WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1916, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

LIVELY BOMBBARDMENTS.. - 'GERMAN ATTACK REPULSED," .< Received Nov. 27, 9.30 p.m London, Nov. 2f. General Sir Druglas Haig reports:-*] There is hostilo artillcrying along tha front—Couroclettc, tfeuucourt, Hebuterne, ami Ja Umm*. W« bombarded I'ni.i.eux and the trenches south-east of Arras. i J A Krtscli communique states:—There •* was a fairly lively reciprocal artilleryiug on the Ablaincourt-Fresoir sector. Our barrages repulsed an attack east of the liaube River. | FURNACES BOMBED. A. andN.Z. Cable Association and ReutoP' London, Nor. 20. A French communique states: British naval aircraft dropped a ton of bombt on the blast furnaces at With good effect. i

POSITION AT VERDUN.

ADVANTAGE WITH FRENCH.' . DOUAUMONT RESISTS SHELL' FIRE. London, November 16 f The French position at Verdun is it* scribed by Renter's correspondent at Freneli headquarters. He says that they now hold a trench line facing Douau« niont, and the enemy at the nearest point, 400 yards distant, is extremely uncomfortable. The French are also well in front of Vaux, wlicrp the Germans are in a line of shell-holes below tha fort. Owing to the • wetness of the ground they cannot dig trenches, and are compelled to occupy a field lino in ground where a man- sinks to hid waist in mud unless lie keeps to ridges. The French are much better off for the winter, and are practically not exposed to German fire at present. The French artillery work is such that next springs when the ground hardens, attacks herd should be exceedingly simplified. Reuters correspondent at French head* quarters, who visited Fort Douaumontf says that the Germans abandoned tlia fort hurriedly on September 23 owing toi the explosion of the magazine. There is no doubt that they meant to return, but the French forestalled them. Tha ofiicia) German statements about thei*. evacuation awl the damage they did to the place were total inventions. Except)' for a big hole in the roof made by Freneli heavy shells the fort was undamaged, l-Vdn apartment could be utilised. Tha clMßlo light was in good order. Qerman signs and directions were still on tha walls, and considerable stores of Ger« man bully beef and biscuit* were left behind. The French commandant's tablo was littered with German stationery and. books. Two 7o's ami a heavy gun, left by. the Freneli when they evacuated tha fort, still rcyiiain. Sivty Germans who, were suffocated by an explosion months agu were solidly immured behind an inn ner wall like faithless nuns.

MODERN FORTRESSES. . LESSORS FROM VERDUN. V London, Not. 17. * Router's correspondent at French head* quarters says tlmt tho storming of ti'd Verdun forts proves that the resisting power ot modern fortifications is greater than was supposed. Antwerp was no criterion. The German IG-inch 4 gun* never pierced the massive roofs of Douaumont or Vaux, notwithstanding that the bombardment was ten times heavier tlinn at Antwerp Tho French also furiously shelled the forts, and their shells only pierced the armor of each once. Verdun forts justified the builders the strategists. ,

AN EFFECTIVE AIR RAID. • Paris; Nov. 20. Details of the great air raid on thei '22 nd show that it deprived the Germans of a line of communications fifty kilometres behind 'he front on .which intenso aerial activity has previously been noted. In attacking the enemy, the squadron noted on various railway lines and stations that trains filled with troops and munitions were damaged or destroyiJ, and convoys dispersed. u BAIDS REPULSED. London, Nov. 2(1. Sir Douglas I-Tnig reports; We drove off an attempted party advance eastward of Beaumont Hawtel and discharged gas successfully southward of Arras, where wo repulsed raids. , Paris, Nov. 26, A communique says: There is nothing important on the West front.

A LANDSCAPE OF MUD.

AUSTRALIANS ON THE SOMME. (By the Commonwealth Official Correa pondent). British Headquarters, France; Nov. 12„ The story of the Australian force on the Homme since last Sunday's fight has been a life of mud in a landscape of mud. The front line is mostly a certain muddy, ditch near the bottom of a. long, two* mile hillside. One lmd imagined that the Australians living here must be in the depths of depression. It was a real surprise to. find a bunch of Sydney youngsters squatting on a damp firestepj where they had lived mostly in rain for several (lays, quite unexpectedly cheer-: ful. They were thirsty for news. Any sort of newspaper was read from cover to cover. They were simply hungry for mails, but certainly not depressed. My, experience of the Australian soldier that the more formidable Ijis difficulties, the more admirably he appears /to all who have anything to do with him. For example, take a soldier whose letter was received at Headquarters yesterday. He had been in the Infantry for two,, years, when his thigh was shattered by a bomb so that apparently; he was nimble to be of any further use,' He wrote, staling lie wanted to get tick again. It seemed to him that he was exactly suited for driving; one of the armored "tanks." Thus ht would ha, able to see the very thick of the fight", ing, in spite of being unable to walk> which he considered would be no frlM tack is working th« ™