In the West

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 94, 17 November 1916, Page 5

In the West

work qnltif iMMffifc;C R EAT B Preßa Association—Copyrighty ( Austra-' lian and N.Z. Cable Association.'' London, November 16. General Sir Douglas Haig reports:— We further advanced our front northAvard of the Ancre. The prisoners total 5678. Our troops showed conspicuous skill, dash and fortitude. Their success was not won without a hard struggle, owing to the enemy's strong resistance and 1 "-the condition m' the- ground. losses,.. consideHiig the gains, were not high. One division, advanced a mile., taking prisoner a thousand at the expense of 450 easr ' ualties. We established the positions won on Tuesday eastward of Butte de Warlencourt. The artillery dispersed ' the enemy massing at one point for a cdunter-aitack. Our aeroplanes 'sue-' I cessfully attacked an aerodrome, railway stations, and rolling stock. La Liberte says that the } fight for Beaumont Hamel vWtoWxji ssj£ \ torv as one of the bloodiest bf'ttie war. The Germans regarded the village Jif> even stronger "than Tniepval or Combios. When the British carried five lines of trenches they encountered concealed machine-guns "behind the village walls, also intense artillery fire. The hand-to-hand struggle lasted for ton hours. The Germans must have lqst at least eight thousand at Beaumont Hamel alone. M. Marcel Hutin, in L'Echo de Paris, says there is no doubt that Germany has made an unreserved admission of defeat. The heavy losses on the'Ancre tended'to justify her geheral mobilisation plans. I NIGHT-SHELLING BY ENEMY. I ■ . The High Commissioner reports: — London, November 16 (12.15 p.m.) The British officially report: During the night there was considerable shelling by the enemy northward and southward of the Ancre. Otherwise there is nothing to report.

THE SOMME STRUGGLE. ENEMY'S POWERFUL EFFORT. Press As aociation—Copyright, Australian and N.'Z. Cable. Association. Paris, November 16. A communique states:—A furious battle continued all day on the Somme front. The enemy attempted a powerful effort north and south of the Somme (simultaneously,..but was batfled by the French resistance, and only gained limited advantages at the cost of heavy losses. The attack north of the Soinme was made after an intense bombardment of the front from Les Boeufs b.i South Bouchavisnes. Tho enemy gained a lodgment on the west and north edges of the St. Pierre Vaast Wood, but everywhere else the attacks collapsed under the machine-gun curtain fire. ,

Germans south of the Somnio renewed" their attacks- in the afternoon on. the front' from Ablaineourt to Chaulnes Wood. Desperate fighting ended in the defeat of the Germans, who; Iqst sanguinarily!, They returned! ! to. tfieir • trenches, 1: except in the" east J I ern»part, of the village of > whore they progressed. TherouM-as intermittent -cannonading on the rest, of the .frppt. EASTWARD OF PRESSOIRE. GERMANS EJEGTED. The,.High Commissioner reports:— London, November 16 '(B.IS p.m.) j, ,A ,'official 'report states:— South of the Somme at night we attacked eastward of Pressoire, at part occupied by the enemy, where the French had resisted energetically filially ejecting the Germans after stubborn fighting.