CANADIANS BEFORE LENS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 18 August 1917, Page 2

CANADIANS BEFORE LENS.

GERMANS FLOOD THE YALLEY. Describing tlie progress made by tlie Canadians towards Lens at the end of June, the official correspondent with the force said the gain of ground along the Souchez Valley is greater than in any action since the capture of Viniy Ridge, and the land restored to France includes some of her most productive coal mines. On that part of the plain east of Vimy, where, a week ago, no one could show himself above the top of the trenches without drawing the fire of snipers and machine-guns, a man may now walk in the open, erect and unperturbed. This result has been obtained by that intimate co-operation between the infantry and artillery, which has done so much to give the Canadians an honourable name at the front.

..The splendid physical condition of the men in the trenches, as well as their unquenchable spirit, has been of vital importance. By damming the Souchez River, by blowing up the highway and the railway bridges crossing the canal, and by obstructing the connecting channels through the marshes in the region south-west of Lens, the enemy has placed a belt of flooded land between himself and the Canadian troops along a front of over a mile. He has not been able thus to cover his entire front south of the city, but he has shortened the line of possible attack. The foundations are a cover to the weakness the enemy would not have betrayed even a few months ago, because they reveal his intention to wage a purely defensive fight along this part of the line. ' There arc daily increasing signs that the German man power is no longer what it was.' The number of' enemy troops in the field appears little less than before the opening of the spring offensive, but the spirit of the men is no longer that of assurred victors. Up till the beginning of the April offensive there are still general confidence, among prisoners that Germany would win this -war. Prisoners taken during the past few days no longer care to conceal their satisfaction at being captured. .None of them arc greatly interested in terms for peace. They concede that Germany must in the end accept whatever conditions arc imposed by the allies. This change in sentiment among the enemy soldiers has not been brought about by a lack of food or of war material. The rations of the Germans lack variety, it is true, but are undoubtedly sufficient to keep the men in good physical condition. The scarcity of,artillery ammunition has been emphasised in enemy documents recently captured, but for important actions there seems to be plenty. The decrease in the activity of the enemy artillery is chiefly of the sort known as “harrassing fire,” in which shells are directed on roads, trenches, and other positions, where human targets are supposed to be gathered. In repelling attacks and in preparing the way for counter-attack the German artillery is still formidable. Other weapons most used by the enemy are machine guns and bombs. Prisoners taken immediately after they have concluded a course of instruction, said that bayonet exercises are no longer taught in the training of men for the enemy line. Recruits are instead trained in the use of the various sorts of bombs.