| December 30. Beyond st. Georges towards
| the east We advanced $50 feet December
20. and 1900 feet January 4. We have
| found 200 additional bodies"
| Paris. January I'll 80 D. m.)-The fol-
| lowing statement from an eyewitness of
recent events in the war theatre from
| Arras to Rheims was made public tonight
| by the official press bureau:
| ut was in the region of Arras, and
especially In the vicinity of Carency, that
the fighting occurred On December %.
in the evening our trenches had reached
the first houses of the village. On the
| 24th we already had been progressing
south of Carency and south of Souche
'On the 9th between the southern part
of Carency and the wood of Perthnoval
we took 2400 feet of the enemys trenches,
! besides a trench east and another south
of those positions.
THE Germans after spirited def =
| made a counter attack, but our inf; ,
maintained their first line within 800 rec,
| of the German position. Our artillery
prevented the enemy from proceeding
with their entrenching work
| I'VE also made progress at Loos, where
We advanced 80 feet December 81. Then
near Vermes on January 2 ana at ST
| Laurent January 3.
|
| 80 our men were in water and mud knee
| deep and sometimes even waist deep.
| Intimate Cooperation
1.-The cooperation between the allies
| as always, has been intimate.
| 1.-THE period from December % to Janu-
airy was not marked by any important
action. Our attack on LaBasse on Deem
Der "a, reported In our last communica-
ton, was well directed. Our troops cap
| tured four mitrailleuses and about 20(
| prisoners. They have brought theii
trenches to within 80 feet of the German
| trenches and have held out in spite OF
| fierce attacks. On December Is and u
several German officers were killed. Their
bodies were left our hands. The Ger
mans had prepared their attacks by con-
centrating much artillery on that spot
This, however, was unava'ling.
Some actions took place in the region
| of Lihons where trenches were lost and
| retaken. On the 25th there were en-
| counters between opposing miners Our
| artillery replied energetically to the Ger
| man artillery and nearly always had the
| advantage.
our guns destroyed the enemy S
| trenches in the vicinity of La Bassee
and in addition an observatory and a
| mine thrower. At Beuvraignes our ar