GENERAL HAIG'S ADVANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10104, 11 October 1917, Page 5

GENERAL HAIG'S ADVANCE.

HOW POELCAPELLE WAS CAPTURED. "THEY FOUGHT LIKE LIONS." BATTLE AN~UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS. Australian-New Zealand Cablo Association. Received O^ber^.^a.,l.^ Mr Percival Phillips, tho war correspondent, writes:—The Fourth Gorman Army has boon defeated again, the latest battlo being another unqualified success, prisoners surrendering in large We again caught the Gorman divisions in lho process of relief, and punished'them severely, ltoc rain and mud made the enemy behove that another enterprise was impossible It was a complete surprise. Our troops fought in swamps and pools, and were sometimes buried' bv shells, but the unquenchable spirit of' victory carried thtem through. Some of our men marched for neanj twelve hours just before going into battle, vet they fought like lions. The attack was 'less of a. great battle than a great readjustment of the battlo front. There- were two simultaneous advances. The largi'r operation was the swinging forward of our lelt towards Passchendaclo village. thereby easing tho salient whereof was the pronounced point. This evolved tht' capture of the remainder of Poolcappcllo- village, and an advance among the wilderness of ruined farms. On tho western spurs \°' p Passchendaclo ridge, in the direction o\ Houthulst forest, on our right battle front: we strengthened the erratic line around Rcuteibcck and Polderhock chateau. The lighting between Poclcappello and Hputllulst was handicapped by the marshes caused by shell-fire shooting away tho banks of the Broenboek. Tho country here is a shoet\of stagnant yellow water, and a long, inogu lar slope of slippery oozo beyond, cut by the shattered embankment of tho Thouroufrailway, and the Langomarck road, all liberally planted with enemy redoubts, the Th'ourout railway embankment giving cover for machine- guns, a.nd a number of "pill boxes" were placed at the railway station. Hero wo caught two German divisions re lieving each other. One had been hurried from the • Argo'nne in motor buses, and thrust into the forest during the night. The troops they relieved had boon lying in th" rain and mud since lho last*attack, a groat number of tho men being ill. These battalions wero so anxious to got away that they failed to give tho necessary information to the Argonne division, and the latter know nothing about tho disposition the British opposite thorn. The men surviving the barrape .surrendered immediately. Tho first and second objectives wore gained on time, and bv eight o'clock our troopon tho British Isles and another Island of lho Empire wero breakfasting among the vanquished redoubts. Hero they rested for a time before going for their final goal Tho Germans evacuated some "pill boxes" as our. men came up. They admitted we badly pounded them, with our Stokes mortars. The French, on tho British loft, suffered oven more from the mud, but wore splendidly protected by their own artillery, ■'-"iff fightinor occurred at Poelcappelle, whore tho Germans occupied the eastern half of tho ruins, and also tho remains of a brewery on the West Comsboko road, just clear of the. village. The Germans had strengthened the cellars of the village since Thursday, when wo halted at the crossroads. This convinced the Gorman regimental commander that ho had still a fiarhting chance of turning us out, but before dawn the Germans were chased out of tho cellars and the outskirts of the village, and ran along the broken street, where they reassembled at tho brewery. Here machine guns filled the aperture of the sand-bagged brewer*walls, and stubborn lighting followed throughout the morning, but the English troops, in the early afternoon gained a foothold in th« brewery, which was fmilly cap tared, and tho garrison either killed or prisoncrcd.

AUSTRALIANS CAPTURE CELTIC WOOD, Australian-New Zoaland Gable Association. Received October 11, 10.35 a.m. LONDON, Oct. 10. . The United Press correspondent yltli the. Australians says: The Australians, alter terrific bayonet fighting, gained possession of the Celtic Wood, southeastward of Broodscindc.