THE ADVANCE ON THE SOMME FRONT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 248, 8 July 1918, Page 5

THE ADVANCE ON THE SOMME FRONT

OPERATION COMPLETELY SUCCESSFUL " AUSTRALIANS' LOSSES SURPRISINGLY LIGHT The New Zealand High Commissioner reports:— London, July !>, 1140 a.m. Sir Douglas Haig reports: "On'the Somme in yesterday's ouct'iil.ions wo took over 1300 n German field-gun, 100 machine-guns, ami a numlicr of trench mortars. Eastward of Hainel a counter-attack was easily repulsed last night," Hy Telegraph-Press Aeiociation-Copyright. London, July 5. Sir Douglas Flnig reports: "This morning, south of the Somine, a completely euecessful operation was carried out by tlw Australians, assisted by somu detachments of Amoricans and supported by tanks. Oiir objectives ' were taken and held. Wo tiro in possession of the woods of.Vniro and'Hnmel and the village of Hnmel. In conjunction with this operation the. Australians attacked eiisrtoiai<l of Ville-sur-Ancre, and completely succeeded, our lines being advanced . fivo hundred yards on a twelve hundred yards front. The prisoners captured in theso. operations exceed a thousand. Many machine-guns and other material were also tftkon." ■ Sir Douglas Haig, in his aviation report, states: "Tho weather in cloudy, nnd thero has been only slight activity by the enemy.. During tho day and night wo dropped sixteen tons of bombs on the railway junction at Lillo and Courtrni and elsewhere. AH our machines returned."—Aiis.-N.Z. Cable- Assn.Reuter. "■■■•■ ■■'•■'■ " ' (Hoc. July 7, 5.5' p.m.) ' : ' ■ London, .1 uly 5. . Sir Douglas Haig reports: "The tolal number of prisoners taken in Thursday's successful operation on the Somnie exceeds thirteen hundred; one, fieldgun was captured, and 100 machine-guns liave already been counted. A coun-ter-attack on our new positions'eastward of Hamel on the night, of July 1 was easily repulsed. TVo carried out a successful raid in the Beaumont Hamel sector. And-repulsed an attempted raid in tho neighbourhood of Strazeelo."—Aus.N.Z. Cable- Assn.-lloutcr. Tn a later report Sir Douglas Haig states; "The nun-ber of prisoners captured in tho operations on July 4 on the Sommo and in subsequent German counterattacks exceeds fifteen hundred, including forty officer.?. Hostile artillery firing is in progress at Scherpenberg. Our aeroplanes, co-operated in tho successful attack on July i southward of the Soinine by heavily bombing tho German positions throughout the previous night and machine-gunning- and bombing from a low altitude the.enemy troops and transports during tho actual operation. Wo ..destroyed eleven machines and drove down ten out of control. Four British ihachines engaged in that area are missing. All engaged on other parts of tho front returned. We dropped 33 J tons of bombs on July 1 and on the night of July 4-5."-Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Eeuter. . • (Rec. July 7, 11.35 p.m.) London, July G. Sir Douglas Haig reports: "Wo cap-nred a few prisoners this morning in jatrol encounters in the neighbourhood of Ypre3. Hojitilo artillery is active between Villers Dretonncux and the Ancre."—Aus.-IS.Z. Cable Assn.-Renter. ENEMY SIGNALLY DEFEATED .' • ALL OBJECTIVES QUICKLY REACHED. London, July 5. The United Press Agency correspondent states: "The battle, which began at daybreak .east of Amiens, is destined to occupy a special place in history. Not only did we signally defeat tin cnoiuy, but wo took 1500 prisoners. Wo reached all ,our objective- with exceedingly few losses to the attackers, Absolutely no artillery work preceded the attack, but two minutes before tho troops went over the British guns began a bombardment of the German front and support lines, when a screen of smoke soon covered tho baltlefront from tho Ancre to tho Luce., Suddenly, in the centre, a largo number of , tanks, which had been secretly brought: up, emerged from tho smoke. The enemy troops were so terrified that they scarcely fought; many holding up their hiimls and begging to surrender. Behind tho tanks came the Australians, moving towards llamei, tho Vairo Wood, nnd the (fame! Wood. In n, short time every objective hud been gained, and the village, the woods, and the trenches Gf.voud fell into Allied hands. Three Gorman divisions lost heavily. Local operations between tho Sommo and the Ancre kept the enemy guessing, and enabled us 1o improve the situation. Prisoners admit that they were totally surprised. They had epent the night in cellars and dugouts, dodging, British'bombs dropped from thn aeroplanes, which circled al! .night, dropping scores of twenty-five pound bombs into Hamel."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. "AS COMPLETE A VICTORY AS THE ALLIES EVER WON" DESTRUCTIVE WORK BY THE AIRMEN. (Roe. July 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 5. Mr. Percival Phillips describes the Hamel operation as as complete- a victory <ts the Allies have ever won. The German resistance was feeble- and spasmodic, utterly unlike the organised opposition expected. Something like a panic seized (lie enemy. Large numbers of German dead were found to have been victims of the preliminary air raid, which was as destructive as tho artillery work. , Tho .British aviators dropped 300 large bombs, and beforo ths defenders could rally the tanks were upon them. Many Germans ran away, and one battalion surrendered with its Staff.-Aus.-X.Z. Cable Assn. AUSTRALIANS' ATTACK SURPRISES THE GERMANS OPERATION PERFECTLY CARRIED OUT. London, July 5. Mr. Philip Gibbs writes: "The surprise attack by the Australians resulted in an advance of a milo and a half on four miles of front, capturing the village- of Hamel and the trench system beyond, south of the Somme. The Australian losses were astonishingly light. Wh-ju [ visited tho Australians it was difficult to believe- that an attack had taken place. There were none of the usual signs of battle; the casualty clearing stations were almost empty; no lightly-wounded men were about. Tho enemy was utterly surprised, Tho attack was so perfectly carried out that it was completed m an hour, when hundreds of prisoners were being sent back under escort. The tanks co-operating with tho infantry were the main cause of the German surprise and overthrow. German officers confess that up to 3 o"clock in tho morning they' had not the faintest idea they wqre going to bo attacked. Our artillery was very strong on this sector, and tho fire was so planned- that it neutralised the enemy's guns directly. Tho German artillery reply was so feeble, Hint the Australians wars well on the way to_ thoir last objective before Hie first shells fell on tho old German front lines. When the brigades assembled for the attack at dead of night they were careful that no sound should cross No Itan's Land. The infantry moved oil' at. eleven minutes past 3, drumfire beginning two minutes earlier. ■ 'The roar of the guns xominded mo of the Battle of Poziercs,' said an Australian officer. * Fine Work By the Tanks, "Under tho widspread (light of shells the tanks started forward. Smoke screens were- sent up before the tanks, and mnilo dons.e clouds, which lay low on the ground, and hid the funks from the German anti-lank guns; so the Uinks nosed their way forward steadily, with tho crews within working the engines and three or four men sitting on top of each. Fully exposed, with their legs dangling over (lie sides, they rode into what seemed like hollfire. The infantry followed in wrvm, the loose, open lines of nien extending forward as they en mo close to tho barrage rolling slowly ahead. The Australians chose- to risk "Hounds from their own builds rather than give the German machine-gunners tlmo to get to work. The German machine-gunners wore only able lo open fire jn a few place*. One was n rear trench, where ;i tank could not got into position. Hero tlio enemy fought stubbornly, tiring machine-guns persistently, until they .

were rushed. Elsewhere the German anti-lank guns put threo or four tanks out of action for a time, Most of the tanks were, successful, rounding up a largo number of Germans, and manoeuvring: all over the nttacked sector, with the infantry in their wake. Dawn was just breaking , when the Australians made their final charge, shouting to the enemy to surrender. Many aeroplanes took part in the battle, swooping low to drop bombs on the German posit ions, and making -lliunel a hell. Most of the Germans wore wearing gas masks, believing that tho smoke of our tanks was poisonous gas. So slight was (he Gorman artillery iiro that (he Australians were iibloto wonder over the captured ground witlv tho greatest ease."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. AMERICANS EAGER TO HELP AUSTRALIAN TROOPS EULOGISED. (Bee. July 7, 11.35 _>.m.) . v London, July C. 1 Mr. 'Philip Gibbs stales that an American general addressed tho Americans I before the buttle of Hamel. He said: "You are yoing to get a taste of the real thing. You arc going in with some of the best soldiws, thy Australians, who .always deliver the goods. They are not going to stop till every objective is readied. We expect you to do the samv, and we should be very disappointed if you do not fulfil our hopes and tlie bertef wo have in you." There were thousands of other American troops desperatelv eager to join, and asked the Australians if they could not lend them a hand.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. THE GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT (Eec. July 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 5. A wireless German official report states; "Southward of the Somme tho enemy penetrated the village and wood of Hamel. Our counter-attack frustrated an attack eastward of Haiucl."—Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn.-Eeuter, AN ADVANCE BY THE FRENCH OVER A THOUSAND UNWOUNDED PRISONERS CAPTURED. London, July 5. A French communique states: "Between the Oise and the Aisne, at 7.30 p.m. yesterday, we attacked west of Autreches on a front of 2000 yards, and advanced about half a. mile. A new attack was launched later in tho same region, between Autreches and Moulin-sous-Touvenl, at the moment when the enemy was preparing to counter-attack, and enabled us to gain still further ground. Our total advance extends over a front of three miles to a depth of 1300 yards at some points. We took 10C6 unwounded prisoners."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Eeuter. (Bea. July 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 5. A French communique states: "Our detachments and patrols operating between Moutdidier and (lie Oise, in the Champagne, on the right bank of tho Meuse, and in Lorraine, secured prisoners in each sector."—Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn.-Eeuter. A later communique stales'. "There is moderato reciprocal artillery firing, wliidh is livelier south of the Aisne, particularly in the regions of Cutry find Mont.Gobcrt. We raided west of liuesaines."—Aus.-N.Z, Cablo Assn.-Eeuter. AIR RAIDS ON COBLENZ AND SAARBRUCKEN • (Eec. July 7, 5.5 p.m.) London, July 5. Tho Air Ministry reports that on the morning of July 5 our aeroplanes heavily attacked the railway station ut Coblenz, and successfully bomted h'aarImioken, where wo brought down two enemy .attacking machines. All our machines returned.—Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn.-Keuter. BRUGES, ZEEBRUGGE, AND OSTEND BOMBED (Kee. July 8, (1.50 a.m.) London, July 6. The Admiralty reports: "We dropped 15.1 tons of bombs on the. Uriijjcs lock .gales, /iccbrugjo sheds and warehouses on tho quay at Oslend, and also <m two aerodromes, liursls of dames were observed at the sheds, warehouses, and hangars.' , —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Eeutcr.