WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1917, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

' AN IMPORTANT VICTORY. »» * FIERCE BATTLE AT MIRAUMONT. ALL OBJECTIVES CARRIED. BOTH SIDES LOSE HEAVILY. Reuter Service. .London, February 10. A correspondent at headquarters says that the battle around Miraiimont was the heaviest attack since the battle of Beaumont Hamel. The line of attack extended from a point south-east of Pys to the 'Puisieux road, on a front of two miles. The attack was launched before dawn under cover of all available «nns, and all the objectives on the left were carried by 7 o'clock, the British advancing well up a strongly fortified line on the AlbertArras railway. Daylight brought rainclouds, which enveloped the battlefield, putting the artillery out of action. The fiercest struggle was in the centre, where the British objective was a 40ft. mpund, with a sunken Toad fringed wth i machine-guns. The Germans .disputed | the advance foot by foot up the incline. The British had almost gained the crest when the Germans launched a heavy counter-attack. Grey waves swept down on the British, who retreated a short distance; then the supports arrived and ended the Gorman advance, which gained little ground. ' Thereafter the fighting was desultory and the Germans failed to retrieve their losses. The German casualties i.vere heavy. We also paid the price of a victory which aggravates the already critical position of the Germans at Bapaume. A French correspondent reveals the. fact tiiat General Gough was in command of the operations.