GERMANS BEING FORCED BACK ON WEAKER DEFENCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16283, 17 July 1916, Page 5

GERMANS BEING FORCED BACK ON WEAKER DEFENCES.

NOT ALLOWED TIME TO FORTIFY REAR POSITIONS.

DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF A FIGHTING RETREAT.

Australian and N.Z. Cable. (Received 7 p.m.) PARIS. July 15. The outstanding feature of the new British offensive is that the extensive transference of British guns is being carried out with the utmost rapidity, in order to enable the German positions in the rear to be captured before the enemy has time to fully fortify them. Sir Douglas Haig's object is to keep the Germans on the move, knowing that the successive positions to which they retire afford increasingly less protection.

As the advance continues, it will no longer be feasible for the Germans to carry on a rearguard struggle with detachments of machine-gunners while infantry is massed at convenient stations for counter-strokes. Subterranean machine-gun emplacements will soon be rare. Trenches can be dug quickly, but underground shelters take weeks and even months to link up into a systematic defence.

Splendid supplies of ammunition are available to put heart into the British infantry, and there is no chance of a repetition of the Loos and Neuve Chapelle mischances.

ENEMY LINES PIERCED TO CONSIDERABLE DEPTH.

PRELIMINARY BOMBARDMENT OF GREAT INTENSITY.

Australian and N.Z Cable Association. PARIS July 14 The Petit Parisien states that after a bombardment of great intensity on Thursday the British infantry to-day assailed the German second position along almost the entire front. Fighting as most fierce on both sides. The British seized trenches at several points, and the capture of howitzers indicates that the fighting was carried to a good depth, inasmuch as howitzers are not found in the firs Mine trenches.