FRENCH TRIBUTE

Nelson Evening Mail, 17 July 1916, Page 5

FRENCH TRIBUTE

OFFNSIVE A MAGNIFICENT EFORT, GERMAN LINE HIGHLY VULNERABLE. PARIS. July 15. Tho British offensive against the German second line is regarded as a magnificent effort to glorifv the national fete day. The battle is .still raging on an extended front, but the success attained already make the Fourteenth of July one of the most .brilliant -days of the war. Owing to the rapidity of the advance, the British quickly penetrated a front of nearly four miles, carrying a network of formidable defences which it had taken months to construct. They also cleared Trones Wood. The locale of the present attacks is the pivot of the German battle front, and the most stronarly defended poi.it. Von Einem threw in strong reinforcements, but Sir Douglas Haig out-gencr-alled him, and the new troops failed to arrest the advance. The ever-increasing bulge in the German front between., Hardecourt and Thiepval makes the l whole line highly vulnerable. The capture of Longueval brings the British advance into line with the French at Hardecourt. It is increasingly probable that Von Einem will be forced to retire to new positions. The weather is cool and favourable for the British operations. Bazentin-le-Grand is a mile west of Longueval, and midway between Lonjrueval and Contalmaison. Bazentin-le-Petit is a mile north-west of Bazentin-le-Grand. Comparatively few German prisoners have been taken since July Ist, from which it is inferred that the officers organising the- plans of resistance instruct the men what to do when they retire to rear positions. The importance of Pozieres is due to its position athwart the main road from Albert to Bapaume, which is Sir Douglas Haig's objective. The fighting at Ovillers concerned the village, of which practicallv nothing remains except dust. The British guns swent the village flat. The Germans are still holding out m great underground cellars made by the inhabitants. The progress at Ovillers and the capture of the Bazetins. of which Bazetin-le-Petit is the larger village, hring the British on the flanks of the Germans at \ Pozieres, threatening .the German rear.' The capture of Longueval entailed an assault on a hill 500 feet high. The next difficulty to Longueval is the village of Guilfemont, which is powerfully organised and armoured, and has another SCO feet hill. The capture of Guimmemonfc is made appreciably easier since Trones Wood, which covers the village has heen cleared. Sir Doucrlns Haisr is still not master of the important plateau of Thiepva' which'is a strong sector in the German first line. The British _ approach to (Zombies, however, pprmits the French to their pU-Tk. which was delav-e-1 pending the British advance. The French Hardecourt position threatens Comblcs from the south, while the British are attacking it from the north west. The outstanding feature of the new offensive was the extensive transference of British trims, which was carried out with the utmost rapidity, in order to enable the German positions in the rear to be captured before the Germans had time to fully fortify them. Sir Douglas Haig's object is to keep the Germans on the move, knowing that successive positions will afford them increasingly less protection as the advance con tinues. It is no longer feasible *or the Germans to carry on a rearguard struggle with detachments of machine gunners while the infantry is massed at convenient stations for counter-strokes. Subterranean machine gun emplacements will soon be rare. Trenches can be ducc quickly, but underground shelters take weeks and months to link up into a systematic defence. Tho splendid supplies of ammunition available, have put heart into the British infantrymen. There is no chance of a repetition of the Loos and Neuve.-Cha-pelle mischance.