THE LE TRANSLOY SUCCESS

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 27, 31 January 1917, Page 7

THE LE TRANSLOY SUCCESS

A REMARKABLE VICTORY,

ENEMY COMPLETELY SURPRISED

(AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, "30th January.

Mr. Philip Gibbs, in a brisk narrative of the surprise attack by the British on Le Transloy p on Saturday, sajs:—"The objective was an important slope running to the ruined village, before which picked enemy troops were strongly entrenched. The whole operation was carried out with astonishing ease, and 350 amazed Germans were bundled into London omnibuses and taken to, the internment camps before they quite realised ■ that the attack had , commenced. There were no wire entanglements; and only one or two shivering sentries. The Germans evidently believed that the British were equally anxious to remain in peace and quietness. *

There was no preliminary bombardment. At 5.30 a.m. there was a terrific crash of artillery, and then the British troops scrambled over the snow-clad No Man's Land.. They took four minutes to cross a hundred yards of frozen quagmires, pock-holed with shell holes.

No. Germans were above the ground when the British reached the enemy's lines. The utter lifelessness of the place was curious ■ and uncanny. Not a single machine-gun spat bullets of death, and when the dugouts were challenged the Wurtemburgers ca^e up, dazed. Their officers explained that they thought it was only a morning 'strafe.' ' They had no idea of an attack. They asked: 'How did you get here so quickly?' A few Germans founß time to recover from this stunning blow, and fought pluckily until overpowered. The British, went on another 500 yards, and "dug-in in the. frozen ground. Others took possession of the dug-outs. Our artillery smashed the enemy's counter-at-tacks, thanks to the guns having absolute observation of the German movements from the higher ground which we won in the battle of the Somme."