BATTLE FOR THE RIDGE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 22 June 1917, Page 2

BATTLE FOR THE RIDGE.

LABYRINTH OF DEFENCES. NEW TRENCHES IN RECORD TIME LONDON, June S. Mr. Percival Phillips, telegraphing !".te on Thursday night, says:—The at-.-.eking front was more than 10 miles. British troops, including some of the finest fighting men from the Dominions swept over the slopes of this heavily fortified barrier between Ypres and Armentieres, and firmly established themselves beyond the crest. Thousands of prisoners were taken, but the number of Germans killed by our guns was far greater. Apart from the Irish, Australian, and New Zealand infantry, the battle was a triumph for a fleet of tanks, the avaitors, and sappers. The engagement is a most important success, although not a great battle, in the sense that the Somme and Arras were great battles. A thorn has been plucked from the left flank of our long front, and a nest of German batteries can no longer dominate Ypres and watch every movement in the British trenches. The Germans have been driven below as the Canadians drove the Germans from Vimy Ridge to the plain of Douai. It is a clean cut success which will be or immeasurable benefit in the future. The new positions were not taken without very hard fighting, but the resistance was much less than was expected. There were compartively few strong points in the crowded area. Machinegun forts tried to hold out after the rest of the line had surrendered. The ridge was only 200 feet high, but the Germans had seamed the western slope with a labyrinth of tunnels and concreted redoubts, weaving into a mesh of defences the remains of Wytschaete. The German batteries and infantry reiuforecments were largely increased in the last few weeks. Our men might have had to fight every foot of the way. but they easily went up the slopes. The stiffest resistance they met was not equal to the dogged stand made by some German units near Arras. The Whytschaete garrison only clung to their timbered lairs until the British flank crept round and enveloped the cellars which represent the village. The Australians, New Zealandcrs, and Irishmen not only reached their goals on every part, of the front; but they also dug the deepest trenches in record time. Eye-witnesses tell us that the most of them are now asleep in. the bottoms of these trenches, dogi tired. As yet, enemy counter-attacks have not worried them.