THE GREAT BRITISH EFFORT

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 78, 30 September 1915, Page 7

THE GREAT BRITISH EFFORT

A STIRRING DESCRIPTION FIGHT IN A FOG OF DUST AND SMOKE. LONDON. 29th September. The Daily Chronicle's correspondent, Mr. Philip Gibbs, writing from British headquarters on Sunday, said : A five-hundred-miles battle commenced at dawn yesterday. The enemy, suspecting the movements of troops behind our lines, expended a quantity of shells, especially in the Ypres salient. The ruins of Ypres were again churned up by high explo.sives There was a lull on Friday, millions of men in both lines waiting in tense expectation. German prisoners admit that they were ignorant of our strength and plan's, and were blindly confident in their own security Our ( men knew by varioussigns and portents that important operations were on hand Those detailed for the attack had been enjoying a rest, many had "been at home on leave, so they entered the fight sjngiifg old songs and making jokes. The din of the bombardment became doubly intense at dawn. Our guns had never spoken like this. The attack began in earnest east of Vermelles and south of the La Bassee Canal, and the Plain of Lens, where our men" were soon at deadly grips with, the enemy, advancing steadily over ground no longer barred impregnably by the enemy's trenches, upon which they had peered through loopholes of sandbags for many months. The generals and their staff officers were gathered on rising ground, trying to piece the veil behind ' which the masses of brown men were struggling forward. Battalions and brigades vanished into the fog. The British advancing through Loos fought behind the veil, from which came the thunder of battle, and later the first'stream'of wounded. Their positions were only known when the telephone wire was laid. STUPEFIED INTO SURRENDER. The Germans in their dugouts were dazed by the intensity of the bombard ment, and stupefied into surrender. Among the attackers were many battalions of Kitchener's Army. All day on Saturday, in heavy rain, the soldiers dug themselves in. The trenches were half filled witli mud and water. The rain cea6ed at nightfall, and the moon shone bright above the battlefield With Sunday came brilliant sunshine and a cloudless blue sky. In 'a field near to the railway were fourteen hundred German prisoners' — a great mass of slate-grey men, lying on the grass awaiting entrainment. I walked among them and studied the types. There was nothing of ha.te in the eyes of the fresh-faced Tommies who stood on guard. The prisoners had a beaten and exhausted look/ Some were wounded in the arms and legs, but notoriously. I noticed the care of the prisoners for their wounded comrades. ' Many of the Germans seemed glad to be made prisoners. Great batches were captured at Loos. One said: "The British at Loos gave us a great surprise. The first we knew of tlie attack was the sight of the British streaming into the trendies. We were surrounded on three sides, and our position was hopeless, but we fought to our last cartridge." Their officers spoke with profound admiration of the stoic charges of the British infantry, which made a fine showing. A CONCENTRATED STRUGGLE. The battle on Monday was intensely concentrated, lying between La Bassee and Lens, ' with the French on the right working from the captured town of Souchez The weather was so bad that artillery observation was difficult. British and German wounded were lying in pools, in a pitiable condition. ' Although half-veiled in the thick, grey mist, th^ battle ground could be seen from the ridge of Notre Dame de Lorette — an impressive, awe-spiring sight. At Hill 70 a great struggle was in progress. Large bodies of British who had fought their way, through Loos confronted the German reserves, which were hurried up after our surprise attack on Saturday Across the lower spur of Notre Dame de Lorette there was a continual storm of high explosive shrapnel, with which the enemy was trying to thrust back the French advance. Overhead, all day, the aeroplanes were on reconnaissance duty. Some remained for hours over the enemy's lines. Mr. Gibbs sums up the results of Saturday and Sunday thus : — We emptied the enemy's trenches on a five-mile front south of the La Bassee Canal. The enemy north of the Canal brought up heavy reserves, and checked our advance. We surprised the Germans at Hooge. Trapped, many were forced to surrender, but the Germans retook Bellewarde Ridge, which we swept over in the first rush. •