WEST FRONT.

Evening Star, Issue 16847, 24 September 1918, Page 6

WEST FRONT.

DEBENY’S PUSH IN SOMME-OISE NECK. CAPTURE OF VENDEUIL. High Commissioner's Cable. LONDON, September 23. French official : Wo have captured the fort and village of Vendouil, reaching the Oise at that point. [V’endeuil is 10 miles S. S.E. of St. Quentin, on the road to Le Fore, which is four miles further south, lower down the Oise.] HAIG’S LINES. Australian nnd N.Z. Cable Association and .Reuter. LONDON, September 2S Sir D. Haig reports: Tho hostile attack north-west of La Basseo, reported in the morning, was not pressed, and our position is unchanged. In local encounters we slightly improved our positions south of Villers-Gnislain and in the neighborhood of Ziliebeke, GERMAN GUN-POWER. A SHORTAGE ALLEGED. OWN RETREATING TROOPS A TARGET. LONDON, September 22. Mr Murdoch writes from Australian 'quarters in France i Tho air is full of expectations of a further advance. Confidence is all the greater because the German artillery is proving much less formidable than was expected. German artillerymen who have been taken prisoner explain that so many of their guns have been captured that the Germans are finding it impossible to keep up effective firing. There is evidence in our hospitals of a considerable amount of effective enemy fire upon the Germans themselves, for many wounded prisoners bear unmistakable signs of having been shot from behind, and they show no disposition to discuss the circumstances. There has undoubtedly been a fair amount of German fire turned upon their own men in anger at their retreat. ATTENTIONS TO METZ. NEW YORK, September 23. (Received September 24, as 8.50 a.m.) British airmen bombed Metz, 16 tons of explosives being dropped. MO PREMATURE PEACE. NEW YORK, September 23. - (Received September 24, at 10.30 a.m.) The American Socialist (Mission who have been in E-urope have arrived at an Atlantic port. Members state that the announcement of President Wilson’s democratic aims stiffened British Labor’s morale and prevented the adoption of a defeatist resolution at the British Labor Conference. There is, they report, a noticeable decay of defeatist sentiment amongst tlie Allies. RIFLEMAN JOHN L, HARLOW. Rifleman John Little Harlow, reported killed on September 9 while in action in France, was the second son of tho late Mr Wm. Bridgman Harlow, a well-known resident of tins City. Rifleman Harlow was bom in Dunedin in 1875, and was educated at the Union Street School. After leaving school ho was employed with several City firms for some years. Later on ho wont farming in the Waitahuna district, and remained there until ■the time ho -.vent into camp early hist war. He loft New Zealand in Juno, 1917, and on reaching England was attached to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. The deceased soldier, who was of a quiet, unassuming nature, was a brother of Mr G. A. Harlow, mining secretary, of High street, and of Mrs E. M. Simpson, No. 56 Cargill street. The residents of Momona welcomed homo Privates J. Nichol and R. Spratt on Friday evening. Mr Amos (chairman of the local Patriotic Society) presided, and made a speech of welcome. He also presented each of the returning soldiers with an inscribed gold medal. A musical and elocutionary programme was supplied, and a dance followed the concert.