ANOTHER BLOW COMING.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16204, 6 May 1918, Page 7

ANOTHER BLOW COMING.

iremendous bombardment in FLANDERS. jjEAVY FIGHTING IN ITALY. 4th YEAR—27Bth DAY.

|HE GREAT OFFENSIVE. ! lull continues. oKLY MINOR ACTIVITIES. Cable —PJWfI Association.— Copyright.) and N.Z. Cable Association.) - ! " W (Beuter , 8 Telegram..) ff&ceived May sth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 4. gir Douglas Haig reports: "Acting in co-operation with the wench we took prisoners in local fightL southward of Villors-Bretonneux. 7The enemy's artillery is active pjrti of Albert. "We slightly improved our position aHtb-east of Hinges, capturing two sucbinß-guns. . "Tie French securod prisoners m jaccessful local operations in the locie cector. "The enemy artillery on the morning <jf May 4th opened an intense bomludment of the French and British positions from tho neighbourhood of liore to south of Ypres, and has shown peat activity on the Fort Nieppo and Jfictte sectors. "Despite a haze on May 2nd wo dropped 3J tons of bombs on Bapaumo ud other targets. In severe air fighting we brought down 14 enemy mdhines, and drove down four others uncontrollable. Five of our machines are missing. 1 "Our night fliers dropped 5£ tons of fonts on Chaulnes and Juniville and railway junctions at ' Bapaurae and Ciix. They also dropped three heavy to m b s from a low height on the lock ptes at Zeebrugge. "We carried out a successful raid <A May Brd on. the railway station and ridings at Thionville, and again hit the Carleshutto works. Bursts were observed in. the station, sidings, and gMWorks. All our machines returned." s (Received May sth, 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 4. S Sir Douglas Haig reports:—

| "The enemy's bombardment on the| Tiirning of May 4th, south and Bouthfljt of YpreSj was vigorously returned !#|p Britjsh and French artillery. ?Mo attaoks developed, and infantry rating was confined to local engagej|ts at different points, •'.'jjn successful minor operations carout on the night of May 3rd on Hinges sector, we took 40 prisoners.

"We completely repulsed attempted local attacks under cover of a heavy, artillery barrage early in the morning ill May 4th south of Locon.

: "The French havo mado progress on tie Locre sector, taking 50 prisoners.

British on the right of the Irwljk also made progress in the neighbourhood of Meteren." May sth, 11 p.m.) : LONDON, May 5. Sir Douglas Haig's aviation report

. "Good visibility on May 3rd assisted tie .cooperation of our aeroplanes witn tie iriillery, and bombing was earned sot with the utmost vigour. Ovor 20 toni of bombs were dropped on tho Chaulnes, Tournai, and La Basseo rail*iy stations, and on Estaires, Marcel*n, Meniu, Comines, and Middlenrke.

"Thefe was fierce aerial fighting all &J. We brought down 28 German Mctines. and drove down fire others. Our anti-aircraft guns shot down three *itlun our lines. Eleven of our machines are missing.

"Our night fliers, despite mist and weather, dropped two tons of }«nbs on Chaulnes and Juniville railXjU junctions. All our machnes retimed.''

LONDON, May 3. ' Sir Douglas Haig, reporting in tho .•Wung, stated: — s£ocal fighting to our advantage •»K place on Thursday night in the W&bourhood 0 f Villers-Bretonneux. ®wo carried out successful raids ?®roward of Arras and eastward of St. *«WK. capturing prisoners. neciprocal artillery fire was active stoog the night between Givenchy and Forest, in the neighbourhood of and southward of Ypres. 1 '

WITH THE FRENCH. (Atitralim N.Z. Cable Association.) , . (Boater's Telegrams.) • (Received May sth, 5.5 p.m.) y f LONDON, May 4. communique states: — «»ro is fairly great reciprocal activity north and south of ° n bank of the artillery dispersed enemy conations south of Villers-Breton-and towards Cassel. j May 2nd eight enemy aero,es were brought down, while 12 ia? BMe compelled to descend betheir own lines. j^\*q>ty r sevcn kilogrammes of prowere dropped on stations, ftnd cantonments in Ham, j»n ! Chaulnes, St. Quentin, and , ffififot thousand kilogrammes were dropped on enemy estab2»k Rethe] and the railway kf?" 1 at Asfeld la Villa." $£' ®«eiTed May 6th, 1.10 a.m.) _ LONDON, May 5. '£■; , l j»r r6Dc h communique states:— Was no infantry activity IIW an ar tillery duel north - Avre and on che wer AiletWfeS.

WHAT THE GERMANS SAY. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Keuter'a TelegTanM.) Admiralty per Wireless Preas. (Received May 6th, 1.10 a.m.) LONDON, May 5. A German evening official report states: — "French counter-attacks at Kemmel r.nd Bailleul failed, with very heavy losses." ANOTHER BLOW COMMENCING. (Renter's Telegrams.) (Received Mav sth, 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 5. Router'B correspondent- at British Headquarters, writing on May 4th, says:— "There are unmistakable signs that the enemy is resuming his effort to force the hill chain west of Kemmel. "Last night he opened a tremendous bombardment of Seherpenberg and the neighbourhood of Mont Rouge, which lasted a considerable time. A crushing, hurricane bombardment upon the British and French lines from north of La Clytte to south of Mont Rouge <ras resumed this morning, and half an hour later the French were sending up S.O.S. signals. "No details are at present available." THE WAR"siTUATION. allied operations reviewed. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received May sth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 3. A high authority states: — "Tho German effort to outflank the line of heights with a view to cutting off the troops in the Ypres salient failed after great enemy loss, though he gained some ground at the cross-roads in the Neuve Eglise region. Summing up tho enemy gains, they consisted of from 1J- to 2 miles along a seven miles front. It might be considered that he holds Kemmel fairly securely. Tho capture of Kemmel gives him more elbow room. He has securely established his right flank from Kemmel to Wytschaete. This is all on tho credit side, while on tho debit side he has failed in his main object to capture tho i chain of heights.

"He has used up five fresh divisions from his general reserve, in addition to seven or eight other divisions?. Although the enemy gained a tactical result he did not gain a single strategical aim.

"'The effect of the fighting on the north front has been to materially Te,duce the number of divisions which the Germani havo to put into the fight. It is true that a number of tired divisions are now recovering, and will be able to participate in future attacks, but it is quite plain that if the enemy continues his offensive in tho north, it must impair his chances if he resumes his attacks on. tho Somme. The main German aim is still to separate the English and French in the south. The problem before the German staff, therefore, is a very difficult one.

"The Gorman statement that the Australians have been asked to tako a greater sharo than the English in the present battle is untrue. The Australians have maintained their high reputation. One cannot give them higher praise than that." The authority paid a tribute to their gallant work at Villers-Bretonneux. Of 31 English divisions engaged, ho said, each division lost more heavily than the whole of tho Australian divisions together. General Foch congratulated General Rawlinson on his magnificent dcfence of the Villers-Bretonneux-Hangaxd front. He described it as a most masterly series of operations.

The high authority also refuted the German allegation that the French were pulling tho chestnuts out of tho fire. It was knovtn that neither the French nor the British could hold their own by themselves, and therefore it was arranged that each should come, to tho other's assistance. Tho left wing had to bear the brunt according to plan, and thus enable the Allies to conserve their reserves.

Germany had accused us of using hollow-nosed bullets with heads filled with paper. No bullets were hollownosed, though paper pulp was being used in place of aluminium in the core.

There was no foundation for the statement that Marshal von Mackensen had arrived on the Western front with 600,000 men. "He is a bogey who is to appear to deliver the coup-de-grace, but he has not appeared." General Allenby's advance in Palestine has rendered the Turkish position precarious.

General Marshal also began to advanco on April 24th. His object in Mesopotamia is to givo the Turks as much trouble as possible. We surprised him on the Diala line, where his troops had orders to retire if we advanced, but we managed to intercept him and captured 1950 men, three mountain guns, and 12 field guns."

SIDELIGHTS ON THE OFFENSIVE. (United Service.) (Received May sth, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 4. The Australians were completely successful, and made a further advance at Bretonneux. LONDON, May 3. Iteuter'e correspondent at British Headquarters says that the Germans have not renewed their effortß to advance in Flanders or on the Somme, and their objective time-tables indicato that they are finding their task much heavier than they anticipated. On Thuradav night there -was much

bombing activity on both sides, our airmen inflicting heavy casualties. The Australians carried out a successful minor operation near Villers-Breton-, neux, while th® Canadians mopped up a strong post further north. The British rushed a machine-gun emplacement, clearing it out. A tremendous gunfire broke out this morning, apparently in the Lys region. It is noteworthy that with the lull in the fighting since the German defeat all talk of tne "Kaiser's Battle" has vanished. The German experts and newspapers are now instructed to warn the people that no Sedan is possible, that Ypres is very strong, and the British stubborn, and that, after all, Ypres is of no importance for the Germans, and consequently the German Command may decide not to take Ypres. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) NEW iORK, May 3. American correspondents on the West front report that American troops repulsed heavy attacks in the vicinity of Vil lers-B re tonne u x. The Germans charged with the bayonet aft?r an intense bombardment. The Washington representative of the "New York Times'' interviewed a high .Allied official, who declared that the German offensive could, be expected to last all the summer. The American public should be warned that the German check in Flanders would not prevent them from continuing their attempt to break through.