WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1916, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

THE RECENT FIGHTING. | MEy BEHAVE LIKE VETERANS. REVIEW BY GENERAL HAIG. London, Oct. 4. Sir Douglas Haig reports: Kaucourt I Abba ye is entirely in our hands. There was considerable night shelling on our front southward of the Ancrc. Heavy ram fell in the rooming. Sir Dongas Hnig, in a further dispatch, reviews the recent h'ghtiii". He pays ,i tribute to the En.gli.sh and overseas tioops for-their unrelaxing pressure Ihcy behaved with the discipline and resolution of veterans. 'Now it is possible, to give a fuller account of the lighting suecuodin.tr the advance qn the 15th. That a.lranee which won Gourcelette, Martinpuich, the High Wood, Flers, and the IJouleaux V, ood, created several minor salients in our front, and it became, necessary to advance our line ;betweeu them. This was the task of the succeeding week We carried the Quadrilateral Work on the ISWi. The redoubt was of consider- ' able strength and tactical importance.'' and successfully resisted our attack on the loth, thereby limiting the extent of the successes on our right flank. The weather was wet and stormy between the 19th ami the 21st,' but we captured two lines of trenches on the 22nd, enlarging our advance between Flers and Martinpuich. We gained ground eastward of Comcelette on the 23rd, and, by the evening of the 21th, had completed' the preliminaries for the next stage of the general advance on the 25th. Fiom Combles awl Martinpuich the country is gently undulating. The. villages in this area arc surrounded by trees and form natural strongholds, and are fortified by every resource'of modern engineering. We carried Les Boeufs ant Morval on the 25th, advancing the line over a mile The capture of Morval, combined with trench pressure on the south, virtually isolated Combles, which fell next day as the result of a combined AngloFrench movement. The capture of Gue.udecou.rt. Thiepval and the Zollern Redoubt followed. Several thousand prisoners and a large amount of war material were taken. The Germans fought stubbornly, 'hoping to check the advance. They have brought, since the 15th, against us seven new divisions, and against the French five. It is a severe and prolonged struggle and has demanded great determination on OHr part. Since the opening battle on July 1 we have taken prisoner 20,725 men, and engaged 88 divisions, of which 29 have been withdrawn exhausted or broken, We hold the upland, giving direct observation northward and north-eastward, The Gcrnmns have fallen back upon their foul'.tlt line behind a low ridge Westward of the Bapaumc-Transloy road. The importance of the quarter's offensive must not be judged by the distance advanced or the number of trenches taken, but by the effect upon the enemy's strength in numbers, material and moral. Our aircraft have shown in the highest degree the spirit if the offensive, and have patrolled regularly far behind the enemy's lines. There have been niany air battles. For every enemy machine crossing our line there are, say, 200 British crossing the German front. I A captured German corps report deI scribes our aeroplanes as surprisingly bold in tlieir work and conspicuous for , skill, judgmemt and daring. London, Oct. 4. A French communique says: We completed the capture of strong trench lines between Morval and St. Pierre Vaast > - ■ -as— —• WHAT IS COMING PREVIOUS FIGHTING CHILD'S PLAY. GERMANY GETTING WHAT SHE "ASKED FOR." London, Oct. 4. Colonel Rcpihgton says that the culminating point of the German victories was reached in the autumn of 1915, but they lacked sufficient sense to try to finish Russia or attempt peace negotiations, and subsequently they expended their last vigoi at Verdun. Now they are. compelled to admit they arc on the down grade by permitting the Allies' offensives on all fronts. Moreover, we have not arrived at our maximum strength; our losses 'have been made good, our guns are increasing daily, and the ammunition supply is exceeding the output. . Not even the German censorship is able to silence tile anguished iwail over the best hammering the Prussians have bad since Ligny. But the Somme offensive is child's play compared with what is coming when Britain and Russia have attained their full strength. Germany wanted war and she is having it. MATTERS FAIRLY GfUIET. HOSTILE ARTILLERY ACTIVft Rente* Sorvie'e. Received Oct. 5, tUS p.i? .London, Oct. ;". General Haig reports: Hostile artillery is active, especially in the neighborhood of the Zollern Redoubt, and between Guedeeou'rr. ,I'nd .Eaueourt l'Abbaye. An 'attempted enemy 'bombing attack in tile latter region was 'repulsed, their wbulfle'd being ivlianddned. There is considerable' shelling' sdtttih ol the YpresMehih roiid. Elsewhere thing's are quiet. Raiii has continued for the inost of the (lay. Paris, Oct. fl. A communique states: There is nothing important to repoi't. TheVe is the customary cannonade on the Sornmo, wliich is more intense in the vicinity of Belloy and Asseyel'e'rs. The "infantry progressed Vast of Morval.