Evening star., 1915-06-10
Eyewitness Tells of Capture
After SIaughtering Its
Defenders.
COUNT 1000 DEAD AFTER
BATTLE; ESQ PRISONERS
French Claim Twenty Quick-Firers
and Much Trench Material
Are Taken.

PARIS, June 10, 1880 a.m,-The
French official eyewitness" in an
article on the fighting In the vicinity
east of Tracy-le- Mont. gives the details
of the capture by the French forces
several days ago of the Quennevieres
farm which had been titled by the
Germans.
Before this position" the narrative
sAys, 'rhe German lines formed a deep
salient, the apex of which was small
fortress and both the wings were We'll
protected from within by lines of par-
allel trenches which were heavily forti-
fed The position was approximately
1900 Yards in extent. situated on 4
high plateau which overlooked the sur
rounding country for several miles. IT
was captured by the French troops
Tune g.
Throughout June :, there was 4
heavy bomhardment of the entire GER
man position. which was continued dur
ing the night nv aerial torpedoes ana
rnusketry This effectively prevented
the Germans from making repairs to
the Notifications. Our fire was very
effective the two battalions which held
the position suffering heaVF losses
MANY of the men being buried alive
beneath their bonbp-oof cellars
Four Battalions Attack.
I'VE attacked with four battali"ns
composed of zouaves. tirailleurs.: Mo-
roccans and Rretons, who. without haT-
ersacks carried three days rations.
$50 rounds of ammunition hand gre
nades and sack filed with earth to
serve as temporary shelter in the
capt,1red trench
when the command to charge was
given the whole line as one man
rushed across the intervening $50 to
200 yards. Slight opposition was en-
countered. Only one nuick-hrer was
used by the Germans. which occasioned
small losses as the trajectory was too
high The attack was begun at 1910
O'Clock and half an hour later the first
prisoners were brought to the offlcers
headquarters.
."The clean sweep orders had been
rapid and complete. Two hundred and
fifty prisoners We're the sole SURVIVORS
of the two battalions. The reinforce
ments which the Germans endeaVored
to bring up were moved down by our
seventy-fves Two thousand of our ad-
versaries We're placed out OF action.
Capture Three Cannon.
s'The zouav.es continued on past the
second line of trenches toward Tout
vent ravine. All at once the patrols.
which were ahead Of the main body of
troops, were seen to sway and fall.
although no shots had been fired. The
Germans had placed low barbed wire
entanglement in the high grain field to
stop them. Our men soon severed the
barbed wire and succeeded in captur
ing three German ~ cannon, which
had been effectively hidden beneath
bombproofs few yards farther on.
The whole position was captured
and quickly fortified TO Withstand
counter attacks. and communicating
trenches with the main position were
prepared. A counter attack followed
Immediately. but it was repulsed by
our seventy-fives and quick-irers. Our
ayiators reported that fresh reinforce
ments had been rushed up from Royal
In auto buses. During the night the
pulsed each time. AT dawn the enemy
wings but by rain of hand grenades
his fire was effectively stopped
Counted 1000 Dead.
I'VE counted on the ground where
the counter attack took place approxi-
mately 1000 dead. The total estimate
Of the enemys losses is 2o6e dead. not
counting the wounded. We lost $50
men killed and 1,50o wounded nearly
all of them from exploding shells. We
captured twenty quick -frers and also
q great quantity of trench materials