SOMME BATTLE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17279, 21 September 1916, Page 7

SOMME BATTLE.

BRITISH FROM!. RAIN CONTINUES. Tbe High Commissioner reports:— LONDON, September 19. A British official message says: —On the Somme i - ain continues. The enemy’s trenches were raided at Rielicbourg and La Beque, and wo took prisoners and a machine-gun. There wore many casualties. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. General Haig reports that the general situation is unchanged. In three raids at Ricliebourg wo captured prisoners and our casualties were very slight. Five moro of our aeroplanes have failed to return. 1 (Received September 20, 10.30 p.m.) IvONDON, September 20. Sir Douglas Haig reports:—The local attack on our trenches east of Martinpuich was easily repulsed. Our fire exploded an ammunition sforo in the neighbourhood of Hill 60.

WITH THE FRENCH. BAD WEATHER. (Received September 20, 10.30 p.m.) PARIS, September 20. A communique saysßad weather hampered operations on the greater portion of the front. Our artillery is active on both banks of the Somme. SUNDAY’S BATTLE. MOST DESPERATE FIGHTING. SPLENDID FRENCH GUNNERY.NEW YORK, September 19. The “New York Times” correspondent in' France states that as the result of Sunday’s battle the French have driven another wedge’ into tlio circuit of fortresses defending Peronue. Tho sceno of the battle was between Barleux and Yennandovillers At tho latter village the fight was so fierce that tho Germans died to a man rather than surrender. The French found evidences of the terrible effect of the artillery fire in a wood south-east of Berny. They literally had to force their way through heaps of corpses. Tho Bavarians returned to the charge again and again, but each new company was cut to pieces by the curtain fire, which passed over tho heads of -ho French very closely yet harmlessly. The accuracy of ' the artillery was most perfect, Jt ip described as tho finest gunnery ever witnessed. After the capture of Berny tho French exerted strong pressure on tho German lino between Berny and Doniccourt, thus preventing tho advance of the strong reinforcements upon which the Germans counted. After his capture a German commander broke his sword in bitterness at his defeat. THE GERMAN SIDE.

MINIMISING DEFEATS. 1 The Times ” Service. AMSTERDAM. September 19. German correspondents are attempting to induce readers to believe V-hat

tho Allied Somme successes aro merely local advantages, and do not influence the war. Professor Wegner, in the “ Cologne Gazette,” writes:— “ We do not like abandoning ground, but tho army commanders voluntarily refrained from recapturing tho rased positions.” OFFICIAL REPORT. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. AMSTERDAM, September 19 A German communique says—East of Gincliy and before Combles wo yielded somo trenches. HOW LONG CAN IT LAST? WAR CORRESPONDENT’S PICTURE. (Received September 20, 9.15 p.m.) " T'lio Times ” Service. LONDO'N, September 19. A war correspondent in the ‘‘Frankfurter Zeitung ” says that the Somme offensive consists of most terrible continuous fighting. ‘‘The enemy only pause to prepare hastily new attacks. They have crushing artillery and infantry superiority and aro indulging in perfectly horrible orgies of modern scientific destruction. German soldiers aro fighting in he'll and aro making most gigantic sacrifices for tho Fatherland. How long can this slaughter last?” Tho correspondent points out that the Allies aro immensoly strong while Germany is compelled to hold the whole of the west front and the greater portion of tho east front, while supporting her allies in tho Carpathians, in Transylvania, the Dobrudja and in Turkey. THE “TAMKS,” BRITISH ARMOURED CARS. CREDIT DUE TO WINSTON CHURCHILL. Australian and N.Z. Cablo Association LONDON, September 19. Mr Lloyd George, in ton-icy red, said they must not expect overmuch from tho' “ Tanks,” but so far they had done well. “The credit,” ho said, “is due to Major Winston Churchill, who enthusiastically took up the idea of making them long ago. and converted me, ami tlie Ministry of Munitions immediately wont ahead. Mr A. A. 0. Swiuton, the electrician, gave valuablo assistance.” GERMAN CONSOLATION. (Received September 20, 10.15 p.m.) ROTTERDAM, September 20. The ‘‘ Berliner Tngeblatt” says:— “ England’s boosted armoured autos were invented because of tho enemy’s terror of tho German machine-guns.” CARS BUILT IN AMERICA. THE CATERPILLAR THEORY. WASHINGTON, September 19. The framework of tho British armoured cars is said to have been built by the Holt Manufacturing Company of Illinois. Tho company has sent over a thousand to England. They woro unarmoured when they loft America. The machines resemble railway track layers. They aro of t normous tractive imwer. They lay th*W own. rail; antn.

matically and pick thorn up after using thorn; the wheels do not touch tho groundThe cars are constructed of steel. They are of 1.20 horse-powei, and the weight is 18,000 pounds. Evidentlv they were armed and armoured in England. AMERICA COPIES BRITAIN. WASHINGTON, September 19. Tho United States Department of War has ordered twenty-seven machines from the Holt Company simila r to the British “ Juggernauts.” They will be -used primarily for pulling big guns, but will be convertible into moving fortresses. GERMAN LOSSES. A CRITIC’S ESTIMATE. 700,000 SINCE JULY 1. (Received September 20, 5.20 p.m.) LONDON, September 19. The “Westminster Gazette’s” military critic says that the twenty-unio divisions which Sir Douglas Haig reported as having been withdrawn exhausted represont 550,000 fighters. At .least two-thirds of the effectives must have been lost before the Germans retired a singlo division and therefore.tho enemy’s losses on the British float would be about 370,000 since July 1. Probably the Germans have lost another 350,000 on the French front on tne Somme. Tiie limit of German endurance must bo being reached. DISTRIBUTION OF ENEMY DIVISIONS. WORK OF THE ALLIES. (Received September 20, 10.15 p.m.) LONDON, September 20. A statement from an authoritative source points out tho great moral value of the perfected co-operation of tho Anglo-French armies on the Somrao between July 1 and September 8. Fiftythree German divisions had been engaged, of which twenty-eight had been withdrawn qnite broken. Eleven-others had been withdrawn for rest. Under tho Allies’ artillery fire and infantry pressure tho average life of a German division as a fit unit is about nineteen days. Over two new German divisions have been brought into the front line weekly since the end of June, and have replaced thoso shattered and exhausted Tho figures show that oven more than tho ground won, how steadily and swiftly tho Allies are moving toward tho accomplishment of their chief strategic aim, which is the destruction as a fighting force of the enemy’s armies in the field. Of tho fifty-three divisions, twenty-eight were used whololy against the Brit'sh, and twenty wholly used against the French, and the balance against, the French and later against tho British. On September 8 there wero seven German divisions facing each of tho Allied armies, so that tile comrade armies are evenly sharing the burdens and tho achievements of tho struggle. If one shows more ground won, the other may claim that larger enemy forces have been annihilated. In any case, neither army seeks separate glory in the tremendous conflict, which in the German General Staff is described as tho “decisive battlo of the war.”