BRITISH SEIZE LONG TRENCH FRONT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3030, 17 March 1917, Page 10

BRITISH SEIZE LONG TRENCH FRONT

FORCING THE ENEMY SOUTHWARD Tho High Commissioner reports: London, March 15. A British official dispatch states: "Tho area of tho enemy's withdrawal has extended southwards. Wo havo occupied his trenches on a front of two miles and a half, from, tho south of St. Pierre .Vaast Wood to the north of tho village of Saillisel." '■ p [■' FRIGHTFUL HAVOC BY THE BRITISH GUNS GERMANS'FORCED TO RETIRE. London, March 15. Mr. Philip Gibbs writes: —"On Wednesday evening the enemy was still holding out at Achiot-le-Petit and Bucquoy,-.though .ho will ho forced to leavo in a lntrry. A visit to tho battlefields shows tlio dovilish torments the enemy suffered. The ground was a wild chaos, so up by shell-fire that olio's gorge rises at such obsceno mangling of Mothor Earth. With bodies half-buried by high e.vplosivcs, tho ravjno beyond Mirauiuont is a shambles of Gorman.troops. They h(id machine-gun emplacements u'i deep dug-outs under cover of earth banks, but our guns found them out, and tho' entiro garrison was killed. I counted tho dead about hero, and out of 850 bodies seven hundred wcro those of Germans. Our gunfire leaves nothing alivo ; it makes rubbish heaps of machino-gun casements, breaks hundreds of rifles into matchwood, and discloses the secret German retreat. To save themselves from another such-shambles they 3ro falling back on new line&"— Ans.-N.Z. Cable Assn. SIGNS OF i ANOTHER RETIREMENT (Reo. March 16, 6.40 p.m.) Paris, March 15. The "Petit Parisian" states that tliere are indications that the Germans are about to abandon their eutiro lino from Banncscamps to Bapaumo. Tliero are many fires, and explosions continue to be heard. Tho Germans aro certainly destroying tho works in tho region from Bapaumo to Peronne, and also at Noyon and Lassigny. The British, after passing Grevillcrs, havo almost reached tho Arras-Bapaumo railway, which is defended by double entrenchments and masses of entanglements.—-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. FRENCH COUP ON THE OISE •• GENERAL :BOMBARDMENT ALONG THE LINE. ... / London, March 15. A French official communique states: "Wo effected a coup do main in the region Moulinc-Sous-Touvent, ea-st of the Oiso, and took prisoners. Several German attempts on'our email, posts in the neighbourhood of Vingro, west of Navarin, and.in tho Argomib failed. There' is fairly' active artillery work iii the region! of Maison-dc-Champagno, hut no infantry fighting."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable. .A'ssn.-Reutoiv : : . (Bee. • March 17, 0.30,' a.m.) i .. London, March 10. A French official communique states: "Between tho Avro and tho Oise, after violent- artillery preparation, wo raide3 at several points on the enemy's wrecked front, reaching his third lino at one point. Wo occupied a wood to a depth of half a mile. Prisoners were taken. A bombing fight.at Maison-de-Champagne resulted 1 in some progress, and tho occupation of several communication trenches. —Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn.-Eouter. ' ■ GERMAN REPORT. (Rec. March 16, 5.5 p.m.) . , • . , London, March 15. A German wireless official report states: "Our destructive fire stopped French attacks southward of Ripont."—Ams.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Reutcr.