FRANCE AID BELGIUM

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 21 October 1916, Page 5

FRANCE AID BELGIUM

ALLIES STILL PROGRESSING

BIG GUNS SLOWLY CREEPING ■-■ ■■■■FORWARD.-

GENERAL MAIG'S SUMMARY

GREAT RESULTS FROM ARTILLERY EFFICIENCY.

ENEMY MORALE WORN DOWN

A . , PARIS, Oct. £0. A communique says: Our artillery repulsed waves of. the enemy leaving their trenches in a vain attempt, to counter--attack on our iines northward and east- . ward of Sailly-Saillisel. The, enemy's i losses were serious. We progressed % afresh between Biaches and Maisonette. . ' : I- LONDON, Oct. 19. i fhe comparative lull on the Spmme continues, but nevertheless the offensive 3s\progr.essing the whole time, as the big! guns are slowly creeping nearer the German positions. It fakes immense labour to construct the roads and railway \ tracks whereby the guns are bein"broujght up. . Th'| capture of SaiHy-Saillisel was most as the Germans had installed numerous machine-guns, which ( greatljV hampered the BriHsh advance on, Le Trainsloy. j The \Daily Telegraph's Paris correspondent, says that owing to the loss of Sailly-Saillisel the Germansaacr c hastily forming,; a fresh line of (defences between Warlencourt, Le Translpy, and Sailly-Saillisel. - But Le. Transloy is in imminentV danger of capture by the British.; vKsEis : would probably compel the Ger^aWto withdraw their first line , three or four miles eastward of Vaux Wood, whjdh is -virtually lost. The G ernians hav;e already removed artillery from Vaux Wood three miles eastward, und^r harassin^-French, fire. ' ' General Sir, J)oiiglas /Haig, in sum-] ming iip operations since his, last- summary, says: In. the .area between Thiepval and Le Sars^we gradually won a series of strongs positions. Fighting has been heavy and prolonged. The enemy resisted stubbornly until surrounded at one place after another, and large num- j bers were taken prisoner. We had to repel repeated counter-attacks, and generally thes© were stopped.by our artillery and machine guns, but wher.e the enemy traversed our barrage to reach our lines they were throAvn back by infantry and "rifle fire with, heavy losses. Once or twice they gained a f ootliold in a French, but then were promptly driven out with the bayonet. The number of prisoners captured since the beginning of July totals 28,----918. One of our divisions which had previously had many days' Tiaa-d fighting, captured in action on October 7th eight officers and 474 men.

A captured document from German hea&quaii'ters, acknowledging the superiority of the British airmen, suggests methods of reorganisation, whereby it is hoped to foe possible for at least some ; hours to contest the enemy's supremacy in the air.

Assisted by aeroplanes our artillery established a.nd maintained a clear -"superiority over the enemy. It supported the infantry, and disorganised^ arrangements behind the enemy's front lines, and also hindered the arrival of reserves and supplies. The artillery allows no rest day or night, and materially .assists in wearing down the enemy's morale so vital to success in battle, and their infantry have shown themselves wanting in endurance and devotion.

Captured documents bear clear testi'nuniv to the effect'of our continuous artillery fire, the dash and discipline of our infantry attacks, and the quality of our men.

dsneral HaigV latest communique says: There has been heavy rain all the morning. We slightly advanced our line at the -Butte-de-Warlencourt, and our barrage stopped a counter-attack.