HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3056, 17 April 1917, Page 5

HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES

(Reo. April 16, 6.40 p.m.) ~ • / ■ " ; I.''' , '"'- Londoni April 15. Sir Douglas Haig reports: "As the result of the fighting north-west of St. Quentin we gained ground eastward' and northward of Gricourt, and also made progress in the neighbourhood of Saitrincourt Wood and eastward of Lievin, approaching the outskirts of Lens. ' , ''..'"' ' "Later, particulars show thatthe German losses in their.attack on the • Bapaume-Cambrai Toad were'heavier, than at first reported. The attack was pressed! with great determination, under our heavy fire. Three hundred pri- ■ soners were taken and fifteen hundred dead were counted. ■ ; "Ih the. course of 6evere air fighting we destroyed or brought down fifteen German,machines. -Ten of ours are missing."—■Aiis.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Reuter. ''■'■■■• • '\' \ GRAPHIC STORY BY MR. GIBBS .-..'■.' ■-"./■■•"■ • ■ -i . ' -■'•■ HEAVY FIGHTING AND" SUCCESSFUL TACTICS, / , '■.-'. London, 'April 15. ■ V Mr!. Philip Gibbs.writes: "Great far-reaching results followed swiftlythe Canadians' capture of the Vimy Ridge. Our troops cleared out the German cmahine-gunners from the rear posts at Lievin on Saturday, enabling the patrols to penetrate to Lens. The retaking of Lens will 'thrill France, and will be one of the greatest acheivements of the war. AVith cunning and courage, some of our men entered the southern outskirts, of the city; others adivanced - cautiously on the western side. Enough of the enemy to be troublesome were still ■there in machine-gun redoubts, but they were only rearguards. The main body was already in retreat. 'After the British and Canadian success on Fri-. day the enemy saw that his last chanco of a successful counter-attack was foiled. He was immediately seized with fear, and prepared for instant retreat in wild confusion. . ' ' ' :•• -...••; Bristling witji Guns. Lens and Lievin were stacked with guns, and were fortified in a most formidable way—strongholds of masked artillery—but all was threatened by the advance down the northern slopes of Vimy, for the Canadians were not likely'to stay inactive after their great triumph. They were also threatened by the British advnnoe from the Loos battlefield, and the German Staff knew the peril. There were wild scenes at Lens during the efforts to remove the guns, stores, and troops Until dawn on Friday the enemy hoped that the British would be held l back by German rearguards in Vimy and Petit Vimy villages. That hope disappeared when, the* Canadians swept down the and chased the enemy out of those places on the lower slopes towards Douai. Fires and explosions were one of the first signs of the German retreat. They then began.to shell their own front lines. Outside Lieviri and Lene'.the night long the sky was aflame. _ '.'ln the morning," says Mr. Gibbs, "I saw the enemy making a merry little hell in the Lens suburbs and dependent villages. The explosions continued during the morning and nfternoon. Meanwhile our men were advancing from Lievin, and through it, having a hard and costly task torodt out tho machine-gun emplacements, especially tiro terribly strong redoubts called 'Crook' and 'Crazy.' Each group of had separate defences of barbedwire and sandbag barricades, and a nest of machine-guns. A quick advance ■ through Lens would have meant great and needless sacrifice of life." A Clever Ruse. The writer was an eye-witness . of tho attack on the southern suburbs of Lens. Tho troops swarmed over the opon ground, and scattered groups took cover on the embankment, 'where other attackers joined them. After waiting half-ari-hour, they doubled half-loft, led by an officer well ahead, crossed a sunken road, and ascended the slope. Suddenly they changed direction, and again before reaching tho crest, disappearing down a long straight street. The correctness of tho manoeuvre was immediately proved. German fshells plastered the embankment where tho men previously wero assembled. Other troops crept up, steoriug erratically, in* short rushes until they reached tho same street. Lens was heine breached. A last viow showed 'the British siip.ll fire falling heavily about the church and the enemy's troops and transports retreating hastily. „.,,.' ~„, -, j ' : In a later messapc, Mr. bibbs says: "J he attack on thosouthorn suburbs was successful. Tlio British, avoiding a, direct'assault on the hill, crept round on tho left and gained tho high ground in the, north-west, from whore they captured tho Bois do Riaumont.. Tho onoiny, recovering from his first panic, sent his troops back to tho trenches and machine-gun redoubts in the western suburbs, finding that there was not suflicicnt time in which to prepare roarpuard positions between Drocourt and Quonnt.' Meanwhile 2000 women, children, mid old men, iimiblG k> oscapo i" tho interval, arc now taking refugo in the collars, enduring the ntronios of_ tho bombardment." '.'The "Germans quitted Lievin .in s l]c ) l liasto tluit we enptured l vast quantities of bombs, trench-mortars, and shells. Tho Gorman counter-attack at Lagnicourt is clear ovidence of the enemy's anxiety about this portion of tho lino. The village faces an important bastion at Queant."—Aus:-N.Z. Cable 'Assn.:

FRANTIO ENEMY TRIES. TO SAVE HIS GUNS. : London, April 15. The fall of Angres was implied by tho outflanking o£ Liovin, which has now been captured. The "Daily Chronicle" correspondent at Headquarters, telegraphing at four o'clock on Sunday morning, said that British patrols had entered Lens. The onemy loft rearguards in the redoubts, who made frantic efforts to remove the guns, numbering. 150. There is a network of mines and ■pitheads at Lens andl Lievin. The roads were blown , up, and orders given to destroy tlie mines by firing charges into tho pits and flooding them.—Aus.N.Z.- Cable Assn. • . , ANOTHER BIG GAP IN THE ENEMY'S'LINE. ' ■ London, April 15. Eeuter's correspondent at Headquarters, writing on April 15, says that the lates't British captures include great pyramids of slag near the mouths of the coal pits at Lens 3 which tlie Germans had! converted into fortresses. Altogether the German front haa been broken for another four miles.—Router. "Mr Gibbs states'that tho German reoccupation of Lngnicourt was of the briefest", the Australians recapturing the village witli the utmost dash.— Aus>N.'Z. Cable Assn. . ... HUGE BRITISH' LONG-RANGE, GUNS. ■> . New York, April 15. It is stated that Britain is using 22-inch guns, which are effective at twenty-five miles' .range.-A-us.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ' _____ • '