FIRST BRITISH RUSH.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLIII, Issue 8, 28 July 1916, Page 6

FIRST BRITISH RUSH.

NEARLY GOT THROUGH. I i IMPREGNABLE WORKS STORMED ; 'The Times' correspondent at the Press Camp on the western front writes (states a London cable of July 7): "Attention has heretofore been concentratedl on the southern attack, in the area, where the greatest gains have ' taken place. When the whole story is ; told Great Britain will be, perhaps, 1 more proud of the deeds of some of the regiments in the northern section. The story is magnificent but terrible, for the losses were inevitably heavy. i "Serre, Beaumont-Hamel and Thiepval had been rendered almost impregnable, and though it seems incredible, the fact remains, from what we now know, that the first rush of troop# on Saturday morning acUuily pem". ■ <tr-a beyond Thiepval t 0 tile enemy's luat stronghold, a place called '1 he Crucifix. Some of the Territorial soldiers actually reached Serre. "The southern regiments fought through successive trenches and reached the highest point of the plateau within an hour. When our attack apnivaclie" the Germans put a tremendous barrage of fire on oiir front line, and for i>o yards before and 50 yaads behind it, and siinlutaneously trenched -No .Man s Land with a storm of shrapnel, n ach'iie gun and rifle fire. "The German machine-gunners and infantry undoubtedly behaved with tl»e greatest gallantry. "Observers, describing the enemy's fire-trenches, say that they-were so battered that momentarily they seemed to change shape. Under the hurricane of German fire our front-line trench, too, practically disappeared. N 0 Man's Landl was a sea of flying projectiles of every kind, into which the East Lancashire and the Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiments went unfalteringly. Not a single .man hesitated or turned back. Some not only reached the German first line, hut fought their wayover four successive tiers of trenches. No men could hav e borne themselves more splendidly. "Below Beaumont-Hamel the Ulstermen behaved in a way which will be remembered as long as history is written and read. It is said that the Royal Iri-sh Fusiliers were first ou t of the trenches, and, the Royal Irish Rifles with them, went through absolute hell and on over the parapets into the foe's trenches, bayoneting the machine-gun-ners. The Inniskillings froiin Otnagh and Strabane were subjected to a murderous, cross-fire from machine guns on three sides, yet ,the\i drove on across the first and l second lines. "T believe I am not exaggerating when I say that if the British Armshad not had any traditions before July. 1916, this one day's achievements were enough to have established it on an equality of gallantry with anyi army in the world." 80,000 BAYONETS. COMBATS NEAR LUTSK. An idea of the gigantic scale of the fighting on the eastern front may lie gained from the statement of a wounded Russian airman. He relates that in the terrible battle near Lutsk he saw two entire Russian army corps (80,000 ■men) charge with the bayonet. On the following day he watched a furious melee between seven regiments of Russian cavalry and seven of Austro-Ger-nian horse, wherein.the Russians were victorious, capturing thousands ol the enemy and many, guns. SICK MAN MORIBUND. MISERY IN TURKEY. Mr J. 1). Bourchier, the distinguished Balkans correspondent of 'The Times.' telegraphs from Constantinople : '•'Political discussions are prohibited and espionage abounds. The Old Turks denoimce the Young Turks as being heretics and traitors, and rumors are current that there are many plots on foot to massacre the Young Turks mid their Austrian and German protectors. "The Austrian and German offuors are sending their families towards Bvlgaria, Perhaps this may be attributed to the outbreak of cholera at Staniboiil Misery and l want abound in Turkey. "Austro-Germau trooos have replaced the Turkish garrison in Constantiniople. two Austrian divisions h&ve arrived, in Anatolia, and Austrian artillery is installed on the heigi.s at Telia ml idiva, above Scutari, oppos.t© to the capital. "Enyer Pasha and J'alaat lie.v have maintained their power by racing j n these foreign There" are 60,000 Austrians alone." PEACE CELEBRATION. HENRY FORD WILL PAY. A Danish newspaper announces a great international peace celebration, t<> which representatives of all con ttries will be invited. It is planned to be held after the war at the Danish National Park, Raebild Hills, near Aaborg, Jutland. The scheme has been 'tii'-.i.red by a Danish-American doctor, Henius, as Chicago; while Henry Ford, -.he Ante rican peace apostle, is assisting rlimicially. He has consented to pay the expenses of 2000 American delegates. GERMAN OFFICER'S VIEW. ENGLAND WINS IN 3 MONTHS. The crews of herring-boats which were sunk by a German- submarine state that the conia.mnder said that he was formerly an officer in P. and O. liner. He added. "We realise that England will win the war in three months: meanwhile we are out to do all the damage we can." SOMETHING NEW. FOR THE GERMANS. Th e New York Associated Press' correspondent in Berlin has sent the story of a German lieutenant named Dambitsch, who was wounded in the Somnie fighting. After dwelling on the indescribable destruction wrought by flic Allied artillery on the massively-built German tiositions. which were regarded as practically indestructible, he goes on to say that the enemy showed the Germans several new things, including incredible numbers of aerial mines of hitherto unheardof size, and the destruction of the German observation balloons by fire-balls dropped from aeroplanes. He also speaks of the Allies' aerial ' torpedoes, and, referring to the heavyaerial mines, which he says the Allied soldiers threw extraordinary distances, he tells how they smashed up the most formidable defences. "I saw," he remarks, "as far as the eye could reach, crater after crater, six feet deep, with the earth between thrown up into a wild chaos mingled with trench timber and wire entanglements. In that way nine months of dqyi and nigFt-long work was destroyed in a few minutes."