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Show ! j British Big Guns Pouring I Death Into German Line US : jrffi FRANCE AND BELGIUM, Oct. 24. mSi- (By tho Associated Press.) The con- BKfl solidation of tho postlons won In Mon- jWgj : day's attack was being rapidly com- pleted today under a bright sun which Mvtw' Is m,t'sating somewhat the . difflcul- ;B CmJ ties of the work in the morass-liko 2gjj ground. Active artillery fire marked H the night In tho region to the east and north of Ypres. "ilhSE Tlie BrItlsn bl &lna liavo never 1!f&tf ceased to pour a devastating fire Into 'hergP the Gorman positions along the Flan-tuDiijfl Flan-tuDiijfl tiers' battlefront and the enemy has an3 responded vigorously. Last night the Germans directed a heavy firo on the sector between the Ypres-Menln high-jffim high-jffim way and the Ypres-Roulcrs railway bellfTft i md also concentrated on Abraham ffiifif? heights, which are on the Gravon- stafel ridge, southwest of Pasachen- daelc. sSy French and British Hold Ground. '. Shortly before dark last evening the JSJ ft enemy launched a counter-attack Ijofi- against the British to the south of Houtholst forest near the juncltion ail v'th the French, but this was re- 1 pulsed with machine gun and rifle aP i fire. Both the French and British IS fit were holding their new positions in If this difficult territory on the edge of pJSJk the forest strongly, atfjflv The assertion In the German offi- t cial statement that the British on tapat Monday also attacked on both sides of Sfl.' Gheluvelt and wero repulsed is en- 'PJir tlrely erroneous, as no such attack new)! jt was made. The British offensive was emt confined to operations along a narrow " jMjT jT r0nt 5evera mes north Gheluvelt. fcBjj- , Tho report that British troops had found a German officer who had been executed by his own soldiers, the body having the hands bound behind the back, has been confirmed. Tho incident occurred at a redoubt south of Poelcapellc during the recent fighting. There wore fourteen German soldiers and younxr officers holding this place. When1 the British troops stormed this redoubt tho German soldiers sol-diers surrendered and the British found the dead officer with five bullet wounds in his body. Tho reason for his execution was that the men desired de-sired to surrender and he refused to give up his stronghold without a struggle. Officers Losing Control. This affair is another link tending to substantiate statements mado by prisoners that the German officers commanding certain bodies of troops along tho Flanders' front are losing control ovor their men. There Is no doubt that there has been a very considerable con-siderable deterioration in tho morale of many of tho German troopB In this region. But tho German fighting machine Is recognized as still being a poworful one. One non-commissioned officer belonging to the Tenth .Bavarian dlvl-sion dlvl-sion who was captured about the middlo of October assorted, as had other prisoners before, that the officers offi-cers were losing their grip on tho men. He said that desertions In the rear were very frequent and cited the case of thirteen men oi hia own company com-pany who had deserted a fortnight ho-, fore, declaring that they were going home. Some of them were arrested on the way, but others actually reached their homes. Descrtlono Not Deserting. Four of theso men were brought back to their company as prisoners but tho officer did not know whether any of them had been punished. Ho added that this was not an exceptional case. An equally interesting statement was made by a captured officer of the Guard reserve division who had joined his regiment in the middle of October. He declared that the morale in Germany was very bad and that the civilians were raising an outcry as to why tho war was being prolonged. Throughout tho country, ho said, there was talk of an end to the Hohen-zollerns Hohen-zollerns and tho establishment of a ropublic. Tho morale in his own division divi-sion ho characterized as bad although formerly It had been good. Shortage of Horses. This officer further said that the authorities had already called up tho 1920 class in .Brunswick. Germany was suffering from a serious shortage of horses and there was a great scarcity of canvas as a result of which tho manufacturo of tents virtually had ceased, huts being erected Instead. Another officer prisoner had charge of the guard in a prison camp. There were British, French and Russian , prisoners there. Tho food was not good, he said, and a number of deaths had occurred from "hunger and I typbufl.'. |
