WITH THE FRENCH IN FLANDERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 3 August 1917, Page 5

WITH THE FRENCH IN FLANDERS.

A TRIUMPH FOR GUNNERS AND

INFANTRY

AEROPLANE OBSERVANCE NOT

POSSIBLE

AVIATORS IN A NEW ROLE

CAVALRY OF THE AIR

(Received Ang. 3, 9.15 a.m.) LONDON. Aug. 2. The Daily Chronicle's correspondent at French headquarters in Flanders says xhe French Army is fighting on a sector between Noord'schote and Boesinghe. It is difficult, flat country, offering little possibility of concealment, while the inundations extend south to the neigh-! borhood of rfche ferryman's house. The sector 3s important because it is pointing eastward, on the left to the forest of Houthulst, a German stronghold since the autumn of 1914, and"on the right to' Roulers. ;

The German first line beyond the! canal was already untenable "by reason [ of Sunday's bombardment, and- had i been abandoned. The passage of the! moderate watercourse thus proved a re-' "latively easy proposition, and the whole three stretches of fieldworks of it-he first > position were in French hands in three' hours, the armies holding the groundj won and breaking successive counter-! attacks. The German staff has not yec j abandoned hope- of recapturing the lost ■■ defences but we are awaiting his efforts! with calm confidence. '

The battle was a signal triumph for, the gunners and infantry, this being r,he! first great battle of the war entirely •• without .the assistance of aeroplane ob-' servation, but the venturesome aviators played a new part. They flew low ( through the dense mist, engaged' machine gun redoubts, and .silenced many strong points. Thus they became the cavalry of the war. Some intrepid pilots dropped so low that their wings nearly brushed the concrete forts, whf?o their machine gun? were raking the surrounding trenches. . j It has been a laborious day for the; gunners bringing up their batteries j along tho floodei roads. A dismal driz-j zle continued all day long. i