WAR NEWS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 201, 29 September 1916, Page 3

WAR NEWS.

NEARING BAPAUME. COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED LONDON, Sept. 27. The result of th e capture of Fregicourt and Morval by the Anglo-French was that we occupied Combles. We beat off heavy counter-attacks in the neighbourhood of Morval and Les Boeufs with severe enemy loss. We stormed the fortified village of Guendencourt and have driven the Germans back' in disorder. (Guendecourt is about a mile N.W. of Les Boeufs, and three quarters of a mile N_E. of Flers. BLOODIEST FIGHT IN HISTORY. PARIS, September 27. Eighty-four hours’ bombardment of unprecedented violence preceded a genral attack on Monday. The deafening roar of guns suddenly 'ceased at 12.30 from Martinpuich to the Somme In a deadly silence the French and British sprang out of the trenches and advanced to th assault. The ensuing battle was possibly the bloodiest ever fought. The understanding between the artillery and infantry w T as so perfect that the 75’s were sometimes hurling volleys only twenty-five meters in front of the assaulters. The British scored the first success, the French having a terrible struggle with a Prussian brigade between Le Priez and Rancourt. The British carried Hill 150, east of Flers, in the most brilliant manner. They penetrated the ruins of Les Boeufs, but there was three hours’ hard fighting before they penetrated part of the village west of the road between Fregicourt and Les Boeufs.. The entire village was captured at 6 o’clock.

A THRILLING STORY. PARIS, September 27. At the commencement of the battle on Monday the British attackers massed 500 yards beyond Flers and the crest beyond Ginchy, overlooking Guendencourt and Les Boeufs in the valley. Then the bend of the line tended southwards. The Britishers massed in Leuze and Bouleaux Woods, threatening Morval and Combles. The French gathered at Le Prdez farm and the suburbs of Rancourt. They also overlooked Combles, lying in a pocket of low hills. The 'German resistance was everywhere determined, but the mostdesperate fighting was at Les Boeufs, Morval, and Fregiconrt. The Germans knew that holding these was their last hope of saving Combles. The British guns at Bouleaux Woods had already made the Morval Road useless, so that the road running from Fregieourt to Sailly was the only Gprman retreat. After Les Boeufs w r as taken the Germans counter-attacked again and again, but in the end were forced to fall back on Sailly, Seeing the Germans running, the British regardless of their own shell barrage, stormed through the northern part of the village and went out beyond. The defenders of Morval were covered by a height called the Old Telegraph Hill, where the enemy had erected a number of batteries and machine gun posts, and an extensive system of wired entanglements and trenches. This was a tough morsel. The British rushed the formidable line of trenches, then the well fortified sunken road, but it was three hours before the western part was taken. The southern side of Morval w T as exposed to enfilading fire from Combles wdiich increased the British difficulties. Finally a mass attack at 5 o ’clock\ shattered the German resistance, and\by 6 o’clock the remnants of the defenders were fleeing round along the Sailly road. Meanwhile the French had less sensationally advanced east of Combles. Though there was equally fierce fighting the Germans early realised the hopelessness of the struggle. While the French were attacking Rancourt, the Germans hurriedly removed some of the many big guns defending Combles. The French met with the most desperate resistance at a farm betweenFregicourt road and the main road to Bapaume, which was strongly fortified by guns and machine guns. The French artillery had vainly sought for days to demolish the defences of the farm. Onc e the infantry entered, but they were forced back. Finally it became at matter of bayonets aganist a hail of lead from machine guns. The bayonets won. By 4.30 on the afternoon of Monday the Germans were flung beyond the Fregicourt road. Fighting in the suburbs of Combles continued j all night long. Except for a narrow I ravine running to the' north-eastward, ] which was everywhere under the Allied guns, Combles was completely encircled. Generals Foch and Haig determined not to delay the capture, regardless of concrete subterranean shelters covering bombers, machine gun emplacements, and an extraordinary tangle of barbed wire. The British attacked west of the town, while the French seized the cemetery easily. By night the whole of Combles was captured the railway dividing the sections falling to the British attacks. Many of the garrison in attempting to escape strayed into the British lines. Others were killed by the Allied barrages. The captured guns and booty have not yet been counted.