HIGHEST POINT OF THE PLATEAU

Nelson Evening Mail, 29 July 1916, Page 5

HIGHEST POINT OF THE PLATEAU

AUSTRALIANS NEAPING IT. (ATJstralian and N.Z Cable -Association./ PARIS, July 28. "With, the capture of the windmill the Australians are only a- few hundred yards from the highest point of the plateau, which, is a slightly more commanding position than Foureaux Wood, three miles eastward. The stubborn resistance at Pozieres was due to the Germans all being picked troops. It is reported that the Kaiser himself ordered that the British mustbe kept- out at all costs. Over 200 machine gams defended the approach to Pozieres alone. . Our bombardment destroyed most- of them, but thirty were captured in good position. A German company in"-a. .small fort in the centre of the small village, though completely surrounded, held out- for 12 hcHirs. When the position was taken only four were alive, 60 dead being heap-** ed one above another in the little armoured shelter. The commander of a Bavarian battalion defending the north-east portion of th e village, realising the danger menacing the garrison, ordered retirement. The Bavarians were obliged to cross the fire swept zone for 300 yards, where the British batteries decimated them. A CONTINUOUS CANNONADE (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) PARIS, July 28. A communique states that the cannonade continues on almost the entire front. It is ipa-rticularly violent at "Flenry. Fumin Wood and Chenois Wood. Three German aviators bombed Crepy-en-Valois, killing a girl and wounding three women.