If this appalling destruction was due to one hand grenade, it is an illustration of the potentialities of a small amount of high explosive detonated in the right spot, while the nature of the place where the disaster occurred, a narrow forest road between high trees, is a testimony to the skill of the airmen.
It is only fair to add that some French newspapers claim this damage to the enemy was caused by the action of a detachment of their dragoons.
IX.
1,100 Dead in a Single Trench.
[Official Summary, Dated Oct. 27.]
The Official Bureau makes public today the story of an eye-witness, supplementing the account issued on Oct. 24, and bringing the story of the general course of operations in France up to Oct. 20. The arrival of reinforcements, it says, enabled the British troops to assist in the extension of the Allies' line where the Germans advanced from the northeast and east, holding a front extending from Mont Descats, about ten miles northeast of Hazebrouck, through Meteren, five miles south of that point, and thence to Estaires, thirteen miles west of Lille, on the River Lys. The statement continues:
"South of the Lys the German line extended to three miles east of Bethune to Vermelles. The Allies encountered resistance all along the line on the 12th and 13th, when the enemy's right fell back hastily. Bailleul, seventeen miles northwest by west of Lille, which had been occupied by the foe for eight days, was abandoned without a shot being fired.
Gen. von Bülow
Commanding One of the German Armies in the West
(Copyright, Photographische Gesellschaft, by permission of the Berlin Photographic Co., N.Y.)
