WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1917, Page 2

WESTERN ATTACK.

/ ENEMY WITHDRAWAL GRADUAL DIFFICULTIES OF ADVANCE. FORESTS OF BARBED WIRE TO BE CUT. BAPAUME THE NEXT STEP. Received March 3, 8.30 p.m. London, March 3. Mr. Philip Gibbs, telegraphing from headquarters on March 2, states that tho enemy's withdrawal is slow anil gradual, successive trenches being held long enough to cover their movements. Forests of barbed wire must be cut before the troops can advance. Positions like the Essarts, Bucquont, and Loupart wood, on the Bapaume line are being held by grenadiers and machine-gunners. Prisoners taken near Monghy were ignorant of the plan of retirement, some being actually told by their officers that all the talk of withdrawal was only silly rumor and must cease.

It is reported that the civilians arc being removed from the villages beyond Bapaume. The weather is again foggy, favoring the enemy. i We are now near the Bapaume first defensive line, and that will be the next step in our advance. THE GERMAN RETREAT. AN ASTUTE MOVE, Received March 3, 8.5 p.m. London, March 3. The Nation, commenting on the German retreat, says that if the Germans fall back on the line Arras-Sailly, we can only infer that abler minds are directing the enemy than ever before. The Germany which determined to hold Combles, Thicpval, and Pozieres at all costs was a weaker opponent .than the Germany which abandons positions only retainable at a prohibitive cost. The first was weak and stupid, and the second prudent and formidable. By falling back to the Arras-Sailly line the Gei° mans will probably regain the use of ten or fifteen divisions.

.FURTHER BRITISH PROGRESS. COUNTER-ATTACKS REPULSED. TRENCHES RAIDED. SUCCESSFUL FRENCH pAIDS. A, & N.Z, Cable Association and Reuter. Received March 4, 5.5 p.m. London, March ?. Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig reports: We made further progress northward of Warlencourt and Eaucourt, also jiorth-west of Puissieux Mont, and repulsed counter-attacks on our advanced positions north-east of Gueudecourt and north-west of Ligny Thilloy, inflicting 1 •loss. We raided enemy trenches in the neighborhoods of Angresalone and Loos. A French communique states: Several successful raids were made on German trenches near Moulin-sous-Tous Vents, east of Hill 304 and the forest of Apremont. Prisoners and material were brought back. CLOSE TO BAPAUME. FIRST OF TWO TRENCH SYSTEMS REACHED. BRITISH TROOPS ENTHUSIASTIC. REASON FOR ENEMY'S RETREAT. Received March 4, 5.5 p.m. London, March 3. Correspondents at headquarters state that the British lines have now reached Aclnali Petit, the first of the" two remaining trench systems before Bapaume. Fog has again obscured the British advance and the German retreat, which is necessarily slow. • The enemy trenches are in bad condition, and the entire lack of careful preparation indicates that the stay was only to be temporary. The British troops are pushing forward with the greatest enthusiasm, and are actually requesting to be kept in the firing line, desiring not to miss the I advance. It is untrue iliac tiie retreat was due to the British gas shells. These are certainly better than the Germans','but are of small importance compared with the wonderful mortars and other guns.

GERMAN RETREAT EXPLAINED. GREAT STRATEGICAL ADVANTAGE. HINDENBURG'S AIM. TO FORCE FINAL DECISION. FIGHTING IN OPEN RELIED UPON. Received March 3, 8.55 p.m. Amsterdam, March 3. German newspapers, in tardily announcing the retreat, explain that it is in accordance with Field-Marshal von Hindenburg's schemes, and will .secure a great strategical advantage, which cannot be disclosed at the present time. Captain von Sali-.mann, the military critic of the Vossiche Zeitung, says that all Field-Marshal von Hindenburg's gigantic preparations aim at forcing n final decision this spring, by a most extreme concentration. -He intends terminating the trench warfare wherein, owing to experience in Roumania and Macedonia, the Germans are immeasurably superior to the British in open gghting,

GERMAN PRESS STATEMENTS. EVIDENTLY INSPIRED. Received March 4, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, March 3. German newspapers state that they were confidentially informed on Februar 20 of the Anere withdrawal, but were precluded from commenting on it. The Frankfurt Zeitung states that Field-Marshal von Ilindnebiu-g controls the withdrawal, and that everything, thus far, has gone entirely as he wished. Berne, March 3. General von Kluck, whom several newspapers report as having been reappointed to an army command in Fiance, interviewed in Budapest, stated that the Germans can afford to regard the West front calmly. Everything was ready to meet the greatest' efforts on tlnr part of the Anglo-French.

STILL MOVING FORWARD. AN EVACUATED TRENCH REGAINED. | A. & N.Z. Cable Association and Renter. Received Mvach 4, 11.15 p.m. London, March 4. Field-Marsh Sir Douglas Haig resports: After stubborn resistance we further progressed northward of Puissieau.v-•au-Mont and eastward of Goinmecourt. Our line advanced a quarter of a mile on a frontage eof five miles. An enemy bombing attack forced us to evacuate a trench eastward of Sailly Saillisel, but we regained the ground fiy an immediate counter-attack. IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSPORT. London, March 2. The latest messages from the British front- state that aeroplanes are busy scouting and photqgraphing in clear sunlight. No German' aeroplanes have been seen. The enormous increase in railway material recently, made on the Bnt'sii front will prove valuable'for following up the Germans. Sunshine and fresh winds are drying the earth, making rapid road construction possible, FRENCH ACTIVITY. * 1 London, March 2. A French communique says:—We repulsed two German raids west of Soissons and raided a German trench »icm Vauquois. A German aeroplane bombed Montdidier, one person being killed and three injured, and eleven French aeroplanes bombed hutments at Guiscard and railway stations at Appilly an(/ Badieur on the Oise, causing a fire at named.