MENAGE OF GREAT NUMBERS AGAINST FLANDERS LINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16824, 15 April 1918, Page 5

MENAGE OF GREAT NUMBERS AGAINST FLANDERS LINE.

ENEMY THROWING HIS ALL INTO HAZARD OF WAR. Australian and N.Z. (Received 6.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 13. Mr. Philip Gibbs, in a message despatched at 1.30 a.m. on Saturday, says: The enemy is flinging his all into the hazard of war. He has a stupendous number of men. While holding the lines of the Homme, he moved up north silently and rapidly large concentrations of troops and guns in order to crush the British before France and America were able to draw off his divisions by counter offensives. There are 30 German divisions between Wytschaete and La Bassee. The northern offensive is now as menacing as the Somme was. We are' greatly outnumbered. Only the supreme courage of the men is Having the situation. Hundreds of stories could be given as' proof of this. In some cases where guns had been buried by shellfire our men dug them up and served them again. Officers and men belonging to the machine-gun companies temporarily unoccupied fought with revolvers and bombs while their comrades kept the guns going. Liverpool troops showed great skill in utilising their knowledge of the ground, and cutting off parties of attackers. They rounded up 300 Germans in a single attack, of whom 50 surrendered. A British brigade major and his orderlies as reserves came up tc strengthen the line, riding in London omnibuses and lorries. The Germans on Thurs-, day night drove in a wedge between Lestrem and Merville, and gained the position of Calonne sur la Lys, on the Clarence River, where they are trying to force their way to-day with a heavy concentration of machine-gunners and riflemen. A fierce battle is also being fought below tho forest of Nieppe, west of Merville. Old French peasants and young girls and boys continued working in the fields until tho shells began to fall. However, our men arc full of confidence. If they are forced back they are glad to know they made the enemy pay a heavy price. Our line is still unbroken. They are full of faith that against odds they will hold their own in the last battle of all. In the heart of every man is the thought that these days are deciding the fate of the world.