FLANDERS BATTLE

Evening Star, Issue 16710, 17 April 1918, Page 3

FLANDERS BATTLE

Hazebrouck the German Objective.

THRUSTS VIA BAILLEUL AND MERVILLE. YPRES COMMUNICATIONS AIMED AT

Press Association— By

Telegraph—Copyright.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Aviation and Reuter. LONDON. April 15 (10.20 p.m.b Sir Douglas Haig reports : > Fiphting i occurred during the afternoon in the ucigaborho.xi of Haillou! and WnUvrgliem. and is being continued. Hostile artillery is act ire between Giver.-hy and Robeoi dbc latter village being between Retbuv.e and Hazebroucbb Gur artillery oilecHvc.y engaged bodies of infantry on the La Bas?ee-E?ta ires road. Admiru'ity per "Wireless Press. LONDON. April 15. German official: UPter Innd-re-band fighting frenuenllv developed on Die Ipn. battlefield. We cleared British npu tnnc-j trim nests south-west ot Nluvc Eebre ,uid i between Bailie ;! and Mwr's, taking pit-, scoter Die occupants. Enemy eoov.t.o-i attacks at Bailieul and north-west ot | Hcthnne heavily broke down. [ April 15. I We captured encmv lines n n-th-east ot Wulverghom (near V ytscnaoteb Australian M .Z. Cable Association. LONDON. April 15 5.30 p.m.b There are indications that the second German thrust has lost its prime momentum. and that the German generals are looking for a. third Hold for attack possibiv between Lens and Arras. Meanwhile they arc continuing desperate fighting in the 'direction of Hazcbronck. The loss of Nrave Kglise is regrettable, as it is the centre of bloody fighting, but | the neighboring high lands of Man’ Dos- ; cats, Mont Rouge."and Al-nit Keinme! are ; still in our possession, whale the British : infantry, entrenched in the Forest of i Nieppe. are holding np the German arrow- j head just beyond Merviiie. Officers and men alike applaud the manner in which 1 they wore handled in the battle ot Armen- ; ticres. Hazebrnuck plays the part in the battle of Armeutieres which Amiens plays in the [ battle of Picardy. Hazcbronck being on the arterial line collecting Calais and Ypres. [The Nieppe Forest is not near the village of that name, but lies north of the Lvs Cam!, with St. Tenant. Merviiie. Vieux Berquin. and clizebrouck lying crescent-shaped in front of it, with the Nieppe Canal in its rear.] Australians. New Zealanders, and Canadians hold the line against the enemy advance towards Amiens. Some Australian wounded iron are arriving in England from the battlefield of Dernaconrt. south of the Somme, and elsewhere, but the bulk of the wounded men remain in hospital in France. There is great pressure on the shipping for France, but ships are not full in returning. AROUND BAILLEUL. TTTE XKITK EOT.’SF FIGHTXXfV Reuter’s Telegrams. LONDON. April 15. Reuter’s correspondent at Headquarters states that the enemy arc held up around Neuve Lg’ise. but a great thrust is impending towards Bail It ill. Ihe enemy have n--t yet been brought to a standstill in the Flanders battle. Their reoccur ration of Neure Egliss, east o? Bailieul, and their desperate struggle to advance towards Bailieul siimv that the enemy are able and willuur to continue to pay an appalling price in attempts to crush the British, Army. In this they Have not succe.ded ; on tho cmdrarv. everv liciir the strength of tin defence is increasing. The enemy's failure to reach, their final objective in the S--mn>e battle is being repeated to-day in Flanders. The enemy’s programme was to leach Kemmel (west'of VTytschaete. and midway between Bailieul nnd Ypres) on April 10 Ti.ey were on'v three miles from Ketnm-:! Ridge on that date, but to-Jay they arc no nearer than on Friday, since which date reinforce-nic-nts have been flung across the Germans’ path. Interesting details of German losses nr“ coming in. I’ne 16th Division and the 17th Kesesivo Divi-ion on .April 11 got « terrible grrelmig, and were forced to retire upon their da-ciing point. Dri.-eneis from the 52iul Reserve 'lnfar.try ruhi.'UinUv pay a tribute to the magnificent lighting of the British machine gunners, who r n March 25 reduced the prisoners' cmnpar v to half its strength April 16. Ah' Pprcival Phillips writes • Neave Egliso changed hands three or four times before we voluntarily gave it np hj, ,t night. Some extremely bitter street' fighting occurred there. Our machine sgur.s took a. heavy toll of tbs oncoming Germans, but some got through, and when sufficient numbers had gathered they swept again through tho streets. Our men were days -without sleep. Our line now makes Bailieul a sharp salient, somewhat like Ypres in the old days. The Germans are bombarding tho town in an effort to make it untenable. I’n? Trappist monks at. Mont Descats refuse to abandon their monastery, and are going to prayers under nrew The enemy employed 22 divisions in this fighting, of which 15 were concentrated astride Bailieul. Mr Hamilton Fyfe writes : The position has been relieved' since fresh troops replaced tho tired battalions, and the outlook is full of hope. Tho marvellous endurance of our troops sustained ns. Since the beginning of tha critical phase on April b the resistance of our troops has been unparalleled in the history of the war. I believe out troops formed at one time a hollow square at Ncuve Egli;o, the -enemy surrounding the position except at one comer, where wo held the road leading to Drnnoutre. Here the King’s Royal Rifles very gallantly took up a line protecting the town while a difficult retirement was carried out. They staved off the enemy's attempts to break through. The and Wilts occupied the square aftor the withdrawal of tho maiu> body. They dashed oat, stopped the enemy, and captured five machine guns. W« withdrew from Neuve Egliso voluntarily, because to hold it was costing more than it was worth. Then the enemy redoubled their efforts to ennture Bailieul. They came with enormous "forces towards the high road between Bailieul nnd Mete ren, being ordered to reach the road, no matter at what cost, with the intention of surrounding Bailieul. They did not fulfil their peremptory instructions. Datensued British infantry barred tho wav, an#* toko every wave, covering the ground wftfe dead.

TACTICAL POSITION. ST. TENANT AND BAILLEUL AS OUTPOSTS OF HAZEBROUCK. ‘The Times. LONDON, April 16. Mr Rob-’nsnn, writing on Monday, savs : The events of the past 21 hours give no ground for changing tho opinion that the Germans are definitely held. On our right centre we have pushed them _Kack appreciably at Si. Tenant and the Nieppe Forest, and mir line, between ST Finns and Robmj has been further advanced end is firmer. The enemy seem to have abandoned hope of reaching the area _ of the Betbnnc-Poimy coalfields. Fearing to make a dangerous salient, their strength is mainly concentrated on the northern advance, whore they arc hammering hard with a view to Teaching an isolated chain of hills bevond. Tho general trend, of their efforts from the Armen-tieres-Estaircs direction is northwards and north-westerly. Tho enemy divisions here employed exceed 25. of which 25 are still in the line, and new divisions have been daily arriving since April 11. These include a famous Alpine corps.

On onr left, centre the sole result of determined, almost continuous, fighting is onr short -withdrawal at Ncuvc Fglise. There is every evidence that the German losses are very heavy, and were equally heavy at Meteren. On Sunday most savage struggles at several points failed. There was terrific artillery activity throughout the night, but the enemy had no advantage. as the British guns were splendid. The Germans massed in the forenoon for a. renewed attack on the Bailleul-Meteren line, but this the artillery prevented. Whether we will continue to hold the Bailleul-Meteren line I do not pretend to say. A point mnv bo reached when possibly ft will he too costly to remain : hut the Germans have been taught such a. lesson here that no minor advance now will repay the casualties. Onr airmen report that enormous numbers of enemy dead lie in tire neighborhood of St. Tenant, where there was .savage hand-to-hand fighting ; also in the northern sector (i.e.. near Boilloul). FOGH NURSES RESERVES. PARIS. April 15. 51. Maurice Bnrres, in the ‘ Feho de Paris,' states that the French reserves which Sir Douglas Haig mentioned in his army order duly reached the British front, hut did not have to go into action. The British, with redoubled energy, were able to heat off the attacks alone. The French public are gratified at the extension of General Foeh's title to that of Commander-iii-Chief of the Allied Annies. The widest powers of co-ordi-nation on the allied front are considered essential to the successful launching of a counter-offensive, which is the- only means of stopping the enemy’s bull rushes, GERMAN CASUALTIES. AMSTERDAM, April 15. The Germans have turned five of the •leading hotels at Brussels into hospitals, and similar measures have been taken at Liege and Antwerp. The number of wounded is thrice what was expected. THE FRENCH LINE, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association and Rc-uter. LONDON - , April 16 (1.15 p.m.K French communique : The artillery duel is very violent in the region of llangard-on-Siinterra (S. of the .Somme), Our artillery dispersed enemy assemblages on the outskirts of Domnin. There is lively cannonading in the region of Avocourt (Verdun sector), FINANCIAL BAROMETER. LONDON, April 15. The tone of the Stock Kxchangc was more cheerful to-day. Consols changed hands at £SO. CANADIAN SECRET SESSION, OTTAWA, April 15. A secret session of the Dominion Parliament Ins been called to discuss the v. ar situation. FINLAND EXPEDITION. GKR.MANS OCCUPY HELSINGFORS. Admiralty per Wireless P-esa LONDON, April 15. German official; Our troops and naval detachments in Finland, after a vigorous encounter with armed Lands, entered Helsingfors. VLADIVOSTOK. SAN FRANCISCO, April 15. Baron Lhii has arrived. In the. course ox an interview he said it was Japan's duty to prevent the possibility of Geimany cstabiishing a U boat base at VJaclivostock. GERMAN MINISTERS | CONFER. j WASHINGTON, April 15. Advices from Berne state that Von I Kuhlmaun, German Foreign Minister, has i gone to the General Headquarters to couj for with Chancellor Hertling. I OTAGO WOMEN’S PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION. —St. Chair Branch. — The meetings during the last month Jiave only been moderately well attended, , u iid it is ironed that now the holidays i are over for the year members will settle down and make* a point of attending every Thursday. The following articles were sent into headquarters : —132 Dominion wrappers. 144 handkerchiefs, 24 soap bags, 50 housewives, 13 balaclavas, 31 socks, 8 ‘’nighties,” 24_ shirts, 12 ! undershirts. The At. Clair School Contributed the following 80 handkerchiefs, 3 balaclavas, 90 Dominion wrappers, 2 face cloths. Total number of articles, 473. As there is a great demand for Dominion wrappers tho _ branch will bo very grateful to any ladies who will take home a few to make up. _ Numerous donations were gratefully received.

[The cable news in this issu* accredited to * The, Times ’ has appealed in that J;>u/nal, but only where expressly stated lu feUch news the editorial opinion of ‘ The g«gi<assa , 1 "'*• '**'*■“

OFF TO THE FRONT. Private Guy James, of the 38th Reinforcements, who has been down on final leave, was, prior to his return to camp, presented with a wrist watch by the staff of the Victoria Insurance Co., Ltd., as a token of their esteem. Private James suitably acknowledged the gift and expression of good wishes.