IN THE AIR.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1917, Page 5

IN THE AIR.

BRITISH RAID ON ROULERS. MOST TERRIBLE OF THE WAR. / tfERhi&S - REGIMENT DECIMATED. Received Oct. 17, 5.5 p.m. Amsterdam, 0: t. 16. He British air raid on Raulers was* one of the most terrible of the war. Bombs fired the barrasks sheltering a German regiment, and the airmen, descending, emptied their machmS'guna ijito those escaping from the fames. The casualties were enormous. AERODROMES BOMBED. M*. and K.Z. Cable Assoc. and Reuter. ! ■ Received Oct. 17, 5.5 p.m. London, Oct. lfl. 'An Admiralty report states: Naval aircraft bade a number of bombing raids W several aerodromes, with good effects. ,! "VtetOHY IN THE AIR." '>< .$ . HIGH SPIRITS IN FLANDERS. .OF GROUND GAINED. 'London, Sept. 21. Describing the British attack in Flandets yesterday morning, Reuter's correspondent states there was heavy rain duiifcjfthe but the weather cleared at dfeWn, Mid the all-important element of Vi*i|>ility *U reasonably high, while the grdund was not seriously affected. The attack differed materially from all previous; battles in /Various aspects, which it U not; permissible to indicate, but which Wertei«ctat«d by the necessity of devis-, ing some formula for dealing with the enemy's newdefenßive tactics. The enemy's pill-boxed and shell-era- 1 tered ground Wis tbe subject of great artillery concentration for a week. By day our . heavy guns earned out intense counter-battery work and a destructive bombardment of the defensive positions, while at: night the field-guns and trenchmorttra' ipitched gos-shella and "oildrijOß®'' ftmQnjj the enemy. The actual . preliminary bombardment was short, but it was pf incredible intensity, consisting of a series of barrages, one in advance of the other. All the troops had thoroughly rehearsed their part. ' THOROUGH AND SCIENTIFIC. Mr. Beach Thomas, correspondent of the Daily Mail, says:—Once again the ' Empire troops have stormed a slight but dominating ridge, winding eastward from ■Westhoek, and looking down over pathIMS swamp*. Many a brooklet and valley had been kneaded into blue paste by the* artillery. Everywhere broken' timber was tangled in the remnants of the wire. The shell-holes north of Glercorae Wood almost touched, and most were brimful of water. Every wood is a staked swamp, complicated by wire. The tndiml of to-daysplendid victory on the Menin Road shows that it pays to fight big. Everything went well from the start, repeating the Messines success by methods singularly thorough and even apre scientific. Our wounded are full of admiraiton for the barrage, and state that the Germans were unable to do much. "We were on them before they recovered from our barrage." The fiarrage fell without distinction on the front systems,'back roads, the avenues of approach, the points of assemblage, and the batteries. The aeroplanes brought back the firßt sews, dropping messages written on rough paper. Lohg before noon it was known that the desired lines had been •termed and were being organised. Over all the central area we took in our stride places for which we had been haggling since August—Wurst and Schuler Farm, and the bigger and more famous obstacles, Glencorse Wood, the Inverness Copse, Shrewsbury Forest, and a host of fortified farms and redoubts. The pnemv is doubtless about to test his theory of defence, but the spirit of our men is higher than ever. "I do hope they'll counter-attack,' was the general wish before the attack vvas launched. So far we have over-run the enemy to a maximum depth of a mile. Tin- o(jl» check, and that was slight, was ill the Iwpcn of tiie Hessian and Belgian WoOfa, and beyond St. Juiien. El«* where we secured virtually all our objec- ! ti\cs. Our airmen fought and observed rega«He« of a 30-knot wind, which swept towards the enemy, and meant extfeme danger to the airmen. The ' eifettv had moved his best troops to Winders,' relieving his armies as often as p6«sible. The tardinal importance of the.ftetory » t'jst it is destroying the gfftyrf Of the German army. DEFENCES TESTED. ' tie "f tlifl defesee was due garri

overwhelming by the artillery. Shellholes, often connected, and -always wir- [ ed, formed a defensive system outside ■ tbo block-houses, but their garrisons had not the heart to put up a good defence. The day's fighting gives the hope that we have found an answer to the new art of defence in depth. It was obvious to everyone that our guns had obS iterated the trenches and pathways, "he garrisons were standing knee-deep in the slush of extinct trenches. Within 4-8 hours our guns had engaged over 170 enemy batteries. In replying the enemy did no more than scatter vague shells over our supposed gun Areas, merely making a formal answer to our barrages. The enemy was nervous elsewhere. His aeroplanes, Gothas, and Albatrosses were thrust back by our airmen's offensive spirit. JUBILANT WOUNDED. The Times correspondent, Mr. Perry Robinson, says:—We have struck with shattering force and complete success a mile in extreme depth. That mile we have over-run and grasped and now hold. Already the enemy has been tacking. The more counter-attack the better we shall be .pleased. Victory is in the air. What we have won we shall hold. The majority of our wounded are walking cases, and the most jubilant wounded I have ever seen. When they were no longer able to follow, and had seen their comrades g</ romping on, all shouted with laughter when told that thq, Germans had surrendered. "We didn't know whether to dance or to stand on our heads," said one, "as they streamed out of their concrete shelters." They had pushed through Inverness Copse a hundred yards to the east, and half-way to Gheluvelt. Our nien swept over hideous country, studded with fortified farms and concrete redoubts, their machine-guns sweeping the ground before our line. Their garrisons are now dead or prisoners. The German defence consisted almost'entirely of machine-guns in concrete fortifications. Our men tell comic tales of the Gifman terroi when wrrendering. Yet some of the enemy longfct irom their concrete shelters to the last. Afany of the forts were shattered by our guns and only hit from the heaviest gun is'capable'of doing this.