GERMAN ADVANCE HALTED

The western operations in December made it clear that the German advance to the Channel ports of France had been definitely halted.  In the terrible battle of Ypres in Flanders, following the prolonged engagements along the Yser river, the Allies succeeded in repulsing the desperate German onslaught, and the German offensive was brought to a full stop.  Towns and villages in Flanders, in Artois and in Champagne, that had been captured in the early German rush, were retaken one by one by the Belgians, French and British, slowly but surely, until the Germans were forced to act upon the defensive along a line of entrenchments prepared to enable them to keep open their communications through Belgium with their great base at Aix-la-Chapelle.

An incident of the desperate fighting at Ypres, in which British and French troops practically annihilated six German regiments, including the crack Second regiment of Prussian Guards, has been graphically described by an eye-witness as follows: 

“A long valley stretches out before us and the little rise on which we stand—­about fifty feet above the plain—­commands it.  The British guns are shooting almost horizontally at the German infantry trudging through the mud 2,000 yards away.

“I count easily five regiments together, but further to the right a sixth one evidently wards off a flank attack on the part of the French colonial troops.  The lone regiment is the Second Prussian regiment of the guard, the emperor’s own, the elite of the Kaiser’s army, 2,500 of the brawniest, most disciplined men in the world.  It is now 1 o’clock.  In one hour only 300 of these men will leave the field.

“A gust of wind brings to our ears the sound of music.  The guards’ band is encouraging the men.  At the foot of the small hill on which we stand are twenty lines of trenches filled with Scotch and English infantry.  The men are silently awaiting the attack.  Not a rifle is being fired.  The trenches are the Germans’ goal; these and the British batteries once taken, the road into Ypres is clear.

“In the valley the Germans halt.  The range is only 1,500 yards now and every British shot is telling.  The effects are appalling.  The gray masses move onward once more, seem to hesitate, but sharp bugle blasts launch them forward again and on the run they come for the trenches.

“At 1,000 yards our batteries again stop them.  Whole rows are mowed down, vast spaces appearing between the ranks.  The companies intermingle, then the regiments themselves seem to amalgamate and melt into one another.  Officers are seen galloping along the sides, evidently trying to bring order out of chaos.

“The artillerymen work silently, the perspiration streaming down their cheeks, and continue sending on their messengers of death.

“The Second regiment of the Guard alone, off to the right, seems untouched, and on it comes.  Suddenly the sound of a bagpipe is heard.  The Scots are awake.  From the trenches an avalanche rushes forward toward the disordered Germans.