: The Illustrated War News Number 15 Nov. 18 1914 by Various - World War 1914-1918 Periodicals World War I; The Illustrated War News

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It has been pointed out by a Naval correspondent that the German bayonet of which one edge is a saw is not really quite the barbarous weapon it seems, but is similiar to that carried by pioneers in British naval landing-parties, for use in sawing wood. The toothed edge, he mentions, is so far from the point that only by the rarest chance could it enter the body of an enemy. It would be interesting to know whether the two bayonets British and German--are exactly similar. Another account of the German weapon states that the saw-edge begins only six inches from the point, quite near enough thereto, one would imagine, to "enter the body of an enemy." Inset is an enlargement of the German saw-bayonet--

Dixmude, the name of which little West Flanders town on the Yser all the world knows now, after being heroically defended against persistent night-and-day attacks and bombardments at all hours, was taken by the reinforced Germans after a forty-hours renewed attack on November 11. The defenders, however, held out in the outskirts of the town, and could not be dislodged. The post is not part of the Allied main line, but rather of value as a bridge-head over the river. The French naval officer who sent the photographs shown above was one of the defenders until he had to withdraw wounded. When he was there Dixmude had been defended by 6000 French sailors, reinforced at the end of October by 1500 Algerian soldiers.

One of War's "little ironies" finds illustration in our photograph. A great conflict such as that now being waged is full of contrasts: grins, pathetic, sometimes not without a suggestion of humour. That the German Marine should be told off in a pretty rural district to round up cattle for food for the German troops is a case in point. The sleek and shapely kine which these sturdy fellows are commandeering plod peacefully along in happy ignorance of the fact that they are prisoners of war being led to their doom by an armed guard. If it were not for the significance of the weapons borne by the Marines, the scene would be as purely pastoral as that immortalised by Gray. It suggests the "lowing herd"--with a difference.--

The "Pegasus," an old and small cruiser, was attacked and disabled by the German cruiser "K?nigsberg" , a modern ship of larger size and much heavier metal, at daybreak on September 20, while anchored in Zanzibar harbour to clean boilers. The "K?nigsberg" stole up during the night, sheltered behind an island off the shore and, easily outranging the guns of the "Pegasus," shelled her helpless opponent. After that the German ship drew off, leaving the "Pegasus" in a sinking condition and with 26 men killed and 53 wounded. Our photograph, which has just been received here, shows the "Pegasus'" wounded being transhipped to the Union Castle liner "Gascon," serving as a hospital-ship to take the injured to the Cape.

The armed liner "Carmania," in her hour and a-half's fight of September 14 with the German armed liner "Cap Trafalgar," was hit by 73 of her opponent's shells, the splinters making, it is stated, some 380 holes all over the vessel. Offering so large a target to gun-fire as did the "Carmania"--a ship of great length, standing 60 feet out of the water--she was saved from suffering more damage by the seamanship of Captain Noel Grant, R.N., her Captain, who kept her end-on to the enemy. Our photograph of the navigating bridge of the "Carmania," with the engine-room telegraphs wrecked and fragments of metal strewn about, will give an idea of what those on board went through. It has just reached this country.--

It is clear that the German incendiary outrages in Belgium and France were premeditated, and German scientists devised special apparatus for setting fire to buildings. Our informant, who bought some incendiary disks from a German soldier near Antwerp, states that every man carries twenty bags, each containing about 300 disks. Mr. Bertram Blount, the analyst, found the disks consist of nitro-cellulose, or gun-cotton. They may be lit, even when wet, with a match or cigarette-end, and burn for eleven or twelve seconds, emitting a strong five-inch flame, and entirely consuming themselves. The Germans throw them alight into houses. The photographs show a bag of disks as supplied to German soldiers; a disk burning; and a disk, actual size, before being used.

The German heavy "batteries of position" are for the most part armed-with the 15 cm., or 6-inch howitzer, throwing a shell of 90 lb. with an approximate range of 6650 yards. The howitzer type of mobile heavy gun is much favoured for defensive work in both the German and the Austrian armies. The howitzer is capable of elevation up to 65 deg., the idea of this high elevation being, it is stated, to obtain a steep angle of descent for the shells at comparatively short ranges, in combination with a high remaining velocity so as to ensure the penetration of overhead cover. These howitzers are also employed in siege and fortress defence warfare. They have been used along the Aisne positions as auxiliaries to the giant Krupp siege-howitzers.

Cavalry engaged in the Belgian frontier battles are fighting in all sorts of ways: repeatedly, for example, as infantrymen in the trenches. On occasion, also, they have even charged on foot, with bayonet or with their lances. The Life Guards, according to a letter from the front, charged the German trenches the other day with bayonets. A squadron of French dragoons dismounted and crept through a wood on foot, surprising a German infantry company and overpowering them in close-quarter fight with lances and clubbed carbines. With

lances, also, as our illustration shows, some of our Bengal cavalry, in action on foot, on October 24, at Ramscapelle, near the Yser, recaptured the village from the Germans. Dismounting near by, they charged the enemy lance in hand, driving him from his trenches. Following up their success, they then forced their way into the village, smashing in doors and windows and storming house after house in spite of fierce resistance until, assisted by other troops, they forced the enemy out, capturing guns and many prisoners. The action was particularly notable.

There is something gruesomely appropriate in this photograph of the wreckage of a destroyed German motor-transport wagon train, or convoy, grouped in a sort of hollow square about the graves of the officers and men involved in the destruction of their charge. The place is in the Argonne district, the tract of rough country, between the sources of the Aisne and the Meuse, through which the high road from Paris to Verdun passes. How catastrophe befell this particular German convoy we can guess. More than one of the enemy's transport trains, moving in this part of the country, are recorded to have fallen victims to long-range bombardments by the French artillery as the result of aeroplane reconnoitring activity--

Like his father and brothers, Prince Eitel Fritz, the Kaiser's second son, has received the Iron Cross. It has not been made known over here how the Prince won it. Our illustration, reproducing a picture from a German paper, may solve the difficulty. Says the legend: "The Prince seized the drum of a fallen soldier and led his troops, beating the charge."

One of the curious fictions about England now going round in Germany is one that Sir John Jellicoe's fleet keeps in hiding lest it should meet the German fleet. German war-ships, indeed, scour the North Sea at all hours to give the Grand Fleet battle! Our illustration, from a serious painting published in a German paper, shows them at it.

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