EVERY GAIN HELD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16670, 15 October 1917, Page 6

EVERY GAIN HELD.

ENEMY'S WANING STRENGTH _ ||' . NIGHTMARE OP DEFEAT. | f- LONDON. Oct. 4. Renter's correspondent st British head, quarters emphasises the importance of the fact that the British retain al! gains in the recent pushes, This is a true test ' of military strength, for in this war taking a position is one thing and retaining it quite another. The side which is always steadily losing and never recovers its losses is the beaten side. The Germans are being surely defeated on the western front, and defeat in the field is the one nightmare from which Prussian militarism shrinks. We do not trouble about tho map, since we have done all we wanted in the way we wanted, and that is what really matters. It is worthy of remark that a year ago we were fighting day after day for objectives on the Somme ridges, and could seldam have said that a definite operation had really finished, whereas our recent objectives" tackled in the morning, are secured in the evening at latest. The officer prisoners last week were very depressed. They confessed the : conviction that Germany canno'„ continue much longer because of the serious shortage of man-power. A similar belief in the ranks is manifested by the readiness of bodies of men, especially of Saxons, to surrender, while it is " generally felt that the entry of America will be fatal to "The Fatherland." Hopeless Coantßr-Attacks. Mr. Perry Robinson telegraphs:— Tho army is in the best spirits, and enormously contented with the results of the fighting, as it deserves to be. It would not be easy to tell the number of counterattacks attempted in these breathless daysOne sector claims that it resisted nine attacks in two days. All failed utterly, and the ground held is now established. The troops engaged against Zonncbekt were mostly Midlanders and London Terri toriak They fouglu so magnificently thai this part of the ridge has Deen renamec London Ridge, \ The Germane had a whole nest of con crete forts, with machine-guns and rifle! mounted on tripods. Near Zonnebeki another concreted trench was cunningly de vised, garrisoned with picked snipers, anc flanked with marshy and impassabii ground. He, e the most serious lossa occurred, but it made no difference. Th< British went on everywhere. The German: were simply no match for them. Mr. Lloyd George was present, and sav the newly-arrived prisoners at th« forwan cages. While be was watching the coun ter-attack he was under heavy shell-fire. Nothing could be finer than the deannee and apparent ease with which the Austra Hans advanced. They did absolutely every thing asked and more. After beating coun tcr-attacks they gave the greatest help t< the British and Scottish who were ii trouble on the right. -Never have I heart men speak in more generous and cordia terms than these British of the Austra liana.

Exhaustion of Germany. } The cessation of the counter-attacks dor* rag the night was due to the sheer exhaustion of the Germans. They are scraping men up wherever possible. The Germans have already used over 40 divisions here since _ July 31—considerably more than in a similar, on the Somme. The? will continue to throw in men, and never was our army more willing to fieht. An' extract from a letter found on a German sergeant is a sample of the 1 German feelings about the recent hammerings. : * "Our company'is much reduced. The rifle strength in the trenches is only 62 per cent., and the morale is nil. Our .company- is not unique, the deterioration is general. Everything is done under extreme compulsion." Mr. Beach Thomas says a large body of German troops was observed descend- . ing the Passchendaele slope in omnibuses and on bicycles. Some were marching in column, the sun shining on their steel hats and illuminating their grey-blue uniform. At the moment of the middle, column's deboncfttrig our guns, heavy and light, to the front, left, and right, opened with a terrific burst. Such a target is seldom offered. The gunners took full advantage el it, and a terrible slaughter ensued.