SQUALLS WEATHER, BUT FAIRLY FIRM GROUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16496, 23 March 1917, Page 5

SQUALLS WEATHER, BUT FAIRLY FIRM GROUND.

ENEMY RETIRING RAPIDLY. IN HAM DISTRICT. PIVOT OF THE GREAT SWING REACHES ARRAS. Eeutcr. y fy :;7?'. :'" (Received 11.20 p.m.). .. LONDON, March 21. ;'■ . A correspondent at I headquarters states that the • weather, continues squally, '.-but. the ground remains practicable for the movements of horse, foot,, and guns. The enemy is falling back faster in the vicinity of Ham, between Noyon and St. Quentan, but to the north the retirement is more stubborn. The advancing troops are frequently faced by machine-guns.; It appears the pivot of the great German swing has now reached Arras. To the south of Peronne British patrols ' are seven miles east of the Somme. • .?.. \ //-■'/: '''■,-; ■' : -^- i The allied advance has liberated 20,000 French subjects. t ,: There intense indignation on account of the German vandalism, especially the destruction of the historic remains of the Chateau Coucy. The abduction of girls from Noyon is violently denounced. M. Maeter- . linck, the Belgian author, and others urge reprisals by the destruction , of German towns whenever the enemy violates France, Alsace, or Belgium. .' : -.. *•'*■}- '.';.• •■•■... ■ A German order, which has been discovered, explains the system , , of destruction to be observed, including the burning of houses and felling of trees as barricades, and the pollution of wells. . , . A notable feature of the advance is the almost entire silence of ' the German artillery. •■ V ~'t . ,, ■• : /. ' A sharp engagement was fought with German rearguard machinegunners at Oroisilles, north-east of Bapaume. Open patrol fighting and long range sniping are proceeding elsewhere. Fires are' observ-; .able at a distance from Bapaume, some apparently on the .outskirts '", of Cambrai. At many places there are evidences of hasty retreat. f Considerable ' ammunition was captured at Achiet-le-Grand. f ; ,;