THE WAR.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 October 1917, Page 3

THE WAR.

IHE fftMfcßN FRONT. THE BRITISH ATTACK. A substantial a dvanck. [AUSTRALIAN & X.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION] LONDON October 4. The United Press Correspondent reporta: The British at six o’clock this morning assaulted tho German positions in a misty drizzle on a wide front centreing about the Boesingbe 1 and Drawenstfol ridges. The “Tom-1 inies,’’ by noon appeared to have car- j ried everything before them along the I entire line and the advance had reach- | ed over a mile deep in places. One j group of prisoners exceeded 600. The | battle impresses the correspondent ns E one of the biggest of the war. i During the night the Germans shell- 1 ed Glencorse Wood and Inverness 1 Copse.. The British charged behind 1 the tornado-like barrage nnd reached their first objectives with comparative ease.

The British at Zonnobeke encountered three enemy divisions who had also been ordered to attack at three o’clock in the morning on a two-mile front in order to recapture the ground lost on September 26th. The British barrage churned the poor devils into a blooody mixture. One company reported that it had lost practically the whole of its bayonet strength.

Elsewhere the Germanb came in with hands, np a minute after the British ■ barrage begun. The British quickly silenced the cleverly hidden machine-guns and broke a counteif attack from Boesinghe. Quickly overcoming the difficulties they cross the Stroomboke. stream and briskly advanced beyond it.

THIRD BATTEL OF YPRES. BRITISH SUCCESSES PRATSED. ENEMY BEATEN ,\T EVERY POINT. [LONDON TIMES SERVICE —■COPYRIGHT] LONDON, Oct. 4. Colonel Repington state 8 tnat the British victories in the last phases of the Third Battle of Ypres are exceedingly meritorious, because they were obtained under unusually arduous conditions. For weeks past the British alone have been attacking nnd tho chief fighting on a total frontage of 1600 miles has been confined to a frontage oi twelve miles. The enemy lias been able to bring up men, guns and aircraft irom all fronts and to concentrate against us wholly to his advantage. Despite those conditions our armies havo defeated the Germans every day in battle and the German people and tho remainder of the world know the success of the British arms has smit-

ten the enemy on the hip and thigh. A comparison of the German reports with the actual fates reveals ludicrous discrepancies. The only course oi act(JUFlikely to imperil our success would be the withdrawal of our bombing squadrons for the purpose of replying score before the present operations in Flanders are concluded.