INTENSE AND BITTER FIGHTING ASTRIDE THE SCARPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16946, 4 September 1918, Page 5

INTENSE AND BITTER FIGHTING ASTRIDE THE SCARPE.

BRILLIANT ADVANCE MADE BY LONDON TROOPS. Renter. LONDON, Sept. 2. Reuters correspondent, writing on Sunday evening from British headquarters, stated: Yesterday saw the fighting front of the British armies extend from the north of Voormezeele to the south of Peronne. On both flanks our troops advanced victoriously, and in the centre they bitterly contested a vast raeshwork of defences guarding the Drocourt line. The battle round Bullecourt, though resulting in only slight territorial changes, has been particularly bitter. Early yesterday morning the attack here was resumed. The formidable station redoubt, which was previously taken and lost, was recaptured, and Londoners, advancing on a front of 2500 yds, supported by tanks, once again brilliantly emphasised the long-accepted truth that as a soldier the Londoner is second to none in the world. The Germans had clearly anticipated the attack, for at dawn they opened a very heavy barrage of considerable depth on our right. Another British division was fighting its way valiantly through the honeycombed defences of Ecoust and Longatte. Long after the assaulting waves had gained their objectives parties would unearth machine-gun burrows containing many dismounted troopers of the Fifteenth Dragoons, who had been hurriedly thrown in to replace the German infantry. This is an indication of a serious shortage of German reserves.