PARIS PRESS JUBILANT

Nelson Evening Mail, 16 November 1916, Page 5

PARIS PRESS JUBILANT

VALUABLE AEROPLANE COOPERATION:

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.)

LONDON" Nov. 14., The Paws newspapers •applaud the British success on the Ancre, which was more remarkable, as the weather was not perfect. The assault' ccimimenced in a 'thick fog. The preliminary efforts to reduce the saV.enit north-west of Thiec'va!" included an dmimenise number of aerial reconnaissances. Sir Douglas Haig thus ascertained; ithe exact nature of the obstacles which- the .enemy had 'accunMilated. The explosion of! many mines enabled the seizure of imiportant .point® d'appui in- the German first line of battle. The fog necessitated {infinite precautions, aaid troops advancing without the aid of airmen were obliged to exercise every care lest they should be .iixstaken for the enemy. The haul of prisoners was the large t since itihe advance on the Somme teg an. Sir Douglas OEEaig's piush. \w\s based on a desire to remove life awkwwd anigl© of , the line before resu.n Mg lb 2 grand) attack oro Baipiauine. Mr Percival Gibbon, tehyrcj.jlur.j; on Monday, says: The British ob.f-ctiye* An the present attack included a fcTmidable tangle of trenches and crviinnutiications oni both flanks of Beaurnvnt-Ha-mel. They were the most comipiicaied and elaborate yet constructed on this front.

The village, and the line . generally had been subjected for days pasV to short .bursts of intense .fire by.- heavy guns. At especially strong points of the salient yesterday the shelling was serious, precise, and .calculated, searching ih-e whole line.

Finally, .this morning, before daybreak, tho barrage began. The attack

began shortly after six o'clock, and Beausnont-Hamel, in the centre, was carreld' almost at a single rush, the troops plugging across the village to the sloping' ground beyond' and to the road winding towards the Ancre. ' The land l northward' rises with a broad swell towards Sera'e. Thither the troap9 carried all the positions until they -were well advanced on the slopesThey then drug in successfiuUy. The attack at these points met with the success of a surprise. Wounded state that the first trench was weakly held. The attackers encountered strong •forces in the fourth trench, where the enemy 'escaping from the advanced positions through, the -tangle of intricate communications gather. Brisk fighting ensued. ' ' Nothaing- remained of Beaumout-Ha-mel, which, was levelled like Pozieres and a dozen villages over 'wnich the tidal wave of battle has rolled'. There is n:ct even a house, and no signs where one stood, but 30 feet below the -around a new village has been created, a lahyrimtih- of great dugouts lavishly excavated and finished with typical. Grerman thorouigJiness. , The /position) south of the Ancre was carried iwitih equal success, and the new line traversed the outskirts of Beaucourt.