RIDGES CAPTURED.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1918, Page 5

RIDGES CAPTURED.

SUCCESSFUL FRENCH ADVANCE. London, July 9, Sir Douglas Haig states that there is nothing to report beyond local encounters. Hazy weather interfered with air work. We dropped 16 tons of bombs in the daytime, and during the following night. The principal targets attacked were Ostend docks and the railways at Tournai and Courtrai. A French communique reports:— (South of the Aisno, we attacked this morning German positions on the approaches to the Renz Forest, north-west of Longpont, on a front of three kilometres. We advanced 1200 yards, and captured Chavigny Farm and the ridges north and south of it. —Aus.-N.Z. Coble Assoc, and Renter. NEW ZEALAND MINISTERS AT THB FRONT. A TOUR OF THE LMBS, (•Special Despatch, from the Official War Gorresapondent.) July *• Ministers continue to have an extraordinarily busy time while with the New Zealand Forces. From morn till night their little fleet of cars carried them over country roads, and unit after unit Was inspected and addressed. The great desire of Mr. Maasey and Sir Jflaeph Ward seemed to the to see as many men ae possible and by the close of the tour they will have seen almost all the New Zealanders. In addition to seeing fch» infantry, artillery, and. other unit* on parade in considerable masses, they also went out ©f their way to visit the smaller units, and even permitted many personal interviews, renewing old acquaintanceships and listening to' individual requests. Ttjeir speeches necessarily contained a repetition of facts and figures already known in New Zealand, though hot always known to the man at the" front, because in tiege days new* travels on s)ow and uncertain wings, Certainly it was news to very many of the men tg find what a great deal the New Zealand Government had already done through legislation in the interests of their soldiers after the war, and for those who return during its wntinuance. Generally, it may foe said that both Ministers were invariably able to express their pleasure at the splendid appearance of the officers and men on parade, as well as at the fine condition of the horsey the latter being a point upon wMeh tho Prime Minister especially expressed his satisfaction. Leave to New Zealand was frequently referred to, and the Minister explained that the matter was being satisfactorily dealt On Tuesday the Ministers saw another infantry brigade on parade, brigades and batteries of artillery, and also inspected the waggon lines. Tn the afternoon they motored to the New Zealand base, inspecting and addressing the troops next morning. In the afternoon ehey motored to Paris, visiting on the way the Cyclist Battalion and eome pf the outlying New Zealand troops- To-day .there* are functions in connection with American Independence Day in Paris, and an important conference at Versailles. LUDENPORFF'S BLUNDER FRENCH -EXPERTS* VIEWS. PLANS THAT WENT WRONG. French critios take the view that the first German offensive in March, notwithstanding apparent territorial gains, completely failed to achieve the objectives. The tremendous force of the enemy's attack recoiled upon itself. The German masses, by their very number which enabled them to drive in the British front, now find themselves bottled up in a narrow stretch of country in such a manner that they can for the time being neither go forward nor properly provision themselves where they are. The Germans, in fact, have learnt by bitter experience that although it is all very well to knock down a wall in front of them by the aid of an army of a million men the effort is practically useless if behind this wall there is no free space to enable the million men to spread themselves out, and if behind the fallen wall there is another which has not ben at all affected by the driving in of the first. The only dhanee for the attacking million in such circumstances is to smash forward again immediately before the defenders can recover breath. If they do not do this, the resistance of the adversary is reestablished, and the attacking million have all their work to begin over again, and this time under much less promising circumstances. This is exactly what happened to Ludendorff at the end of the first week of the battle. It was at this juncture that Ludendorff committed his cardinal blunder, in the view of French experts, of not throwing in the whole of his reservos at Mont|lpfer, which might have enabled him to'exploit to the full by a war of movement the initial success gained by surprise. General Cherfils states in the- Gauloiia that Ludendorff had the great lines of «>mmunicati6n, ranging., to La Fere, St. .Quentin, respectively, all connected up tfjfctwo great transverse lines. funeral Cfierfils suggests that the reason' why Ludendorff did;.not take advantage oi the situation wasi that he could not brinft Jn hl& : accumulated strategic to the 4x«elient work done aeroplangent by General* Sw^r» ! spread disorder among the enemy reserve formations and to attack the points, whence these formations must necessarily come in. The second week of the battle found the Germans bottled up in the narrow confinement of the restricted area which they«had reached by their tremendous effort, and it became necessary at any cost to smash a window here and there , to let in some air. The Crown Prince [ attempted to do tbia by an attack - towards Coucy on the left, and if the , Germans had really possessed the strength to carry it through their effort in that direction should have been successful. This attempt, howeveF, was stopped by the French, before any serious progress had been made. Ludendorff then tried a much easier road on his i right, which resulted in the breach by i Armentieres. Here again the lack of ■ sufficient strategic reserves brought . about a similar result as- the main at- - tack daring the first week, and here . again the Germans found themselves BMMd in * mm**** <* *mtn-