THE WEST FRONT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17113, 19 September 1917, Page 5

THE WEST FRONT

SUCCESSFUL RAIDING. GERMAN ARTILLERY BUSY. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association and Reuter. LONDON, September 17. Sir Douglas Haig reports: We carried out successful raids eastward of Epehy. In the neighbourhood of the Arras-Douai railway, south-eastward of Gavrelle, we destroyed dug-outs, emplacements, and dumps*. Hostile artillery is active eastward of .Ypves. GERMANS ATTACK FRENCH. A FRUITLESS EFFORT. LONDON, Setember 17. A .French communique says: After a violent bombardment the Germans attacked our positions in the Apremont Forest. Fractions of the attackers gained a footing in our advanced elements, but were driven out, and the line was re-estab-lished. SEVERE ARTILLERY DUELS. A GERMAN MESSAGE. . LONDON, September 17. A wireless German official message reports : The artillery duel .in Flanders increased several times in intensity, with violent drum fire. It is also intense in the Aisne, Champagne, and Verdun regions. The enemy lost 18 aeroplanes yesterday. ■ .' AERIAL ACTIVITY. RECIPROCAL RAIDING. LONDON, September 17. "(Received Sept. 18, at 7.30 p.m.) Sir Douglas Haig reports: An enemy's attempt to raid southward of Lombaertzyde was repulsed. Our artillery is active in the Ypres sector, and the enemy's is less marked, except southward of Lens and in the neighbourhood of Nieuport. The enemy's aeroplanes dropped 50 bombs behind our lines yesterday morning, but the damage done was slight. Our aeroplanes dropped 143 bombs on aerodromes and billets, and fired 10CO machine-gun rounds at various targets, scattering 2000 infantry, from a height of 100 ft. We brought down 11 enemy machines, and eight of ours are missing. A French communique says: There is very considerable artillery firing on both banks of the Meuse, especially north of Hill 344 and Caurieres Wood. Our aviators dropped 15 tons of bombs on barracks and munition factories at Stuttgart and Uckingen, aerodromes at Colmar and Logelback, military establishments south of Metz, and railway stations at Thionville and Sarrebourg. POSITION AT LENS. PLIGHT OF GERMANS HOPELESS. SHELTERS MERE DEATH TRAPS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, September 17. (Received Sept. 18, at 7.5 p.m.) Mr Philip Gibbs describes the increasingly hopeless plight of the Germans at Lens, which is one vast ruin surrounded by other ruins stretching for miles. The Germans' only chance of safety is to shelter underground, but a tunnel is no more than a death trap when a falling house b'ocks the entrance or', as often happens, heavy, deep-piercing shells cause the tunnel to collapse. The Canadians have frequently drenched Lens with gas, which, penetrates the cellars, dug-outs, and tunnels and stifles the men before they have time to stretch out a hand for a mask.