GUNS CLEAR THE WAY FOR INFANTRY ATTACK

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 67, 19 March 1915, Page 5

GUNS CLEAR THE WAY FOR INFANTRY ATTACK

TRENCHES BLOWN TO PULP UNDER HAIL OF SHELLS. SIR JOHN FRENCH FIGHTING HIS WAY TO LILLE. LONDON, March 18. A British officer states that there were 350 guns at Neuve Chapelle, all firing as fast as possible. The German trenches seemed afire under an unbroken line of bursting shells. The entanglements were blown beyond the trenches, which were reduced to a pulp of earth, boards and wire equipment, intermingled with the Genual dead. The foremost German trenches were only 150 yds from the British, who, while waiting for the order to charge, were petrified by. the sight.. ■ The London "Truth" considers that Field-Marshal Sir -John French intends fighting his way to Lille. General Pulteney's army corps is at Lepincttc, within six miles of the centre of Lille. If the .movement continues the paper expects a series of pitched battles in which the Germans will fight at a strategical disadvantage. If defeated they will lose their line of retreat down the River Lys. Aviators are seeking, to prevent reinforcements from coming from Ghent, where the bulk of the German "reserves have been collected.