HUNS BLOODILY DEFEATED.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 April 1917, Page 5

HUNS BLOODILY DEFEATED.

FRENCH VIGOROUS COUNTERATTACK. ,:J,

Received April 2tJ, 8.!i0 p.m. London, April 25. A French communique states:—Artillerying was continued all along the front north of \air:hiHori. The Germans were bloodily defeated in their utter against Hurtebise Farm, being stopped l>y our fire. They renewed the assault, but a vigorous counter-attack threw them back to their own lines. We dispersed large German concentrations in the region north of Paiateau and Vauclerc. A Belgian communique states:—The artillery duels have been rc-smmnd at different points, especially near Dixmude. UNPARALLELED SLAUGHTER OF GERMAN. TROOPS BRITISH OFFICIOUS' NARROW ESCAPE. (Times V. Received, April -2G, 12 30 a.m., London April 21 A correspondent at headquarters says tlio ferocity of the lighting and the slaughter of Germans are nuparalleled. The repulsed counter-attacks at Gazrclie resembled a massacre. The ground was heaped with dead, our artillery blowing whole battalions to bits. The German fury, temporarily exhausted, is renewed and their concentrations presage a further attempt to recapture their lost ground. Four British high command officers, who were investigating the results on the battle front, were nearly captured by a German patrol, demonstrating t e extreme openness and irregularity of the fighting. The officers had to run for their lives, and fortunately outran the Germans; who narrowly missed bagging big game. THE BRITISH OFFENSIVE. SHEAR-LIKE ACTION. Writing on April 16, tlio military critic oa the Sydney ■ Morning Herald says:— As far as it has gone at present, tlie Allied offensive reveafe some features whioh weire not notioeable in earlier attacks in ado on a largo scale. Tho front of tho* attack _ seems to be opening out like a fan, with the flanks driving northward and. southward', respectively, and tie centre bulging out gradually to the .eastward. Instead of a wedge driven into the enemy's line, the attack is more suggestive of the closed blades of a huge pair of Bhears which aire being opened gradually as they are forced further in. This may lie the result of lessons dearly learned in the Sounme offensive, when, after advancing eastward towards Ccmbles, the British, owing to tho failure of the initial attack between Gommecourt and Thiepval, widened the base of the salient by attacking in a northerly direc,ion. If this policy is continued 1 the British attack will no doubt spread farther northward of Lous, which would hivve the effeot of increasing the enemy's mlicmt rji'ouad La Dasseo. An offensive below Armentiere may have been provided for in tho Allied plan, which, besides threatening Ijille, might also force a withdrawal from the La Bassee salient. This is, however, only a future possibility, and in tlm meantime it is satisfactory to know that the top blade of tlio •aheora has torn its vay up along the old German line through Lens, while tlio lower blade is sweeping down "long the northern end of the Hindennrg line, south-eastward of Arras. In ih.is oonnootion it is worth noting that Sir Douglas Baig states that the British advance in this region i 9 being earned out "astride the Himlenb'urg line." Southward of the front directly affected by the latest British offensive additional gains javo been made against the enemy troops, whioh previously withdrew from the Sornnie region and from the Noyon salient. The British are now closer than ever to the northwestern and western outskirts of the 'own, and the French have increased their pressure on the southern side. It should not be long, therefore, before tho enemy forces at St. Quentin follow tho example of their comrades at Lens.