TANK V. "TANGLE."

A THRILLING ENCOUNTER

GERMANS DRIVEN OUT OF MAZE OF DUG-OUTS.

.Writing from British Headquarters! on tho Western front on October 9th Mr Frederick Palmer, s United States Press representative, says:— j A fight to the finish between a British "tank" and the "tangle" was the outstanding dramatic feature of the charge of Le Sars by the -British in ths advance in that neighbourhood ..on Saturday. |

The tangle was a good example of ■the methods of1 defence, which the Germans are using now that tliey are out of their old fortifications. It is a strong point with a maze of dug-outs reinforced with concrete^which has been specially constructed as a. rallying point for machine-gun play on the infantry, 'both flank and frontShells, even of the largest ■ calibre,, are unable to put all tho .machine-gun's out of action. "Clearly this was a- job for tho tank," said a British staff officer,- "and ono of the .worst it has over tackled."

PICTURESQUE CHARGE. No rush of any torpedo destroyer under the guns of a battleship, and no cavalry charge on record could have bieen more gallant or picturesque. Since the taking'1 of ' "Eaiicourt Ab- j have British bombing parties have made .many rushes into "tangles," where the Germans have met their showei'-s. of''bombs'with shdwers of their own. 'Their fire had smashed nmch of tho cement, making the advance all the more difficult "in the midst of the labyrinthine turns which . baffled the British, while the defenders, owing to their familiarity., with their own lair, had every.; advantage. Neither bullet nor bombs could'harm the tank, but it was liourid to l>e tinder-heavy shell fire. For the commander and tho Orew ; death was success. , HIS MAJESTY'S LA^BSHIP.r Disastrous as the tank, is- in nWiiig over all kinds of obstacles, it- was uncertain whether ''His Majesty's Landship," as the official title goes, could isavigate the tangle.

With that peculiar "grumbling and: rumbling noise that it makes as n goes over the shell craters, it started off. Shells dropped all around^ li, covering it Avith earth, but it seemed to bear a- charmed life. -Warping, itself up that half-ruined fortification, it managed to cross over the upheaval of cement blocks, and blazed away with its own machine-guns into the dugouts and into -the machine-gun positions of the Germans.

Meanwhile, the Gennar artillery did r.ot seem to - mind whether or not it hit its own men. The German artillery having sighted tho tank, war; determined to smash it if it was within tho pofwer of its guns to do so.

The tank Jeemed ,to draw all kinds of fire and.'all the trouble there was in its -Own direction.. At times tho tank was hidden .from view .by the shell smoke and dust from the explosions, but when this cleared it was still seen moving over the craters made by the shells aimed at it.

With ty.ille.ts and shell" fragments rattling on its sides it kept on tho job-. Death and destruction did not matter. Its business was to clear tbo tanglo, and it succeeded.

Tho British maintained thoi>- position and gained the front of Le Sars on Saturday. They are close up to another German strong point, which the gunners have named "th-» gunner's delight." This is the ■ Butto Warlencourt, a sore of tumultuous hill which is an ideal target for the gunners. They hare torn the top ofp it, and ha.Vo blasted it out of anything like "the former skyline contour.

The Germans mado another strong countor-attack at .5 o'clock iv the morning- against the 'British positions beyond Thiepval, and succeeded in getting into, a - portion of the British trenches. ' Hcire the British closed on thorn, and after a bloody hand-to-hand conflict, recovered [■ the' trenches and took the survivors prisoners.