INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 293, 30 August 1918, Page 5

INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE

PANORAMIC PICTURE OF THE ADVANCE ALLIES BREAK INTO NEW GROUND London, August 28. Mr, Percival Phillips writes: -, The Canadians, in penetrating Green Wood (Bois du Vert), east of Monchy, aro in country untrodden by Entente troops since tho beginning of the war. They are not vet firmly established, but aro fighting hard and slowly forging ahead. Tho New Zealanders, pushing north of Bapaume, actually reached the Cambrai road, nearly encircling tho town, but machine-guns forced them to retire. They aro now resting on the railway to tho north-east. Though small detachments reached the outskirts of Bapaume, it does not mean we aro attempting to storm the place, which will fall unaided.

"The sector which gives the enemy the greatest anxiety is the ten-miles strip botween Bapaume and the Scarpe. When the Canadians went over at 3.20 on Monday morning they found only an inferior division opposed to them. They had to go over six thousand yards. The first stage was done in darkness, relieved by bursts of brilliant moonlight. They covered tho distance in j splendid time, though the German batteries rando good their escape. Meanwhile the Scottish attack from Neuvillo Vitasso was equally successful. Their object wa3 to turn Henin Hill, but there was no opposition on the hill. It was quite a. spectacular affair, the Scots going forward steadily while the enemy retreated in disorder. Thus the Scots were enabled* to make contact with the Canadians. Tho attack was renewed on Tuesday morning on tho entire front. The Canadians near Henin, having rested at night, began mopping up the Hindenburg line/ working towards Fontaine-les-CVoisilles and behind Croisilles, while the Guards pushed around the other side of Croisilles from St. Leger. Thus the whole Gorman lino of' resistance is being pounded hard, and is steadily sagging into the Hindenburg defences. It may be expected that the enemy will fight his .hardest on this northern sector. A good fresh Prussian division is already engaged against the Canadians. "Tno Australian advance on both banks of the Somme may bo described as 'peaceful penetration.' By noon today the patrols on the south sido wero vithin a milo of Dompierro, clearing the machine-guns out of the neighbouring woods. The Australians had penetrated Vaux Wood, nort'i of tlio river, and continue to movo towards Curlu. No serious attempts to hold them have been made, and tho Gorman rearguard is weak and listless, and has apparently been ordered not to resist if pressed hard. The Australians are again traversing wholly devastated country, and progress is naturally slow, and is, on the whole, a deliberate and almost leisurely journey towards Peronne, in marked contrast with the sharp and jerky attacks south of Bapaume."— Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn. . • A TOUR OF TIIEJECAPTURED GROUND ALBERT A SHATTERED WRECK. London, August 28. Mr. Gordon Gilmour (Australian Press Association), who has been visiting tho recaptured ground, says: "The graves of Britishers killed in previous battles were found largely intact, except where a shell-burst had disturbed the ground. The town of Albert is now a shattered wreck. Great chunks of masonry have been thrown up from the foundations of tho church. The magnificent entrance to the church has gone, together with the greater part of the front on which stood tho famous statue of the Virgin and the Child. Unless the Germans stole the statue of the Virgin it must be buried under the mountains of debris. The building is entirely without roof, except a single stono gable over the nltar. Houses smashed by the British artillery blocked tho Ancre canals through Albert and created a. lako on the low ground northward of tho town, out of which trees stand quoerly.

"A captured German diary, written in Clerjr since August 8, says: 'Our morale is pretty well done in by tho awful artillery firo. There is no fond and nothing to drink. Aeroplanes bomb us at close quarters, and our losses aro heavy. Tho latest papers have arrivedj from which the seriousness of the situation is learned. , "-—Aus.-N.Z. Cablo Assn.