WESTERN ATTACK.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1917, Page 5

WESTERN ATTACK.

STRONGHOLDS OF MASSED ARTILLERY. WHAT THE BRITISH FOUND AT LENS. THE GERMANS IN WILD RETREAT. Received April 16, 5.5 p.m. London', April IS. Mr Philip Gibbs reports that the German inoccupation of Lagnicourt was of the briefest, the Australians recapturing it with the utmost dash. Lens and Lievin were staked with guns and fortified in the most formidable way. They were veritable strongholds of massed artillery, but all were threatened by the advance down the northern slopes of Vimy, for the Canadians wero unlikely to stay inactive after the great triumph. The points were also threatened by the British advance from the Loos battlefield. The German staff knew the peril. There were wild scenes at Lens during the efforts to remove the guns, stores, and troops until dawn on Friday. The enemy hoped the Britis.li would he held hack by the German rearguards in Vimy Petit and Vimy village, but hope disappeared when the Canadians swept down the ridge and chased the enemy out of those places on the lower slopes towards Douai. A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT. OUR MEN GET IN ENEMY'S REAR. GERMANS IN WILD CONFUSION. Eeceived April IS, 5.5 p.m. London, April 15. Mr Philip Gibbs continues:—One great and far-reaching result followed swiftly upon the Canadians' capture of Vimy ridge. Our troops cleared out the German machine gunners from rear posts at Lievin on Saturday, enabling the patrols to penetrate Lens. The retaking of Lens -will thrill France, and will be regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the war. With cunning and courage some of our men entered the southern outskirts of the city, whilst others advanced cautiously on the western side. The enemy was still there in the machine-gun redoubts, and likely to be troublesome, but they were only the rearguards, the I main, body already being in retreat. I After the British-Canadian success on Friday, the enemy saw the last chance lof a successful counter-attack had been foiled, and were immediately seized with fear and prepared for instant retreat, i which they did in -wild confusion. 1 One of the first signs of the German retreat was that they then began to shell their own front lines outside of Lievin and Lens. AH night long the sky I was aflame. | t ,__ "MERRY HELL!" '-";U Tn tJho morning I saw the enemy making merry little hell in Lens suburbs and the dependent villages. Explosions continued all morning and afternoon. Meanwhile our men were advancing from Lievin and through it, having a hard and costly task to rout out the machine-gun emplacements, especially two terribly strong redoubts called "Crook" and "Crazy." Each group of streets had separate defences of barbed wire, sand,bag i barricades, and a nets of machine guns. ;A quick advance through Lens would have been a great and needless sacrifice of life. I witnessed the attack on the southern suburbs of Len's. The troops swarmed oyer the open ground, and scattered groups took cover under an embankment , where other attackers joined them. After waiting half an hour they doubled half to the left, led by an officer well ahead, crossed the sunken road and ascended the slope. He suddenly changed his direction again before reaching the crest, disappearing in a long straight street. The correctness of the manoeuvre was immediately proved, as the German shells plastered the embankment where our men had previously assembled. Other troops crept upt steering erratically in short rushes, until they reached the same street, and Lens was being breached. The last view showed the British shell lire falling beavily about the church, and the enemy's troops and transports retreating hastily. VAST QUANTITIES OF MUNITIONS CAPTURED. M¥ Gibbs, in a later message, states that the attack on the southern suburbs was successful. The British, avoiding a direct assault on the hill, crept round to the left and gained the high ground north-west of it, .whence they captured Bois de Rianmont. The enemy, recovering from Dheir first panic, sent back troops to the trenches, the machinegun redoubts in the western suburbs, finding the time insufficient to prepare their rearward positions between Droconrt and Queant. Meanwhile 2000 women, children, and old men were unable to escape in the interval, and are now refuging in cellars and enduring the agonies of the bombardment. The Germans quitted Lievin in such haste that we captured vast quantities of bombs, trench mortars, and shells. The German counter-attack at lagnicourt is clear evidence of the enemy's anxiety. At this portion of the line the village fajes the important liastion. of Quenant.