STORIES OF THE BIG BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 277, 12 August 1918, Page 6

STORIES OF THE BIG BATTLE

| DISPATCHES FROM THE BRITISH ■ ... ' ■' FRONT i ".- I PROBING THE ENEMY'S | ',' STRENGTH 1 London, August 9. i Reuter's correspondent at French ! Headquarters, writing at 6 o'clock on ; - Thursday evening, says:—"Tho battle on the' Avre line is progressing well. On ■ the whole front of atiack our troops have 1 established themselves on the plateau overlooking the Avre Valley from the i ' east, and are deploying on it for tho con- | tinuation of the attack. There is every ' / reason for confidence. It must be remembered that a series of important ; -local operations carried out on this : front between •August 2 and 5 were sue- : ' cessful in pushing back the Germans and j ttaking prisoners. General do Beney since then has not relaxed his pressure, ' -with tho result that he held the banks of jithe Avre from Braches to beyond Hari ■ court when tho attack began to-day. The tendency in that direction is to the enlargement of tho frontatL&Ncuvillette. ; 3t will be instructive to see how the i enemy views these threats, as this will ! . indicate his strength. Anything con- • finning tho impression of the German Shortage of men will have a considerable i . .weight in determining future strategy. [.. >-Reuter. Wild Confusion in Enemy's Rear. The United Press correspondent reI ;ports:-"The advance continues amid growing enemy confusion. The British i cavalry have taken further villages, and ;■! (tho troops aTe approaching Chaulnes. i'" >The prisoners now probably total over i ; twenty thousand. Tho British wero uni lable to retain tho summit .Chipilly, and i. '(fighting there continnes to ho heavy.' i i'ffhe progress elsewhere is unhampered, 'hnd the French and British cavalry are r . 'cutting up the retreating columns. I lie i ' bridges at Peronno and' Brie have been ( ■ .destroyed. Prisoners are steadily etrearoi' [in- in to the rear. Tho losses of von I %ler Marwitz and von Huticr in muin- , ,•• .tions and other supplies alone are a big fclow to the Germans. Ten divisions '• . vere identified in Thursday s fighting, 1 'tmd further divisions have been thrown ! ■ . • in since to stiffen the resistance in spots, i especially in tho Morlancourt region. •' -The Wurtembur'geTS regained Clnpilly, ! and were ordered to hold the spur at all ! .costs. The cavalry elsewhere is Winding up prisoners, and. armoured cars are •Washing up and down the roads, increasi sng the enemy's dismay, while the tanks and 'whippets' manoeuvring across the 'iields are co-operating with the cavalry '-far ahead of the infantry. Tangle of German Transport. "The whole area in the bend of the Sommo is a tangle of German transport; nrtillery and troops, all struggling along I the same roads which low-flying aero- ' . planes are thrashing with machine-guns i" and bombs night and day. All the cross•ings over the Somme are bombed with- ! ' cut mercy, and many bridges, including ' those at Peronne and Brie, have been 'destroyed. The French cavalry, tanks, j iind infantry are fighting brilliantly on the British right. The position at 3 • -o'clock in the afternoon was that the j (British infantry wero following tho cavsilry and tanks ten miles from tho starting line. Tho total French advance was v four miles deep on a nine-miles front. ■ The Canadians bad captured Warvillers, , find the enemy had recaptured Chipilly. The situation is satisfactory. The Ger- '■ man losses, in addition to prisoners, are Most heavy, while ours have been ex-,-ceptionally light." • No Time to Construct Defences, Vjlr. Percival Phillips writes:—'.'Thanks v ,o the almost ceaseless Allied artillery \re, the enemy is for tho most part unble to develop any formidable system of ifence, such as we had to overcome on e Somme \n 1916, and in Flanders in !8. The consciousness of this weakness probably responsible for the recent ihdrawals. Tho preliminary bom•dment in tho battle consisted of ee -minutes of whirlwind fire on the nt position, then the field ignns and nch mortars began to lengthen out in irecping barrage, whilst tho heavy artery, continned to pound, away at spots ;ely to prove troublesome. Hundreds tanks advanced with the infantry ives, many crossing the Avre with jtifying ease. A large number of lowing aeroplanes participated in the bat- - when the light had broadened snffintly, and shed a torrible hail of bombs 1 machine-gun tiro. It was so hazy en tho advance began that thoi gun shes were often invisiblo fifty yards ay. It.was just the;weather for a rprise. The advance was uniformly pid everywhere except at Morlancourt. here the enemy's positions wero well rtified, and the fighting there was con,iuoue throughout the morning.

"The Fog of War." "Below the Somma the men literally finished into the fog of war, and it is ifficult to piece together anything like a onnected narrative because tho fighting oils away over a wide sweep of oountry ind becomes impossible to follow. But prisoners are coming in in shoals. Tho mm condition of many of them indicates that they have been overrun and have surrendered without fight. "One general, referring to the capturee of guns, laughingly said: 'It will take :«lays to errant them.' A swift surprise .'drive on such a length of front to such a. depth gives the enemy no time to get ihis batteries away or even to destroy them. The infantry in many places overran the, f upport of onr artillery, but at did not matter, because they had already advanced beyond where any German guns wero posted, and because pve iJiad plenty of German guns to swing round and serve. Our batteries advanc,fed with wonderful smartness. In one instance a whole field brigade' got beyond the original front line, and was in action twenty minntes after "zero." We .were successful in getting two companies of tanks across the Luce Elver under cover of darkness, and they did invaluable work in clearing up what it was feared would prove a difficult situation owing to the strong German positions in the Dodo Wood and on tho neighbouring high gronnd. "Such casualties as the tanks suffered (were inflicted by gunfire from the south bank of the Somme. Wo therefore directed a converging attack against the Gressaire Wood and Chipilly, and secured large hauls of prisoners and field guns in both places. Our men speak of tho wonderful effectiveness of our barrage. The enemy's machine-gun fire was less intenso thart was anticipated, ■ no doubt owing to tho smothering of observation by the mist. The prisoners are of a good type of soldier, but were dopressed by tho news of the Marne de-feat."—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. ,