IN EGYPT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 30 March 1917, Page 5

IN EGYPT.

‘ TURKS DEFEATED. ' 5 Received 8.45. . ' " LONDON, March. 29. Twenty thousand Turks have been defeated south of Gaza, in Palestine. (Gaza is a _city in, Syria, near the Mediterranean, with a. population of 26,000.) ’

GENERAL AND STAFF OFFICERS CAPTURED. Received 11.30. LONDON, March 29. Egyptian official: We advanced fifteen miles from Rafa to Wadizhuzzl and five miles southward of Gaza, for the purpose of covering the construe- ; tion of a railway. We heavily engaged 20,000 of the enemy in this neighbourhood on Monday and Tuesday, and inflicted heavy losses, prisonering 900, including the General commanding and Staff of the Fifty-tfiird Turkish Division. Four Austrian officers were captured, as well as two Austrian howitzers. jjyjgjl tAe troops behaved splendidly, fpjfiu flly the Welsh, Kent, Sussex, . 'Hereford, Middlesex, and Surrey regiments; and the Anzac mounteds and \yeomanry.

THE SURPRISE PARTY. GERMANS CAPTURED. NEW YORK, March 29. Mr. William Simms, the United Press correspondent in France, says the British captured the village of Loyelles by means of armoured cars, supported by cavalry. The Germans laid a trap for what was supposed to be a reconnoitring party, but the British .advanced in strength and surprised the enemy, some of whom surrendered. FURTHER BRITISH SUCCESS. TWO VILLAGES CAPTURED. Received 11.5. LONDON, March 29. Field-Marshal Haig reports:—The British cavalry captured the villages of Villers and Rauconsaucourt. We drove off an attack on" Equancourt, with considerable German losses. We established ourselves on two points on th e Doignes-Lagnicourt road after & short fight, and progressed southward and westward of Croixelles.

FRENCH COMMUNIQUE. SANGUINARY ENEMY LOSSES. Received 11.20. LONDON, March 29. A French communique states: Between the Somme and the Oise there is great reciprocal artillery fire, especially at Essigny, on the Benay front. Our fire dispersed working parties at St. Quentin. In the Cham°pagne district, after a violent bombardment at West Maison-da-Cham-pagne, the Germans strongly attacked and gained a footing in some first line elements; our fire smashed ail attempts on Maison-de-Champagne, with sanguinary enemy losses. On the left of the Meuse we poured a destructive fire on the enemy's organisations on Hill 304, in the Morthomme~sector. German torpedo boats fired sixty shells on Dunkirk on March 26, at two o'clock in the morning. There were two victims.