DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR OVILLERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 172, 20 July 1916, Page 5

DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR OVILLERS.

ENEMY SUFFERING AGONIES OF HUNGER AND THIRST. TRONES WOOD A VAST GERMAN GRAVEYARD. LONDON, July 19. The Paris correspondent of the London "Daily Chronicle" describes the fight for Ovillers. After a furious bombardment a brigade advanced on three sides °f the town. The defenders, with conspicuous valour, engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle among the broken walls of their cellars. Many l>ad not tasted food for two days. Everywhere corpses were lying unburied. The bombardment wrecked two strong fieldworks barring the entrance to the -pillage by the Bapaume Road. The British troops found hero a frightful barricade of 800 German dead. Out of an entire brigade of Imperial Guard 126 survived. Many were suffering agonies of hunger and thirst. Some men died of. Poisoniupr after drinking from a filthy pond. Others went mad and fought each other. Th e British formed up and presented arms, with a sorry remnant of Prussia s proudest troops marching in the rear. The p ar i s newspaper "Petit Journal" states that the KaiEer witnessed the capture of Ovillers by the British. A Guards battalion contested every yard, impelling the British to besiege the ruins of every house. The King has sent a message to Sir Douglas Haig expressing great admiration at the continued successful advance of the troeps. He conveys the Czar's congratulations. Sir Douglas Haig has replied conveying the Army's thanks iioi the gracious appreciation. The "ilornin? Post's" correspondent on the west front says it is roughly •adulated that since June 28 the British have fired half a million shells on the :fnemy daily.