FRANCE READY FOR THE COMING BLOW.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 51, 28 February 1918, Page 5

FRANCE READY FOR THE COMING BLOW.

TREMENDOUS PREPARATIONS BEHIND THE LINES. LONDON, February 27. A correspondent at French headquarters -writes;—As the shadow of the expected German offensive looms larger, it is comforting to know that the French are ready everywhere to meet it whenever it falls. Behind the French front the winter has been a time of methodical preparation. Unnumbered miles of trenches have been dug, roads and communications improved, and fresh and monstrous growths of wire placed on every road and field where a German advance is conceivable. Artillery and munitions are ready in quantities that the Germans have never before encountered, but a surer and stronger defence is the unconquerable spirit of the French army. They are ready and better prepared than ever before.—(Reuter.) Sir Douglas Haig reports:—There has been hostile artillery activity at Flesquieres, on the C'ambrai sector, and at Vpres. A French communique states:—There is marked reciprocal artillery activity north of the Chemin dcs Dames, and on both banks of the Meuse, especially at Hill 304, Mort Homme, Beaumont, and Chambrettes.— (A. and N.Z. and Reuter-i