ALLIES CONTINUE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 159, 5 July 1916, Page 5

ALLIES CONTINUE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS.

REMNANTS OF LA BOISELLE GARRISON SURRENDERS!., ENEMY'S FRONT PENETRATED TO DEPTH OF THREE MOLES. , OVER 12,000 PRISONERS TAKEN. ' LONDON,Jhiy-4. The following are British and French communiques:— Sir Douglas Haig reports:—"The fight this afternoon fluctuated about La Boiselle and south of Thiepval, the advantage, on the whole, remaining with ! us. j South of Thiepval hostile counter-attacks drove some of our troops from portion of positions captured early this morning. ' Elsewhere many hostile attacks were repulsed with heavy loss. In some places we continued R> make substantial progress. The amount of captured armament and warlike stores is very considerable, but accurate details are aa yet not available. The number ' of prisoners has now reached over 4,300.. On the rest .of the. front, with the , exception of heavy hostile artillery fire at certain places, no important incident has occurred." .... ' Later Sir Douglas Haig reported:— ' ; Heavy fighting continues on the British front, but is proceeding satMactorily for us, especially in the vicinity of La Boiselle, where the remnants of the garrison have now surrendered. , "Northwards of the River Ancre the position is unchanged. At Fricourt, 4J miles -east of Albert, our positions were advanced northwards to higher ground. The situation is promising. We are bombarding Thiepval and La 7 Boiselle. The Germans are bombarding Montauban. No damage, was>done. The prisoners taken on the British front total 4,000. The weather continues favourable." ■•--.. A French communique states:—"South of the Somme our troops, following up their successes east of Mereaucourt Wood, captured this morning Chapitre Wood and the village of Feuilleres. The village of Assevillers, the centre .of a powerful defensive position, was carried brilliantly by our infantry. South of Assevillers we captured the second German positions to the bound&riea of Estrees. Passing the second German positions, we captured Buscoilrt and Flaucourt. At this point the territory conquered by us reaches a depth* pf over three miles. Enemy reinforcements at Belloy, Ensanterre, and east of Flaucourt were dispersed by our artillery. The material captured by us up to the present includes seven batteries, comprising three of large, calibre, machine-guns, and trench mortars. The unwounded prisoners captured by the French troops exceed 8,000." .f .-•