PHILIP GIBBS' STORY.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 August 1917, Page 3

PHILIP GIBBS' STORY.

WORK OP TANKS. | HEAVY enemy losses. rAUBTBALIAN & N.Z. CAULS ASSOCIATION] (Por Press Associawon— Copyright) LONDON, August 1. . - Mr. Philip Gibbs reports: The op* k‘battle that all the world has boon expecting has begun stretching roughly from the River Lys to Boesmghe above which the * French are fighting shoulder to shoulder with ourselves. We thrust back the enemy on a wiue stretch of oountry between Pilkem and Hollebeke. The enemy is desperately fighting, flinging in reserves m counter-attacks intending to check our sweeping advances. The many tanks which 'are preccd- ■ ing and following our infantry did marvels against the strong poojats where machine-gun 3 momentarily held hack the attackers. Mr Gibbs describes the terrific bombardment preceding the attach also the British raids day and ni'ght to see what strength was massing against us! Russia lured the enemy who despite our threat had sent sir hivi-f sions to the Eastern Front, but simultaneously relieved many divisions ■ which were broken by our fire, replacing them by the freshest and strongtst , troops. Our gulls caught the Ger- ( man* relieving id the trenches. Thu# | the • Fifty-seocmd Reserve Division stepped straight into an infomo of ! fire. ' ‘"1 The weather was against us. After a day’s rain the heavy sodden clouds 1 were rendering aerial observation al- 1 most impossible and greatly hampering the artillery. The night was dark and moist but luck was with us and the ■ threatened storm did not break. The 1 men were kept dry and the darkness proved to be in oiir favour. The assaulting troops were formed up for the attack very close to the. enemy’s lines which were merely field of craters whence our storms of fire swept away all trenches, biuldings and trees. The forward positions were held lightly by small groups knowing themselves doomed and awaiting their doom in pits like animals in death traps. - ' f GAINED GROUND. \ ' LONDON, July 31., > f Mr. Phillip Gibbs reports: We ’ gained ground everywhere and Lu t ,- •bred positions across the Ysor Canal We-thrust hack the enemy on a wide stretch between Palchem and Hollebeke c The enemy is fighting desperately and is supported by a great weight of artil- 1 v lery. . ' - ■ -• ( A’GIGANTIC STRUGGLE. 1 THE ARTILLERY t (Received this day at 12.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 1. , Mr. Philip Gibbs continues in a f graphic description of the fight —The enemy in the less damaged second line defences appeared to be in. greater * strength as flares from thodce ascended all the night. ’ . . Scores of thousands of our me° lying hi'earth puddles and mud holes watch*ed;the flares and hoped that they woniu j not be discovered until tho order came ’..for the .-advance. They lay Bilently while shells passed or smashed among them. \ The enemy’s aircraft, holder than in p daytime, came put at night and swooped over the'places where they imagined our batteries were hidden, and dropped bomba, but seeing nothing their aim . was had, and,the damage unimportant Shortly afteT half-past three* (the noise of the artillery quickened and intensified the monotonous overwhelm- • ing tumult. Tho roar was so great that twelve miles behind the lines big - houses moved, and were shaken wit-., the' great trembling. People tartno- ... were awakened with tho fear of the gunfire,- which* was not slackened • foe hours, as it! beat ovor the countryaide. ' ■ ' 1 At hine'in the morning there was the f ' Same great rattle and terror, whem v - over 2000 • guns started thundering to ‘the eastward, with the enemy’s barrage t over Wameton, Losttaverne, and in the r Valley of Belmy, and on the Messinw ( Ridge. ‘ , . ' - ~ The enemy raised am appalling, fire j all along our line. : Shells of the heavi- •, est calibre burst monstrously, and * ~ raised great pillars of white smoke, - Which was a Death Valley, wherein our , men were fighting for the slopes he- 1 ypnd. ' 1 '.; ■; NEW ZEALANDER’S PARTICIPATE "FIGHTING. (Received this day at 12.30 a.m.) LONDON, July 31. „ •V ' Mr, Philip Gibbs, continuing, says * It is too soon to give the details of the battle, or a full account of ithe progress. . .. *.. - In the battle so far the English, Scottish, Welsh, some Australians and New Zealanders all along the line fought hard, and with good success. The ground was as difficult as any that had ever been a battlefield, Owing to tho canal and swamps the enemy •Were, quifekiy. ejected fyom- tbe front line ofshell-craters They were thickly massed in the second line, but some of them held their hands up immediately, crying for mercy. *7 The Scots came up against a strong emplacement of machino guns, where the gunners fired rapidly, checking our men. •(.,'. The Scots rushed the place and imati> tho- Germans hoisted the ,white flogEven then others fired. The Welsh wiped' out tho famous Third Guards Divisions. THE SUCCESS ACHIEVED. • ' LONDON, July 81st, The success was a* great as we dared to tope for- 7 . Beyond Ypres, bn the Menin road, whs a* big tunnel where the English lads expected trouble. Thoy found only forty-one men, who forthwith surrundered. , . Some of the onbmy’s troops were young boys. The majority were older and tougher men. ' The French*, fighting with us, kept . pace with their usual gallantry, carrying all objectives according to the time table. ■ The troops of the two nations with one great irresistible assault reach- - ed the heights at Blobem Ridge,.

J - HiISOHEB'S OTOKTE3. | GERMAN MORALE UNBROKEN. • STIFF DEFENSIVE FIGHT. j rAUSTRALIAN" & N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION (Received This Day at 9.30. a.m.) j LONDON, Aug Ist. ' The Morning Post’s correspondent in Flanders states that prisoners fell rible stories of the Josses under our contoentrated artillery firo. 1 One German battery changed its crow nine times, while the guns were changed five times. j: We caught many reliefs. j The Germans at the last moment ■ threw in the third Guard’s Division i and 12th Reserve Division, the latter j relieving the 238th, two hours beforo tho j present offensive, whilo the Third j Guard’s division, which we effectively , ' depleted at Montaubon and the Somme, were still busy relieving the Twenty-, ] third Bavarian division. | 1 Prisoners from both elements began | to arrive «t our collecting cages this' i morning. c The Sixth German Army which is facing us, not only included tho divisions punished by tlio bombardment but new ones not familiar with the line. They were suddenly plunged into the wreckage and trenches. j They were obviously at a disadvantage ’ when they were caught by the flood of men and Tanks let loose by the great-e.-i. barrage-of all. yet they were not broken. The irien’-s fighting spirit in places is good. They nowhere appear to \have turned tail and run, but there wa s loss determined fighting at isolated strong posts than marked tho - early phases of the Somme battle. There was a greater inclination, particularly on the northern top of the salient and ground thereabouts, to surrender immediately they were cut offe FLANDERS MUD. n f 3 CAUSES ,A PAUSE. V - li INTERESTING DETAILS. ’I —— SI (AUSTRALIAN & N.Z.' CABLE ASSOCIATION] r (Received this day at 1.30 p.m.) p I.ONON, Aug 1 The United Press correspondent, states there is a slight pause in the operations. ; The rain lias- transformed Flanders- into a muddy marsh. Even before tlio rain the shell holes were filled with sewerage, land these are now brimming, making the advance a matter of s swimming, as well as walking. « Tliere are no reports concerning guns p captured. e Artillery smashed up the Germans i, massing for a counter-attack eastward of Freezeneers. Further south ward (.he British teak Forest Farm. • Hot fighting developed at tho windmill and Warnoton- The British took .it lost it, and finally recaptured. it. The French maintain their positions, nearly throe miles eastward of Monday’s front lines. GENERAL HAIG’S REPORT. NEW POSITIONS IMPROVED. - ' .V.: - a HEAVY RAIN FALLING 0 [ AUSTRALIAN <Sr N.Z. CABLE - ASSOCIATION a & K BITTER.] (Received This Dne at 12.25. p.m A , m . ; * .. LONDON, August 1 General Haig reports w.e had improved our new line by night operations to. the southward of Ypres—Comine.s Canal. We repulsed counter attacks against the now positions a-t La Basseville, northward of Ypresßoulers Railway. Heavy rain Has fallen-since yesterday afternoon and it is hot. favouring operations. - ■■ f, FRENCH OPEICmONS. ft w GERMAN ATTACKS STOPPED. (Received This I)nv at. .12.23.. n.i" ' - LONDON, Aug 1. . French communique says.—After the magnificent success in Belgium, we eon solidated in torrential rain, the position won. *' The artilleiy struggle continues on the whole Aisne,front. . Strong counterattacks enabled us to progress cast -of f, Corny at several points. / "*, ( | “After a bombardment of several days a in the region between Avocourt and Hill 304, the Germans this morning at- T tacked* the positions we captured on 0 July 17tli. in the Evening, but were on- o ly ' aJ>lo to reach certain advanced elements of our first line, where thoy were held up by fn'e curtain. r SPREAD TQ LENS. - MOST MOMENTOIiS BATTjjr, a PARIS, August 1. I The “Tudesq Journal” states the artillery fire has spread to Lens. A , t terrific cannonade wiped out the last mining village. " . • > , I , We are fighting tP-day* the most momentous battle of the war. We are no longer concerned at the' mere conquest of a t°wn or the gaining of a height but it.ja a sovereign en- , counter between two peoples - each of whom have reached their maximum efforts of science and hat©. It 4s the most colossal collision ever ; recorded and will end finally in the crushing of the entire German military force . GOING TO LAST WEEKS. j -THE BIGGEST OF ALL. : j (Received This Ptv at 10.15. u.vn ) J PARIS, Shgufit 1 • i The Petit Pari sen’s correspondient says we must not forget that the batfe which has opened so formidably is going t® last for some weeks as a strategic battle, wherein the French and British are employing material on a “scale hitherto unknown. SYSTEMATICALLY LIMITED 1 ATI. POINTS SECURED. 1 - i PARIS, August 1. , I Mr. Marcel Hutin says just a H in the ' battle of. tho Somme, Ancre, “VVyus-chaet-e and Mefisines, the depth of the , advance is being systematically limited on a pre-detcrmined front. The Franco-Bribish adv:inec secures all observation points and intermediary L positions around Ypres whereto the capture of Wystchacte and Mesrines was a preliminary step.

THE FRENCH COMMAND. ! (Received This Day at 10.15. a.m.) PARIS, August 1. The French are commanded by tne Generals who played >an important, role in tho last battle in Champagne and last year below Verdun, j At nightfall the French sent largo forces across tho Yser Canal. When, the bombardment on the third German line began the French advaneei and occupied tho first line without resist,ola«(bL Then protected by the barrage, they advanced so rapidly that the British for a time were leffc bohind. It was , not for long, as soon the whole of the German positions on a six mile front were in the Allies’ hands. The second line “was carried as easily as the first. South of Roulers road tlio British met with strong resistance. There the more (numerous Gormans were able to preserve some points d’appui but the British fought valourously and the Germans soon fell bade. Still, at the end of the day, the enemy held portion of the second positions on the right wing. » GETTING WEST. ROME, August 1. Berlin reports state as the result, of the western offensive tho Kaiser, Generals Hindenburg, and Ludendorff, have returned from Galicia.