THE WESTERN FRONT

Hokitika Guardian, 26 August 1918, Page 2

THE WESTERN FRONT

frEU TRESS ASSOCIATION. —COPYRIGHT.]

BATTLE FOB. ALBERT

6000 PRISONERS,

(United Service Telegrams.) • LONDON, Aug. 23. Six thousand prisoners have 'been taken in three days during the course of the British advance. They include upwards of a thousand taken befoic noon to-day, also a thousand on Thursday. • r Southward of the Somme the Germans were surprised at many points. In the latter regions Sir Douglas Haig quickly secured the high ground in the. south, including the towns of Cruigncs, Helohille and Chuigmole*, the Germans elsewhere were only oveipowered after fierce, fighting. The British lines now reach Soyelles, HansLincourt, and Comiscourt. There many, men were captured in the hist rush. A bitter battle preceded the capture of Albert. Before victory was achieved it was necessary to wipe out a multitude of machine gun emplacements, formed by the wreckage of a house and the famous church whcrelrom the figures of the Madonna and Child were hung, suspended for a long time, and which is now a striking monument ot the Huns’ destructiveness. A sight which greeted the Tommies when pourin', in on Thursday, was the church levelled to the height of the other ruins round about. The Germans tenaciously clung to the position winch had cost so much to attain, and which was onlv given up after the dead litter od the broken piles of brick and stone throughout the city. The prisoners taken here numbered 750, includinfg a battalion Commander and his staff. The city was attacked on two sides, while the brief haze of the morning lasted. , The infantry crossed the Anere southward and took up a position at the roar of the city. Then the forces holding the railway on the western edge, poured out, striking the town frontally. Shortly after ten, the _ desperate resistance ended. The divisions further south, wore able to use tanks advantageously working up an exposed slope to take the measure of, and after severe fighting, pushing the Germans out of the so-called “Happy Valley.” Meanwhile the British carried their new lino around northward of Bray, taking two hundred prisoners, bringing the total for the first ten hours to fifteen hundred. There was furious fighting elsewhere. Beauregard and Dovecote changed hands five times.

BRITISH PROGRESS. NEW YORK, August 24 Senator Reid stated that the British have encircled Thiepval. A bitter struggle is proceeding within a mile of Bapaume. The British advance was continue, east of Albert. Fourteen thousand prisoners havt been captured within three days. Deliaignes has been taken. The British Third Army progress©., four miles on a front of twelve miles. Fourth Army is reported to have captured Bray. A TERRIFIC STRUGGLE.

(Received Yesterday at 11 10. p.m.) LONDON, August 24. Correspondents describing the terrific fighting at Dovecote*, stftto, onco oui line was swung back some hundreds of yards, but. the guns pounded away, and the Germans being too exhausted to exploit or keep their gains, oiie-Bu-tish unit forced tlveni ofT with twenty thousand rounds with terrible slaughter. Correspondents counted four hundred bodies in one group.

four days operations. PARIS, August 23. During the last four days General Mungin’s and Humbert’s armies captured fifty-two towns aiul villages. The Germans are evacuating Xoyon. FOCIT’S STRATEGY. NEW YORK, August 22. The New York “Times,” commenting on the British offensive states that Field Marshal Haig’s new offensive is plainly a counterpart of his Into brilliant drive further south. The new drive began in a. fog and what has been accomplished is not yet fully reported. General Byng is moving with characteristic speed in the. direction of Ba-

paumc. General Foehs plan is evidently to keep the Gormans moving, and not allow thorn time to select ■ winter quarters. The New York “Tribune, 1 commenting on the British offensive says that General Byng has had a chance to come back at the Germans. H© was nuabi© to repeat liis first day’s success at Cambrai, but nevertheless he shook the German line at a critical point. making more than over likely n German retreat. THE BATTLE WON. PARIS, Aug. 24. General Mangin continues to make make important progress eastward ot the Oise. We outflanked the enemy ixisitions on the Aisne, and Vesle. General Mangin’s army is now posted on the Chemin des Dames reefs. The enemy is carring out a general retreat at Deheneyln. An order of the day of the First Army says:—“They battle is won. Side by side with the British we have broken the enemy front and liberated a depth of twenty-five kilometres of sacred beloved French soil. \\ e have beaten sixteen German divisions and imprisoned ten thousand, captnied 220 guns, an enormous quantity of material and an exchange and telegraph plant.