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DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR FORTIFIED RAVINE.

, GERMANS FIGHT ' LIKE CORNERED, RATS. \.y / ' ; . .. TRAPPED BY FRENCH ADVANCE ON THREE SIDES. ' ."•"•' V ■"> ■'■-~' v ..... .i. :-..-• •.,.•. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. ■ ; ' '(Received Juno 21, 10-40 p.m.) ■■■', ... Paris, June 21. The villages north of Arras have been reduced to jumbled heaps of bricks and mortar. Huge chasms lined with sandbags twist through' the streets.. Machine-guns are hidden under cupolas of armoured steel, and blockhouses nave been built of sandbags and armoured plate. . The enemy burrowed so deep, that the French bombardment lost much of its effect. The French attacks are sustained by showers of hand grenades, and short, furious and determined infantry rushes, combined with a patient search for partics.of the enemy, overlooked on the first dash, who attempt to continue the fight in the inner recesses of the trenches. The French nick-named the German position at Buval. "Hell's Mouth." It is a sheltered ravine" on the south-east flank 'of Lorette, and formed a natural stronghold. It bristled with subterranean forts and redoubts. The French invested it on three sides, and then avalanches of metal prepared the way for the attack* On two sides the French pressed on until, their '■ forces converged. The -Germans fought with the ferocity of cornered rats. Owing to the steadily narrowing . area of fire their machine-guns killed many of their own men. •In places the Germans took cover behind piles of their own dead. The French are now swarming up the rugged western slopes of Hill 119, which is directly south-east of Souchez. Soon the Germans will be obliged to abandon their fortress,' which is defending the -road from Lievin to Lens. The slowness of the French progress has given the Germans time to preparea a strong second line; at'the' Givenchy brickfield and Hill 140, east of the Neuville-Givenchy Road. - Recent battles have proved the value of aerial torpedoes, which the French are able to regulate with great accuracy.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19150622.2.53

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 7

Word Count
316

DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR FORTIFIED RAVINE. New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 7

DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR FORTIFIED RAVINE. New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15950, 22 June 1915, Page 7