FRANCO-BRITISH OFFENSIVE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16785, 29 August 1916, Page 5

FRANCO-BRITISH OFFENSIVE

THE BRITISH FRONT.

MORE TRENCHES CAPTURED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, Auguf-t 27. Sir Douglas Haig reports : Wo captuiod j an additional 200 \aids of trenches north- ! w,ud of Bazentin le-Petit. The German 1 artillery was active aill night long between the Sommo and the Ancro. Tho Germans also heavily shelled our lines in tho neighbourhood of Bcthune, and we retaliated by shelling the railway .stations and barracks. | THIEPVAL DOOMED. I GARRJSON IN A DEATH-TRAP. BRITISH IRRESISTIBLE ATTACKS. LONDON, August 27. Mr Philip Gibbs writes : Tho doom of Thiepval is near at hand. By a series of sharp attacks and shoit rashes wo forged a way across a tangled web of trendies and redoubts. Our tioops ha\o bitten off the noso of the Leipzig salient, and ha\o taken tho Hindenburg trench, which is almost tho last dcfensno work barring our way to tho southern entrance of this village- fortiess Wo hava advanced from lioth ea&t and west, and have thrown a lasso around the stronghold on tho hill, where tho enemy garrison have only one way of escape, and even there our guns will get them. They are in a deathtrap. Nothing of tho village is left but heaps of rubbish. Wave after wai\e of British troops swarmed over tho ridge in Thursday's icmaikable advance, which not even the fiercest German barrage fire checked. Onward and upwaid our scattered parties swept, straight ahead. Infernal fires were all behind and all in front, shells bursting and raising enormous fantastic clouds. When tho wind drifted the smoke away some of our men were seen on the highest ground. Single figures, showing black against the sky, jumped into tho German trenches. After a terrific bomb fight there suddenly emerged a crowd of figures leaping and running. They were Germans trying to roach our trenches to surrender and get some cover from their own shellfire. The assaulters meanwhile held the conquered ground, and drew tighter the iron not round Thiepval. (Received Aug. 28, at 7.5 p.m.) Mr Gibbs continues : The Willtshires and Worcesters deserve tho honour General Haig has given them. They advanced splendidly over a great stretch of No Man's Land, and after a great assault sustained a long and fierce bombardment, followed by a strong attack by the Prussian Guards. It is piobable that the Germans' big effort to check the advance on the ridge from Thiepval to High Wood is an endeavour to rescue Thiepval from its impending fate. Our mastery of the air places the German gunnera at a great disadvantage. Our positions aro such that our guns are able to cause the heaviest casualties. The moralo of the Germans in the shell craters and ruins is badly shaken. The coming operations, involving tho fate of Thiepval, will be the greatest artillery duel seen on the British front. PRUSSIAN GUARDS' CHARGE. A MARKED CONTRAST. LONDON, August 27. (Received Aug. 28, at 8.5 p.m.) The Daily Telegraph's correspondent at Paris writes : " The Prussian Guards advanced with great bravery. They charged six times, and were as often shattered. The German attack was prepared on a significantly narrow front with great thoroughness, and it leaves a more marked contrast between the enemy's impotence and our steady though difficult progress."