EXTENSIVE AIR RAIDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16850, 15 May 1918, Page 7

EXTENSIVE AIR RAIDS

BRITISH FLEETS ACTIVE OSTEND AND ZEEBRUGGE BOMBED BOMBARDMENTS IN FRANCE Vigorous offensive operations were carried out by the British naval and military air services during the week-end. The naval airmen conducted extensive raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge, and destroyed six enemy machines, besides causing serious fires. The military aviators conducted extensive raids on enemy railway centres, and twice bombed the docks at Bruges. In all, 12 enemy machines were brought down and two driven down for the loss of one naval and two military aero, planes. Considerable activity has been shown by the enemy's artillery at several points on the British front. The sectors bombarded included that at Serre, 6* miles north of Albert, the southernmost portion of the British line, the region north of Mont Kemmel, between Locon and the Nieppe Forest, and in the valley of the Lys. French communiques report only reciprocal bombardments, especially on both banks of the Avre, and aerial raiding. M. Marcel Hutin, the French military critic, states the German navy will participate in the next phase of the western offensive. The German public was so impressed by the blows delivered by the British navy at Ostend and Zeebrngge that Admiral von Capelle, the Naval Secretary, was taken to task by the Reichstag Committee over the inaction of the navy. The British forces in Mesopotamia, pursuing the Turks beyond Kirkuk, drove the enemy across the Lesser Zab River at Altum<Kupri, on the Mosul Road, 175 miles beyond Bagdad.