PREPARING FOR A BLOW IN THE WEST

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2690, 9 February 1916, Page 5

PREPARING FOR A BLOW IN THE WEST

BIG MOVE BY THE ENGIW REPORTED EXPECTED ASSAULT ON YPRES \ Br Telegraph—Pro:6 Association—OopyrighL The "Telegraaf's" Belgian correspondents acree tlmf?he a ?v£ ebn,ary 7 " paring for a _ western offensive. Enormous stores, artillery ammunitio» re guns are arriving, the result of a month's preparation £erv nkceln r * 1 Belgium and southwards close to the main ra lways is full of stores Ihe enemy's organisation is improved, and apparently^ owulg to'?* 10 admirable calm and accuracy of the British shootine--1200 Germans were killed in a day. The British artillery and machine-guns mo wed down the Gernian lines, but the German commanders have no recarf for even the most sanguinary sacrifices whett an objective is desired • . Correspondents assert that Ypres is likely to ho the location of the offensive. A great hospital is being erected, and graveyards marked out. HIGH COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. The High' Commissioner reports:— ((tit. -L , ,J ,v , ~ „ London, February 8, 5.40 a.m. We bombarded the enemy's works in Belgium and Artois, provoking great' explosions at St. Laurent. b b "An enemy blockhouse was destroyed on the southern borders of a wood at Ourscamp. junction 1 '' 2 callsed l,y our heav F artillery close, to Ohallerange railway | GREAT ACTIVITY FROM NIEUPORT TO YPRES ■ HEAVY ARTILLERY FIGHTING. (Reo. February 9. 1.5 a.m.) ' . ' . . . London, February 8. . The Western communiques reveal increasing activity on this front. A German communique alludes to fierce artillery battles between the La Bassee Canal and Arras, and also south of the Somme. "The enemy's artillery violently bombarded Lens during the last few days." Sir Douglas Ha-ig alludes to the enemy's artillery activity at Loos. "The British bombarded the trenches near the Ypres-Eoulers railway." - The "Daily Mail's" Rotterdam correspondent says: "There is great activity from Ypres to Nieuport, following the German concentration in that region, especially at La Bassee, where the German trenches were flattened! by the;bombardment. Th© Germans have brought many new grins opposite Ypres. The German newspapers profess to foresee a renewed Allied-attempt in the near future to break through: Signs are increasing more and more, especially in artillery activity, at Lens and Artois. The activity of the British patrols is most noticeahle.-