AERIAL WORK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17428, 24 September 1918, Page 5

AERIAL WORK.

HELPING TO WIN THE WAR A WEEK'S MAGNIFICENT DOINGS ALLIED OFFENSIVE DELAYED BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS PREVAIL OFFENSIVES IN THE EAST IN PALESTINE AND MACEDONIA BOTH PROCEEDING SATISFACTORILY Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. ( — THE GERMAN DEAD, TOO MANY TO BURT. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. PARIS, September 22. (Received September 23, at 7.45 p.m.) Captured enemy orders instruct the doctors to burn the dead instead of burying them. A prisoner states that he saw five hundred corpses incinerated in batches. FRENCH ACTIVITIES. • . MAINLY PATROL ENCOUNTERS. Anstralian and New Zealand Cable Association and Reuter. LONDON, September 22 (4.30 p.m.). _ A French communique states: The night was marked only by considerable artillery activity in the St. Qnentin region and north of the Aisne. 'On tho Vesle front we repulsed two coups de main. Detatchments penetrated enemy lines in the Champagne and Lorraine. NEW £EALANDERS AT THE FRONT. SIR JAS. ALLEN'S DOMINION DAY MESSAGE! Per United Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 23. Sir Jas. Allen has sent the following message to the New Zealand soldiers on the west front and in Palestine: "Though you cannot be with us on Dominion Day, we are thinking of you and of all the brave men and women who have lived and died for New Zealand. The hearts in the homeland beat quicker as we read of your doings, and there is universal rejoicing in the great part you are taking with the army advancing to victory. Dominion Day has now a deeper significance, because you have added and will add still further lustre to the name." GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT. DIFFERS FROM BRITISH ACCOUNT. Admiralty, per Wireless Press. LONDON, September 22. (Received September 23, at 7.45 p.m.) German official: The British launched a great attack yesterday morning between Gonzeaucourt Wood and Hargicourt. Anticipating in attack, we had removed our defence eastward of Epehy to the old British positions between VillersGuislain and Bellicourt. _ The attack broke down t and a second attempt also failed. Although the British temporarily penetrated the south-western portion of Villers-Guislain and Quenmont Farm, they were thrown back by a counter-attack. ATMOSPHERE CHARGED WITH EXPECTATION. ENEMY DEPRESSION INCREASING. INTERESTING CAPTURED ARMY ORDERS. Australian, and New Zealand Cable Association. LONDON, September 22. (Received September 23, at 7.45 p.m.) Writing from the Australian Headquarters on Sunday, Mr Murdoch states: Cold winds begin to drive over the battle front, with heavy rains, bringing the old familiar muddiness detested by all, and duck boards reappear. The cosiest people along the British and French sectors are the infantry in the front support lines. They are snug in deep, old trenches, or in a new narrow line in which they are safe from shells; and a man must be ear-marked for Heaven if he gets hit in such places. Wreckage from the battlefield provides ideal material for shelter from the weather, and there are ample supplies of German corrugated iron and timber available. For the past two days there has been little fighting, for the Boche won't fight. He has given up attempts to regain ground, and simply refuses to face our machine guns, despite strongly-worded orders by leading generals setting forth that these lines are vital to the whole system of defence. The First Australian Division captured documents adding to the mass of evidence tending to show the German decline. One, signed by a divisional commander, referring to tho territory from which the enemy was evicted on Wednesday, says: "The whole of this system must be held for "winter quarters. You must fight to the last cartridge and the last man. Another signed by an army commander directs that all positions must be. held, and if the .men are driven back they must retake them at all costs. < Our observations show many signs of decreasing German respect for their officers. At the Fourth Division's prisoners' cage hundreds of German privates crowded the entrance, and as each battalion oommander was brought in they sarcasticallv cheered and waved their hands. Sometimes a'battalion commander and a staff officer cheered back. Such things were impossible a few months ago. Nearly all the German officers, however, express manly regret over the capture of senior officers, invariably feeling that it is a deep disgrace, some adding that they have found the war most interesting, and are sorry they have to leave it. • Australians captured some most striking testimonials to the "Tommies" including a harassed German commander's order that gas discipline must be made far more rigid on the British front. He says: "Only yesterday 215 men were gassed in a single battalion. It is suspected that the men are purposely setting this "as in order to avoid fighting the British." No farmer ever longed for rain with the intensity with which the Bosche commanders must now pray for bad weather. If the next few weeks are fine the Allied blows may have an extremely far-reaching effect. On the other hand,' nothing j s calculated to hamper the attacks more than mud and rain, which min-ht enable any rallying elements in the Boche lines to hold out in isolated posts, possibly train ing enough time to reorganise and stabilise the position. The whole weight of the British heavy gun-power is now turned upon the wire entanglements'? concrete machine-gun posts, and tunnels of the inner Hinden'burg system. Much is hniwl The atmosphere is charged with expectation. DIFFICULTIES OF BAD WEATHER. ® WORK OF THE LABOUR BATTALIONS. MARVELLOUS ADVANCE OF RAILWAYS. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. LONDON, September 23. (Received September 23, at 11.10 p.m.) Mr Philip Gibbs writes: The fighting at Epehy and Villers-Guislain was close and bitter, in nature resembling the old trench warfare amid dirty ditches barbed wire, swamps, and ruins. The enemy brought up four new divisions, and assembled many guns, under cover of which he launched a series, of bombing attacks in which the bombers were hidden in old trenches. This was only a minor action designed to straighten the line. True, we were unable to maintain all our gain's in °face of the intense shelling and the difficulties of the ground and weather but the position improved. The Fourth Army prisoners since the Bth August total Mr Gibbs paints a grim picture of the British troops' difficulties an wiid weather, with heavy rains, in country where there is little shelter save that of tents among swamps and slimy dug-outs, and tarpaulins spread over the tops of ruined habitations. Our men fight, work, and sleep in wet clothes. The labour battalions slave hard to reduce the discomfort and improve the roads, and the rapid advance of the. railways is marvellous . ADDITIONAL BRITISH SUCCESSES. SATISFACTORY GAINS IN, A TROUBLESOME ZONE. Reuter's Telegrams- ' . LONDON, September 23. (Received September 24, at 1.20 a.m.) Reuter's correspondent at the British Headquarters states: Tho enemy who has been reinforced, stubbornly resisted in the figh'.Jig around Epehy. We "carried many strong points, the most important being a weblike trench "work called a quadrilateral. North-east of Honlon the fighting was of a more hand-to-hand character than hitherto. In tho present offensive we are opposed by an Alpine Corps and two other divisions, besides a new division moved up from the njssrve. We captured Qnennemont Farm by 2 o'clock, but afterwards withdrew from Quennemont Farm. Tho net gains for the day are satisfactory. We occupied or destroyed many outpost* in a troublesome zone and inflicted heavy casualties.

FRENCH POSITIONS EXTENDED. ENEMY COUNTER-ATTACKS SHATTERED. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association and Reuter. LONDON, September 23. (Received September 24, at 0.50 a.m.) . French comintininuo states: South of St. Quentrin we extended our positions east of Hinacourt and Lyfontaine, and reached tho western outskirts of Vundeuil, north of the Aisne. Three German counter-attacks wero shattered north of AJleraant beiore they could approach our lines. Wo gained ground east of Sancy, and took prisoners. on j,