THE BRITISH ARTILLERY.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 May 1917, Page 7

THE BRITISH ARTILLERY.

"IT COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE WOBSE." British Headquarters, March 0. The enemy is being closely pursued in. his retreat, as the action at Bouchavesnes indicates. There he was hurried out of a broad front with a. loss of 200 prisoners and ft number of ma-chine-guns and trench mortars, This so seriously affected his local plans that he made several heavy counter-attacks, and so added unintentionally to our pro. fit in the day's account.' A large number of dead were left in front of our new position.

Since then he appears to have accepted the situation, except for some peevish artillery protests. This little gain north of Pennine, followed by such desperate and cosily efforts at recapture, servos to show that it may need all the military skill the Germans possess to keep balanced. to a nicety the wide retreat upon which they are engaged. To follow them up lias its obvious difficulties, because the transforming of a'static siege machine into something mobile and adjustable to daily new conditions cannot be done without much preliminary labor. The enemy has much the (same difficulty, except that, he gets away first and leaves us with the initial difficulty to deal with the old, bad ground. In the account I have given of the dreadful evidence of German losses this winter on the Somme ground as I saw it between their old trenches and La Barque, I have been at soine trouble to verify that this iB typical of what has been found along his whole front there. It is typical. Officers who have been over the ground elsewhere tell me that the evidence of our punishment of the enemy's late ground by guns this winter surprised them. They knew it would be pretty bad. It is much worse than they expected. The vacated German positions are a shocking compost of'clay, bodies, And rags such as I myself saw. There were no communication trenches to the front line. These had been obliterated. Any roads leading to the front positions cannot be even recognised as roads. They are slOughß containing the bodies of men who were drowned, because such was their state of mind that they would rather take the chances in those sunken ways of bottomless miro and red pooh than face, the horrors of crossing the open. One large area to the west of where I crossed the country ,to our outposts haß been named the Sahara by our soldiers. A Staff officer, who went to a famous position near Miraumont, told me that the result, of the shelling there was indescribably hideous. Ho had never seen anything so bad. That is the view everyone takes who has been up to the front: "It could not possibly be worse" and "I know ilo means of conveying to others the sense that land gives an eyewitness of being not only the death of the. world, but also its revolting dissolution." Anyhow, it dare not Dt> oven attempted now.

Since I saw it I have not been able td get it out of my-mind, though ] have seen some rather ugly things in this war. And, remember, that when up there, aa far as you can see there Is nothing else to ho seen. And remember, further, that it was that appalling prospect which had to be faced by all the German troops on that front, whether they were returning or going in, or re-victualling and providing for their comrades. They had to face it. I fully understand now why we used to hear that it was usual for German troops to go in fear to the Somme front "with their tails down," as our men phrase it. It must have ended in madness for some of them, and depression and miserable fear for moßto *

Willi the capture of Biez and Pigeon Woods and a farm which liad been made into a stronghold to the north of Biez, tho lino now. approximates to that of Rssiirts, Lou part Wood, Bapaumc, and Lu Transloy. At night fires nro still to be seen beyond the enemy's front.