OFFICIAL STATEMENTS,

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 24 October 1916, Page 5

OFFICIAL STATEMENTS,

CONSIDERABLE CAPTURES OF 'PRISONERS REPORTED.

BATTLE OF SAILLY-SAILLISEL

INEFFECTIVE GERMAN ARTILLERY WORK.

BLIND GROPING FOR TARGETS

DETERMINED COUNTER-ATTACKS

LONDON, Oct. 23. General Sir Douglas Haig states officially that 101.8 prisoners were yesterday captured between the Schwaben redpubt and Le Sars. The enemy exploded two mines south of Ypres in the th^K^ °f the Blu?> and °c^ RnSil? S f 4th6 cra.ter' wher» they were subjected to continuous bombardment. Aero p i anes valuably located the. enemy batteries yesterday. We' destroyed' five enemy machines and damaged four inree of ours are missing.

nff - -,„ , PARIS, Oct. 22. : South of the Somme a fresh against the southern portion of the Chaulnes Wood, but was repulsed with serums losses. Th.c number of prisoners is not yet counted. The morning attack m the same region cost the Germans dearly. We surrounded Hthe enemy who had gained a foothold in our n ls fc lines. .The survivors (500). were taken prisoners: An intermittent cannonade is proceeding elsewhere. (Reuter Service.) ' LONDON, Oct. 23. Keuter s correspondent at French headquarters testifies to the utter Saiih U| SSir f l th\ German -artffleiyTt-hamy-Saillisel whereas the French artillery assisted the heavy British howitzers and., helped by the airmen, perfectly co-operated with the infantry, lie Germans were only able to maintain a singularly ineffective barrage of fare. German gunners literally groped their way around the battlefield, dipping their heavy shells at random. They had not the slightest effect in stopping the arrival of the French supplies? Thf stumbling efforts of the Germans to find the Franco-British batteries which were pounding the ground behind the German lines, were equally futile. They had a vague idea of their whereabouts, but never got near A typical example was the way m which they poured S mtJ Ctimbfeß where th.ere wa s noting while not far away in another duectton were two batteries of British howitzers which fired away unmolested, against registered targets. As the French infantry charged, the sun shone out, and there wa s a superb spectacle. The French and English artillery thundered incessantly, in a hue-e semi-circle of smoke and 'flame. The aeroplanes never lost a grip of the enemy works. This infuriated the German gunners, who opened up a tre- , mendous baa-rage, but they seemed totahy blinded and continually shifted their aim in the hope of finding the lurking place of the French reserves but without result. ' The Germans anticipated the attack and brought the 2nd Bavarian Division •■*° *he sunport of the defenders at Sailiy-Sarthsel, bi(t the French were able to seize the twin village fifteen ! minutes after , their artillery had smashed it to pulp. The infantry had la terribie,time in th.c mud.

PARIS. Oct. 23. Ihe enemy is disinclined to allow the French to hold their gains at SaillvfcailhseJ, and the neighboring heights Throughout Friday night and Saturday they hurled thousands of shells on the Jtfrench positions. They came out of I" VPiei' re 'Vaast Wood trenches, south of Le Mesnil, and attempted to rush the Allies' line, hut they met a fearful lire, and the rush was broken. The Germany thrice returned to the attack, but were driven back, leaving the ground covered with corpses. The Germans had some slight successes on the northern-edge of Blaise I Wood. Here, the attackers were preceded by men wearing asbestos clothes, and I who carried a new kind of grenade, which bursts into flames when it strikes . the ground. The corps following the I asbestos attackers gained a footing in part of the advanced French trenches. 1 During these attacks the French successfully counter-attacked over an ad- ; vanced front beyond the Chaulnes-Ovil- ' lers railway.

LONDON, Qot. 22. Mr Ashmeacl Bartlett, 'describing the capture of Sailly-Saillisel, says it is a straggling twin-villa se of houses in two long rows on each side of the PeronneBapaume high road, separated for a kilometre by orofrards from the second village of Saillisel, which is further eastward and is still uncaptured. It rained inee.«antly throughout the night, the battlefield heing a sea of mud. Visibility, was extremely low; nevertheless the French infantry leapt the trenches punctually, carried the houses of Sailly-Saillisel, and occupied the slopes north-west and north-east of the village. The captured country nuts a solid wedge in the Front on Saillisel and an iTnmpncp strpt^h of works connecting the village with, the Bois St. Vaast. The French are now able to crush counter' attacks through., the orchards from Saillisel.