to which they had been subjected up to that time.

A Butish officer, who was captured by the Germans and has since escaped, reports that while a prisoner he saw men who had been fighting subsequently put on Red Cross brassards,

That regular use of the protection afforded by the Geneva Convention is not uncommon is confirmed by the fact that on one occasion men in the uniform of combatant units have been captured Wearing a Red Cross brassard hastily shipped over the arm. The excuse given has been that they had been detailed after the Eight to look after the wounded,

It is reported by a cavalry officer that the driver of a motor car with a machine guu mounted on it, which was captured. W4+ Wearing a Red Cros

Full details of the actual damage done to the cathedral at Rheims will doubtless have been cabled home, so that no de scription at it is neces@LA The Ger matka bombarded the cathedral twice with then heavy artillery.

One reskon if caught alight so quickly Was that on une aide of it wax some scafwhich had been erected for Naw had also been Nd on the door to the receppon of the Gerasan wounded. It is to the crecht French that practically all the XXX 246844 Waard were wvonaldy exwww.txt Panga the barang buong

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and one evil result of the sunshine has been the release of flies, which were torpid during the wet days.

Advantage has been taken of the arrival of reinforcements to relieve by fresh troops the men who have been on the firing line for some time. Several units, therefore, have received their baptism of fire during the week.

Since the last letter left headquarters evidence has been received which points to the fact that during the counterattacks on the night of Sept. 20 German detachments of infantry fired into each other. This was the result of an attempt to carry out the dangerous experiment of a converging advance in the dark.

Opposite one portion of our position considerable massing of hostile forces was observed before dark. Some hours later a furious fusillade was heard in front of our Ene, though no bullets came over our trenches.

This narrative begins with Sept. 21 and covers only two days. There was but little rain on Sept. 21 and the weather took a turn for the better, which has been maintained. The action has been practically confined to the artillery, our guns at once point sheiling and driving the enemy, who endeavored to construct a redoubl

The Germans expended a large numbet of heavy dels n a long-range bomDa shment of the village of Missy, (DeINC PHONE Of the À SIE. Reconnoitring Me ves senti out during the night of Sept.

22 davieren ore deserted trenches. De Go on the woods over 100 dead AN WOMAN wee pcsei ap. A number den, and squipment were

were other signs that ongs torces had with

we have taken part. All over this No Man's Land, between the lines, bodies of German infantrymen were still lying in heaps where they had fallen at different times.

Espionage plays so large a part in the conduct of the war by the Germans that it is difficult to avoid further reference to the subject. They have evidently never forgotten the saying of Frederick the Great: "When Marshal Soubise goes to war he is followed by a hundred cooks. When I take the field I am preceded by a hundred spies." Indeed until about twenty years ago there was a paragraph in their field service regulations directing that the service of protection in the field, such as outposts and advance guards, should always be supplemented by a system of espionage. Although such instructions are no longer made public, the Germans, as is well known, still carry them into effect.

Apart from the more elaborate arrangements which were made in peace time for obtaining information by paid agents some of the methods which are being employed for the collection or conveyance of intelligence are as follows:

Men in plain clothes signal the German lines from points in the hands of the enemy by means of colored lights at nights and puffs of smoke from chimneys in the day time. Pseudo laborers working in the fields between the armies have been detected conveying information. Persons in plain clothes have acted as advanced scouts to the German cavalry when advancing.

German officers or soldiers in plain clothes or French or British uniforms have remained in localities evacuated by the Germans in order to furnish them with intelligence. One spy of this kind was found by our troops hidden in a church tower. His presence was only discovered through the erratic movements of the hands of the church clock, which he was using to signal his friends by an improvised semaphore code. Had this man not been seized it is probable he would have signaled the time of arrival and the exact position of the headquarters staff of the force and a high

explosive shell would then have mysteriously dropped on the building.

Women spies have also been caught. Secret agents have been found at rail heads observing entrainments and detrainments. It is a simple matter for spies to mix with refugees who are moving about to and from their homes, and it is difficult for our troops, who speak neither French nor German, to detect them. The French have also found it necessary to search villages and casual wayfarers on the roads and to search for carrier pigeons.

Among the precautions taken by us against spying is the following notice printed in French, posted up:

"

Motor cars and bicycles other than those carrying soldiers in uniform may not circulate on the roads. Inhabitants may not leave the localities in which they reside between 6 P. M. and 6 A. M. Inhabitants may not quit their homes after 8 P. M. No person may on any pretext pass through the British lines without an authorization countersigned by a British officer."

Events have moved so quietly for the last two months that anything connected with the mobilization of the British expeditionary force is now ancient history. Nevertheless, the following extract from a German order is evidence of the mystification of the army and a tribute to the value of the secrecy which was so well and so loyally maintained in England at the time:

"Tenth Reserve Army Corps Headquar

heavy artillery upon the plateau near Passy, nothing more than inconvenience was caused.

The welcome absence of wind gave our airmen a chance of which they took full advantage by gathering much information. Unfortunately, one of our aviators, who had been particularly active in annoying the enemy by dropping bombs, was wounded in a duel in the air.

Being alone on a single-seated monoplane, he was not able to use his rifle, and while circling above a German twoseated machine in an endeavor to get within pistol shot he was hit by the observer of the German machine, who was armed with a rifle. He managed to fly back over our lines, and by great good luck he descended close to a motor ambulance, which at once conveyed him to a hospital.

Against this may be set off the fact that another of our flyers exploded a bomb among some led artillery horses, killing several and stampeding the others

On Thursday, Sept. 94, the fine weather continued, as did the full in the action, the heavy German shells falling mostly never Pangman twelve miles south southeast of taon.

On both Wednesday and Thursday the weather was time that many flights were made by the aviators, French, Bratrch, and German The produced * corresponding activity among the anti anerant guts

So ditt and clear was the almos whore toward evening on Wednesday ami during the whole or thursalay that to thode nok vrecia'ly on the lookout the aeroplanes high up above Thom Wirkk Mid made known by the busing wi The brotocolusc anned Them

the pet of anoke nem the txoration deil hang in the uh for ndraces off and, ike ballic or doove coroth Decore they dowly oxnamit mi were it saputri

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their fire systematically upon definite areas in which their aviators think they have located our guns, or upon villages where it is imagined our troops may be billeted. The result will be to give work to local builders.

The growing resemblance of this battle to siege warfare has already been pointed out. The fact that the later actions of the Russo-Japanese war assumed a similar character was thought by many to have been due to exceptional causes, such as the narrowness of the theatre of operations between the Chinese frontier on the west and the mountainous country of Northern Korea on the east; the lack of roads, which limited the extent of ground over which it was possible for the rival armies to manoeuvre, and the fact that both forces were tied to one line of railroad.

Such factors are not exerting any influence on the present battle. Nevertheless, a similar situation has been produced, owing, first, to the immense power of resistance possessed by an army which is amply equipped with heavy artillery and has sufficient time to fortify itself, and, secondly, to the vast size of the forces engaged, which at the present time stretch more than half way across France.

The extent of the country covered is so great as to render slow any efforts to manoeuvre and march around to a flank in order to escape the costly expedent of a frontal attack against heavily fortified positions.

To state that the methods of attack must approximate more closely to those of store warfare the greater the resemblance of the defenses to those of a fortress is a platitude, but it is one which will bear repetition if it in any way assists to make the present situation clear

There is no doubt that the position on the she was not hastily selected by The German Staater the retreat had Vein The vice of ground, and The ore with which the "elds of fire 1. Pinged 'o cover all possible approach, and from the wi's direrdy carried out, it

W

EDNESDAY, Sept. 30, merely marked another day's progress in the gradual development of the situation, and was distinguished by no activity beyond slight attacks by the enemy. There was also artillery fire at intervals. One of our airmen succeeded in dropping nine bombs, some of which fell on the enemy's rolling stock collected on the railway near Laon. Some of the enemy's front trenches were found empty at night; but nothing much can be deduced from this fact, for they are frequently evacuated in this way, no doubt to prevent the men in the back lines firing on their comrades in front of them.

Thursday, Oct. 1, was a most perfect Autumn day, and the most peaceful that there has been since the two forces engaged on the Aisne. There was only desultory gunfire as targets offered. During the night the enemy made a few new trenches. A French aviator dropped one bomb on a railway station and three bombs on troops massed near it.

The weather on Friday, the 2d, was very misty in the early hours, and it continued hazy until the late afternoon, becoming thicker again at night. The Germans were driven out of a mill which they had occupied as an advanced post, their guns and machine guns which supported it being knocked out one by one by well-directed artillery fire from a flank. During the night they made the usual two attacks on the customary spot in our lines, and as on previous occasions were repulsed. Two of their trenches were captured and filled in. Our loss was six men wounded.

Up to Sept. 21 the air mileage made

by our airmen since the beginning of the war amounted to 87,000, an average of 2,000 miles per day, the total equaling nearly four times the circuit of the world. The total time spent in the air was 1,400 hours.

There are many points connected with the fighting methods of either side that may be of interest. The following description was given by a battalion commander who has been at the front since the commencement of hostilities and has fought both in the open and behind intrenchments. It must, however, be borne in mind that it only represents the experiences of a particular unit. It deals with the tactics of the enemy's infantry:

The important points to watch are the heads of valleys and ravines, woods-especially those on the sides of hollow ground -and all dead ground to the front and flanks. The German officers are skilled in leading troops forward under cover, in closed bodies, but once the latter are deployed and there is no longer direct personal leadership the men will not face heavy fire. Sometimes the advance is made in a series of lines, with the men well opened out at five or six paces interval; at other times it is made in a line, with the men almost shoulder to shoulder, followed in all cases by supports in close formation. The latter either waver when the front line is checked, or crowd on to it, moving forward under the orders of their officers, and the mass forms a magnificent target. Prisoners have described the fire of our troops as pinning them to the ground, and this is certainly borne out by their action.

When the Germans are not heavily intrenched no great losses are incurred in advancing against them by the methods in which the British Army has been instructed. For instance, in one attack over fairly open ground against about an equal force of infantry sheltered in a sunken road and in ditches we lost only 10 killed and 60 wounded, while over 400 of the enemy surrendered after about 50 had been killed. Each side had the support of a battery, but the fight for superiority from infantry fire took place at about 700 yards and lasted only half an hour. When the Germans were wavering some of them put up the white flag, but others went on firing, and our men continued to do the same. Eventually a large number of white flags, improvised from handkerchiefs, pieces of shirt, white biscuit bags, &c., were exhibited all along the line, and many men hoisted their helmets on their rifles.

sometimes reAge at even 300 or And wXw to inflict losses skarpatskits also are often wling about until Phrt auf bood cover The remedy is to **ke the mitiative and detail men to deal wch the phemy » sharpshooters,

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night attacks have been made 1. ikfore one of them a party sp close to the British line and set a havrick, so that it should form a in which the centre of the attackmarched Generally, however, wight and early morning attacks, of forty or fifty men have come @ramper sometimes widely separated another and making every enany advantage from 14 ublain Aichi balls and searchlights have Coesions been used. Latterly * have become more and more Against us the enemy has ed with the bayonet. The Ger1 have seen were deep a man when firing his shelter and had a step down in rear pport to sit in.

de our own men. there was at erable reluctance to intrench, Lava been the case at the comof A war. Now, however, Meht experience dearly, their Ruch that they can defy the ⚫lery fire.

thinking of the weather in terms of its suitability for flying. There has been a bright moon also, which has militated against night attacks.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, practically nothing happened, except that each side shelled the other.

Toward evening on Sunday, Oct. 4, there was a similar absence of activity. Opposite one portion of our line the enemy's bands played patriotic airs, and the audiences which gathered gave a chance to our waiting howitzers.

Not only do their regimental bands perform occasionally, but with their proverbial fondness for music the Germans have in some places gramaphones in their trenches.

On Monday, the 5th, there were three separate duels in the air between French and German aviators, one of which was visible from our trenches. Two of the struggles were, so far as could be seen, indecisive, but in the third the French airmen were victorious, and brought down their opponents, both of whom were killed by machine-gun fire. The observer was so burned as to be unrecognizable.

During the day some men of the Landwehr were taken prisoners by us. They were in very poor condition and wept copiously when captured. One, on being asked what he was crying for, explained that though they had been advised to surrender to the English, they believed that they would be shot.

On that evening our airmen had an unusual amount of attention paid to them, both by the German aviators and their artillery of every description.

One of our infantry patrols discovered 150 dead Germans in a wood, one and a half miles from our front. We sent a party out to bury them, but it was fired upon and had to withdraw.

On Tuesday, the 6th, the enemy's guns were active in the afternoon. It is believed that the bombardment was due to anger because two of our howitzer shells had detonated right in one of the enemy's trenches, which was full of men. Three horses were killed by the German fire.

Wednesday, the 7th, was uneventful.