WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1916, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

NEW FORM OF STRATEGY. TERRIFIC ARTILLERY WORK. FOLLOWED BY SUDDEN ATTACKS. Times Service. Received August 28, 7 p.m. London, August 27. A correspondent at headquarters states that an ever-increasing ferocity is being displayed. The localisation of bombardments illustrates the new form of strategy that has been developed. General Sir Douglas Ilaig'a formula comprise sudden attacks succeeding upon terrific artillery work. No bombardments during the war are comparable to the indescribable punishment inflicted on the German positions. Our successive advances at Tliiepval were marked by the horrors of a hurricane. The bombardments increased in their suddenness, and came without warning. It was as if the sky had been suddenly larkencd, the earth exploded, and the heavens opened by a hailstorm wheieof every stone was a thunderbolt. The correspondent pays a tribute to the armies' spirits. T'ne men are full of jesting laughter, and show no sign of staleness or failing. Their confidence has greatly increased fii proportion. The number of officers captured during recent actions suggests the likelihood of a new German regulation that officers are not to save their own lives, but must remain to hold the men from surrendering. Another possibility is that the intensity of the artillery makes escape impossible.

DOOM OF THIEPVAL. NEAR. ENEMY IX DEATH TRAP, THE IRON NET TIGHTENED. London, August 27. Mr. Philip Gibbs says the doom of Thiepval i 9 near at hand. By a series of sharp attacks and short rushes we have formed a way across the tangled web of trendies and redoubts. The troops have bitten off the nose of the Leipzig salient, and have taken the Hindenburg trench, which is almost the last defensive work barring the way at the southern entrance to the village fortress. We have advanced from east and west and thrown a lassoo around the stronghold on the hill, whence the garrison has only one way o( escape, where our g-uns can get them. They are in a deathtrap. Nothing of t'lie village is left but heaps ,ot rubbish. Wave after wave of Britishers swarmed over the ridge in Thursday's remarkable advance, which not even the fiercest German barrage checked. Onward and upward scattered parties swept straight into the infernal fires. All behind and all in front shcllr were bursting and raising enormous fantastic clouds. When the wind drifted the smoke awry some of our men were seen on the highest ground, single figures black against the sky. They jumped into the German trenches after a terrific bomb fight, and there suddenly emerged a crowd of figures leaping and running. They were Germans irying to reach our trenches to surrender, and get some cover from their own shell fire. The assaulters meanwhile hold the conquered ground, tightening the iron not around Thiepval.

THE FIGHTING AT THIEPVAL. W'ILTSHI'RES AND WOKCESTERS' j ' GERMAN MORALE SHAKEN. Received August 28, 7 p.m. London, August 27. Mr. "Philip Gibbs states the finfl. Worecsters deserve evory honor. General Sir Douglas Ilaig had given the order and the troops advanced splendidly over a, great strptch of ''No Man's -Land," and after a great assault sustained a long and fierce bombardment, which was followed by a strong attack by the Prussian Guards. This was probably the German's big effort to check the advance from the ridge of Thiepval to the high road, and also an endeavour to rescue Thiepval from its impending fate. Our mastery of the air places the German gunners at a great disadvantage. Our positions now are such that the guns are able to cause the heaviest casualties. The morale of the Germans in shell craters a lid ruins has been badly shaken. Coming operations involving the fate of Thiepval indicate that it will be the greatest artillery duel yet seen on the British front.

ADVERSE WEATHER. BRITISH PROGRESS CONTINUED. Received August 2S, 8.15 p.m. London, August 2S. General Sir Douglas 1-laig reports that bad weather has hampered operations We gained ground west of Guinohy, There' is artillery activity on both lides. We blew up some bomb stores and exploded mines between Neuve Cluipelle and Annentieres. SUPER-ZEPPELINS CRITICISED. THEIR VALUE DISCOUNTED. Received August 28, 8.45 p.m. Paris, August 28. M. Julliot, builder of the Le Bandy dirigible., is sceptical regarding the value of super-Zeppelins. He says that only when the fuel is largely used up and projectiles discharged can they reach a height beyond artillery fire. lie estimates that out of 130 Zeppelins. 30 have been destroyed artd 25 lost in neutral countries, the Baltic, and Germany.

MORE TRENCHES TAKEN. GERMANS REPULSED. London, August 27. Sir Douglas Haig reports: We captured an additional 200 yards of trench northward of Bazentin-le-Petit. The German artillery was active all night between the Somme and the Ancre and heavily shelled the neighborhood of Bethunc. Our artillery retaliated, shelling ,he railway stations and barracks. A Belgian communique says that the German's attempted to cross the Yser Canal near Iletsas, but were repulsed with heavy losses. Paris, August 27. A communique says: Bad weather continues to' hamper operations. The Ormans made three night attacks on the wood at Yauy Chapitre, but were repulsed with heavy losses. We repulsed many coups-de-main in Lorraine and checked an attack on an 800 metre front at Croix St. Jean. ADVANCE OF THE GUARDS. . THE ENEMY'S IMPOTEXCL. ■ Received August 28, 8.5 p.m. London, Auguat 28. The Daily Chronicle's correspondent in Paris state that the Guards advanced with great bravery, and charged six times—as often as the shattered German attack was prepared on a signifiean ilj' narrow front. The Guards' great thoroughness leaves a. more marked contrast between the eilemy's impotence and our steady, thorough, yet difficult progress. MAKING A VIRTUE OF NECESSITY, GERMANY'S LATEST BLUFF Received August 28, 8.45 p.m. 'P&ii?„ August 28. According to Amsterdam! news the Germans are said to be abandoning further important action on the West front, ant 1 , continuing a purely defensive action, hoping thereby to prolong the wai until the enemy is exhausted. AS GERMANY WOULD LIKE IT. London, August 27. A German communique says: Repeated British attacks southward of Thiepval and northward of Pozieres were repulsed after desperate hand-to-hand fighting. The ;nemy attacks northward of Bazen-tin-le-Petit and High Wood were unsuccessful, also the French attacks by strong forces on the Maurepas-Clery sector. The enemy penetrated out lines northward ol Clery, but was ejected. , FOOD RIOTS. Paris, August, a. There has been sanguinary food riots at Mulhouse. The troops quelled them, killing twenty and wounding scores. The inhabitants are forbidden to leave their houses for 1. o days.

ENEMY MUNITION DEPOTS BOMBED, i Amsterdam, August 27. Tlie Echo do Beige says tlwt an Allied air squadron bombed the neighborhood of Ghent on August 25. There were two big explosions, and it is believed two munition depots were destroyed. It is rumored that the damage and number of victims were very great. The gunpowder depot at Moicclbeke was also destroyed and a Zeppelin damaged. CARDINAL MERCIER'S BOLDNESS. New York, August 27. The New York Times lias published a translated report of a recent defiant speech by Cardinal Mercier at Brussels. ■Heedless of his German listeners, he glorified the deeds of the Allies, and predicted the speedy delivery of Belgium and that King Albert would soon reign again at the capital. He regretted that it was impossible to clasp nations of heroes in his arms. j NOTHING TO REPORT, Received August 28, 8.5 p.m. '.Paiis. August 23. A communique states that owing to the bad: weather there is nothing important to report. BELGIAN SLAVE RAID 9. .Received August 2S, 8.10 p.m. Amsterdam, August 27. L'Echo de Beige learns that there are constant night movements of German trains conveying troops to Antwerp and towards'the front. It is rumored that the Germans intend to deport Belgians similarly as in northern France. It is reported that twelve hundred have already left aliens.