BRITISH ARTILLERY ACTIVE ALONG WHOLE FRONT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16266, 27 June 1916, Page 7

BRITISH ARTILLERY ACTIVE ALONG WHOLE FRONT.

BOMBARDMENT HEAVIEST NEAR NEUVILLE AND YPRES. UNSUCCESSFUL GERMAN ATTEMPTS AT RAIDING. (Received June 26. 9.20 p.m.) LONDON. JUNE 25. Sir Douglas Haig reports: "Our artillery has been very active along the whole front. The heaviest shelling was in the region of Neuville Saint Vaast and north of the Ypres-Menin Road. The only other incidents were small and unsuccessful raids on British trenches. German mines were exploded without casualty to us." AMSTERDAM. JUNE 25. A German communique states:—"The Anglo-French forces developed unbroken and lively artillery firing in the region from south of La Bassee Canal to beyond the Somme. This continued all night. They also heavily bombarded Lens and the neighbourhood, and discharged gas unsuccessfully over the German lines in the region of Beaumont and Hamel, northward of Albert." Neuville Saint Vaast is a village 4£ miles djue north of Arras. It lies on the top of a crest midway between the River Scarpe, which flows through Arras from west to east, and the River Carency, which becomes the Duel Canal at Lens. East of Neuville is the famous "Labyrinth" position, a network of trenches and entanglements over a mile long, originally constructed by the Germans, and defended by guns embedded in concrete. Throughout the summer of 1915 the operations were connoted to the mutual mining and counter-mining of trenches. The "Labyrinth" itself covers the approach to Nenville Cemetery, a portion of which fell into the hands of the French in September last. The Ypres-Menin Road runs in a south-easterly direction from Ypres. Menin, its southern terminal, is 13 miles north of Lille, and nine miles east of Ypres. The most important village along the road is Hooge.