WESTERN ATTACK.
I NEW JUGGERNAUT. I MOWS DCAV.N EVERYTHING IX ITS PATH. New York. Sept. 17. Mr. Frederick Palmer, who is at British headquarter;,, tabled that fire was spouting from the new motor-car like 1 a prehistoric monster. The strange shapes trundled across shell craters. over tree stumps, cutting down man;,- small trees. There had been miuji speculation as to how the new device would work, and when the "tanks" returned theerews enthusiastically compared notes of their achievements. .Some describe the device as a harvester mowing down everything in its path. A stafi'-ofiiccr spoke of a machine as stopping to browse at the edge of a wood before advancing. A hundred Prussians .surrendered in a body to one machine crew. " Mr. Palmer adds that it is generally agreed t.iat the new Juggernaut has made good. BRITISH ADVANCE • DESCRIBE", EFFECT OF ARMORER ' \RS. . , EXPECTED TO END TRENCH \VAP>- | FAKE. London, Sept. 1". Tlif Daily Chronicle's Paris correspondent states that the liritish advance was most rapid in the direction of Hers. The ; lien- armored cars, starling from Delvillo J Wood, rained iron on the new units of j the defenders, who were thrown into the fight along the whole front. 1 After taking the first lines the British 1 found themselves in front of new de- . fences, well-armored and stronglyr manned, and only when the enemy was I disheartened by his losses and the ar- - rival of fre-.ii troops on our side was the ■ giound abandoned in a state of panic. The capture of Courcolettc was one of f the most brilliant feats of the eon--1 test. It had been proceeding since the t morning', and the result was still un- ; certain, as the enemy was receiving j strong reinforcements by the. Af'oertj Bapaume road. British columns attaek- - ed the vill.ige in the afternoon, and j British and Bavarians fought in the - streets with revolvers, knives and fists. 1 The garrison was unable to '-esist the ; assailants' fury, and surrendered in despair. The fighting at Martinpuicli was very i hard. A commander who surrendered t with his battalion confessed that it was [ impossible to withstand the irresistible , British push. S The Weekly Despatch Paris correspon- . dent states that all France is rejoicing at i the British victories. The newspapers have headlines. ''Splendid British Ad- , vance." "Magnificent Success on the 1 Somme." "Ailicd Stock Pises Several » Points." ; The soldiers call the new armored , tars Trojan horses. The Frencl' eulogise the JJriti.-!i policy of sacrificing any amount of material rather than unnecessarily risk soldiers' lives. The advent of the ears is hailed as a sign that the end of trench wartare is 'approaching, and that the British are getting well into the open.
THE "TANKS." I I'OP.MIDABLK OVTKXSIVE INVfIIU- | MEXTS. MONSTROUSLY COMICAL SIfJHTS. THE ENEMY DEMORALISED. • Received Sej>t. IS, 7.15 p.m. London. Sept, IS. Mr. Philip Gibbs states that the llritIsli went over tho parapets on friday exalted .'tml excited by tliu smell of victory. They were laughing as they ran. because a new toy h'.ul i.illamed their fancy enormously. They cheered, amused lty liie new weapons so dully described ill the olbeial bulletin. The secret of these extraordinary armored motors was jealously kept for months. All manner of marvellous powers were attributed to them as 'being proof against bullets, bombs, and shell splinters, and taking ditches like a kangaroo. The actual sight was monstrously comical, tlie machines looking like enormous toads; but they did good work and .seared the Germans dreadfully. Their utility was proved near C'ourcelette, where the. infantry was held up at a Herman redoubt in the ruins of a sugar factory full of machineguns, one of those deadly places which previously cost so many lives. Then over the British trenches in the half light of dawn the new monster crawled, The rescued troops cheered, even laughed, with blood streaming- down their faces. This creature, named "Creme de Monthe,'' waddled forward over old (ierman trenches towards the redoubt, the enemy being momentarily silent. Then spasms of machine-gun fire splashed the Creme dc Menthe's sides, but fell harmlessly. Tlie Crcnie de Menthe advanced upon a broken wall and leaned against it ; and the bricks crashed down and the motor walked into the heart of the factory ruins. Tho motor also poured forth a J stream of bullets, trampled machine-gun | emplacements, crushed machine-guns, and killed their teams. The infantry followed and occupied the redoubt. There were similar scenes in the High Wood, where our men for a time were driven back. Then there was great joy at seeing several tanks advancing | througli the wood and oil each side of it.
Wounded soldiers relate extraordinary stories. They declare that the tanks broke down trees, mounted barricades, and stamped out dug-outs, while the Mosclies, thoroughly scared, ran about , shouting like demented men. During the attack on Mavtiiipuich, machine-guns held up our infantry on the outskirts of the village. Two tanks, which had already passed the liriti-.li front line in the darkness, now crawled over "So Man's Land," and nosed the llartinpuich walls as if testing their strength. These were broken as easily as if they had been barns., and twenty minutes iater the infantry were inside the first trenches of Martinpuich. The monster was still waddling ahead uiien a hundred Germans, who were confronted with another tank, shouted for mercy. The tank led a procession of prisoners to the British lines. The first , news of the success at Flers was an airman's wireless message thata tank was walking up the Flers high, street with the British army cheering behind. This was an actual fact, for one of the motor monsters was there enjoying itself thoroughly, forcing the enemy to keep their heads down, the men on the motor hung out a large placard whereon were the words: ''Great I Him \ defeat.—-Special!" Meanwhile aero- ! planes flew over Ihe scared Germans, j who were Hoeing before the monstrous
apparition, pouring out a deadly machinegun lire. , , HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING. ! ENEMY'S 3-lI3A\"Y" LOSS, .' deceived Sept. 18, 7.40 p.m. London, Sept. IS. fJcnoral Sir Douglas Jlnig reports: Several heavy wieray counter-attacks south of the Alien' were all repulsed. The enemy, advancing from Les lioeufs, north of 1'1': i 11 i's. )va- in tlie artillery barnge and lost very heavily. An enemy brigade, advancing 'between Flers and Martiiipuieh, to attack in the ' diiection of High Wood, met two of our battalions in the open. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued, wherein we were completely successful. The enemy was dispersed with heavy losses. ■\Ye improved our position north of Mouquet Farm. Our artillery was active, and caused another conflagration in the enemy ammunition lump at firnndeeourt. Our aviators continued successfully to attack t'he enemy communication*. Deceived Sept. IS, 7.40 p.m. Paris, Sept, IS. 'A communique states: North of the Somino our artillery actively bombarded the enemy 'works. South rf the Somme we gained important successes. The villager of Vermondvillers and Borny, hitherto partly occupied by us, were conquered by a brilliant assault. Some of the houses are still resisting. All the ground -between Yermandovillcrs and Deniecourt, and between Deniecourt and Horny, defended by several systems of strongly-fortified trenches, fell into our bunds, after a desperate struggle. Fighting continues around Deniecourt. We captured a number of trenches between Jlerny and Barleux. All the enemy counter-attacks were shattered by our fire. We indicted heavy losses. Seven hundred unwounded prisoners wore counted.
BELGIAX EXODUS TO HOLLAND. 'Amsterdam, Sent. 17. The German guards liave been withdrawn from the 'Dutch frontier, and Belgian families are streaming into Holland with their belongings. . The Hernia us announce the cutting off of the electric current from the wires on the Belgo-Dntch frontier for a fortnight. The reason is not given. FRBXCTI AIR RAID. London, Sept. 17. A French communique states: There is only artillery aet'vily in the Berny and Yermaildovillers sectors. We dropped fifteen bombs on the hangars at Uatsheim, 'Jill) on the railway station and aerodrome at Tergnier, on the railway station at Abbeeaurt, <2 on the railway stations at ißoisct, Epchy and Athies and the railways at Ham and St. Qucntin. THE IXVIXCIIILE GEiRMAXY. London, Sept. 17. 'A German communique says: All attacks northward of the Somme were magnificently repulsed. Fighting is still proceeding round small English positions round Coureellette and Flers. Westward of Les Boeufs very definite attacks developed. South of the Somme there was ceaseless artillery lighting. DEATH OF GERMAX GENERAL. London, Sept. 17. Tt is reported that General Oacil, the German Commander-in-Chief in Tipper .Alsace, is dead.
FURTHER BRITISH GAINS. GERMAN'S ABANDON* EQUIPMENT 1 l.ondon, Kept. V/. Oi-neral Sir Douglas llaig report*: Wo achieved further successes south of tinAutre, and extended our gains oil Saturday evening op a front of a thousand yards in tlie vicinity of Courcelette, and obtained a considerable success on Saturday evening in the neighborhood of Tliiepval, capturing the fortification known as the Danube trench 011 a front o r a mile. The (iennans here abandoned considerable quantities of rilles and equipment. We also captured the strongly defended -work at Mouquet Farm, whose possession h:is been hotly contested foi weeks. There were a number of successful minor operations at night 011 other parts of the flout.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19160919.2.27.5
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1916, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,521WESTERN ATTACK. Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1916, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.