WESTERN ATTACK.
ENEMY'S MOST VIOLENT EFFORT, .IN ABSOLUTE CHECK. London Nov. 21. Sir Douglas Haig reports:—The enemy heavily shelled us south-west of Grandcourt. We raided trenches at Gommeeourt, Koelineourt and Ypres. An Exchange telegram says that a powerful counter-attack by the Germans north and south of the* Somme last week resulted in a sanguinary defeat. Considerable forces were employed at Ablaineonrt and Cliaulnes Wood, and the attack later extended to the north of the Somme, between Les Boeufs and Bouchavesnes. After a series of furious assaults the enemy finally captured some advanced elements in the village of Pressoir ind the outskirts of St. Pierre Vaast Wood at the cost of heavy losses. The operations resulted in the absolute cheek of the most violent effort yet made by the Germans on the Sonmie front.
WELDING A NEW LINE. TO ACT AS A SPRINGBOARD. SCENES OF DESOLATION. Received Nov, 22, 8.5 p m. London, Xov. 21 Our new line northward and southward of the Ancre is slowly becoming definite, as a result of the small adjustments of patrol enterprises by lonely little groups of Britisli bombers, .mounting guard over strings of shell'holes at scores of points. It is not customary fighting, but further isolated acts of heroism, that are building up a new and firm front which will be a spring--board for fresh victories. Beaumont Hamel preserves the shape of the village. Others have suffered beyond recognition. Not a single fragment of a house remains to mark Beaueourt. Regarding the desolation of Grandcourt, which formerly silhouetted its rooftops until they were crashed djown by our gunners, rooting out the enemy from shelters Mi. Gibbon says that only a few brick-heaps remain, with an occasion gable sticking u{> like a tooth.
GERMAN LOSSES ON THE ANCRE. AT LEAST 30,001'. Received Nov. 22. 10 p.m. London, Nov. 22. The Times' eorresponlent with Headquarters states that the German losses or. tin Ancre since the 13th have been at least 30,000 ENSLAVEMENT OF BELGIANS. THE HORRORS INCREASE DAILY. Received Nov. 22, 10 p.m. London, N'ov. 22. The horrors of the enslavement of Belgians increase daily. Reutei learns that Germany openly declares its intention to deonH .'SoO.OCO for humanitarian jieasons. Some have already been sent to Roumanin. The plan seems to be to remove every able-bodied person, - "h and poor, from IS upwards.
HOSTILE SHELLING, s i j NO INFANTRY FIGHTING. ' Receive! Nov 22, 10 li.in. I Loudon. Nov 22 .-.cneval Sir Douglas Hnip reports: There is considerable hostile shelling of oin'front on both Bide-s (if the Auere. Paris. Nov 22. There is only the usual cannonade to report, with no infantry fighting. One of (lie early German eomrnents on the Somme offensive was to the el feet that, the Allies, in the first four weeks, had lost. 350,000 men, and this j contrasted in the most ludicrous way with an assertion that the German.; oiily lost about 00,000 in the whole of the Verdun offensive. The fact, as shown by the War Office casualty lists, is that the British in July lost only 5!).f1"2 men. not on the Somme front alone, but in all the theatres of war. The French losses are not published, but they have been stated to he even less in tlie Somme offensive than the British, so that the total for the first month of the battle did not approach the German figure. It may have been a fourth of the number: almost certainly it was not a third. The losses of the British Army have increased since then, owing largely no doubt to the increased strength of the German defence. The official figures given in ibe London papers as issued bv the War Office are as follow: July, 707: officers. 52.001 men: August, 4093 off! eers, 123,007 men; September, 4503 olli cers, 113.780 men. The October figures cabled a few days ago were: 4300 officers. 101. 340 men. To these arc to be added about SOO naval casualties. The figures cover the whole of the activities of the British forces in the four months— France and Belgium, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and German East Africa. They become of greater interest when they are compared with the average of 200',000 a month which French official estimates have regarded a:, the average permanent losses of the Germans each month, and when it is noted also that they represent a period of almost continuous offensive activity, marked by the singularly heavy and condensed fighting on the Somme. From them, and from the repeated assurance of the relatively low cost of the offensive compared with the lossc:. inflicted on the enemy, some idea can be had of the heavy wearing down of the Germans as the result of the offensive For onec the Germans have had to admit (in the ease of the Ancre. attack) the seriousness of the losses the} - suffered.
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Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1916, Page 5
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806WESTERN ATTACK. Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1916, Page 5
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