THE WEST FRONT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 17

THE WEST FRONT.

FIGHTING NEAR VAUX

ENEMY RAILWAYS BOMBED. PARIS, June 19

A communique states: A German attack northward of Hill 321 (between Vaux and Fleury) was repulsed. Our air squadrons dropped 61 heavy projectiles on the barracks and railway station at Vouziers (in the Argonne), where movements of trains had been reported. June 20. A communique states: After a sharp bombardment an enemy detachment attempted to approach our lines between the Avre and the Oise, but was repulsed. There has been a violent bombardment north of Thiaumont and the sectors of Vaux, Chapitre, and Souville. An enemy air squadron bombarded a village south of Verdun, killing and wounding several German prisoners camped there. Two aviators collided at Paubin when 6000 ft up. Their machines crashed to the ground, but both aviators miraculously escaped uninjured. AERIAL COMBATS. LONDON, June 20. Sir Douglas Haig reports : There were 27 aerial combats on Sunday. Five enemy machines and two of ours were brought down. EXTENSIVE ENEMY PREPARATIONS. LONDON, June 19. The Times correspondent at Amsterdam,, states that the arrival of numerous wounded and the frequent burials indicate that the Germans' recent attack on Hooge cost them dear. Prisoners state that the British artillery made great gaps in their lines. The Germans have massed more than 120,000 men at Zonnebeke, at Gheluvelt, and along the Comines Canal. These are mainly derived from their Belgian occupation force. Companies of Russian and civilian prisoners have been working for months past carting sand and gravel to the front between Menin, Comines, Roulers, and Bruges. Belgian factories are incessantly producing sand-bags and barbed wire, and trains are continuously carrying timber to the Ypres front. . An army of military labourers is digging, building, sawing; and boring wells for water. Large numbers of new young troops have been trained at various points in South Belgium. Lille, Roubaix, and Turcoing are strictly isolated. Arrests have been frequent in connection with the recent tremendous explosion of a munitions depot at Lille, which the Germans assert was due to a British plot. A terrific report shook house? and smashed windows for miles around and opened the ground in various places and demolished buildings. GERMAN CLAIMS. AMSTERDAM, June 20. A German communique states: Enemy attacks at Thiaumont Wood were repulsed ; also repeated night attacks at Fiumin Wood. Two British biplanes were destroyed and the aviators killed. Our air squadron attacked the railway station, military works, and factories at Baccarat and Raou I'Etaps. GERMAN LOSSES AT VERDUN. LONDON, June 19. A semi-official estimate, based on prisoners' statements and documentary evidence, places the German losses at Verdun to the end of May at 415.000. Mr Warner Allen, reviewing the Verdun offensive, says: "After the failure of the great assault by which they hoped to produce a decisive effect, bringing demoralisation and revolution into France, Germany has settled down to the slow, methodical ■wearing away of the French defences. Their heavy artillery work at Verdun represents the highest conceivable effort of this great manufacturing country, but the German press has now changed its tune and is declaring that, though Verdun be not taken, France will be bled white, whereas the French have continuously relieved and rested their Verdun troops. The Germans, on the contrary, have not attempted to economise. They have drawn

every man available from depots, and are heavily draining the new contingent of those aged 20. Altogether 39£- divisions — about 880,000 men—have been hurled at Verdun, representing ha'.f the German forces available in France. The Germans have failed to capture the fortress, demoralise France, or interfere with the Allies' plans. A SWEDISH LOAN. COPENHAGEN, June 19. A numbei of Swedish banks are making French banks a loan of 70 million kroner, the money to remain in Sweden and be used for the purchase of exports to France. COSTLY GERMAN FAILURE. PARIS, June 20. A communique' states that three German attacks on Hill 321, on the east bank of the Meuse, were smashed. Juno 21. The Bulletin des Armes states that at one time over ICO German batteries pounded Hill 304 and its immediate surroundings. The summit was transformed into a volcano, dense columns of smoke ascending. As the trenches were entirely riddled, the occupants took refuge in shell holes. Notwithstanding a fearful bombardment and the launching of 12 different attacks in a week, the Germans were unable to carry the position. FRENCH OFFICIAL REVIEW. LONDON, June 20. A French official review of the operations on the west front, referring to Sir Douglas Haig's summary cf the events of the last five weeks, says : " His discreet statement of facts reveals the unceasing activity of the British. He has not stated that the British sector, cf the two, is the one requiring the most vigilant watchfulness and the hardest efforts, daily consuming large numbers of men and shells. It is impossible to estimate the value of the untiring, methodical efforts to which is now succeeding a period comprising a series of blows progressively increasing in severity." VALUABLE WORK BY DOGS. PARIS, Juno 20. Hundreds of Alaskan and Labrador dogs, which during the winter rendered yeoman service at the Schlucht Pass by drawing heavy loads over almost inaccessible country for revictualling the French army in the Vosges, are now harnessed to trucks on the 2ft gauge light railways running everywhere behind the French front. Up the sharpest gradients 11 dogs and two men can pull a ton; and on precipitous slopes two teams, each of seven dogs, are equal to five horses, and there is besides a great economy of the number of men in charge of the teams. REPORT BY GENERAL HAIG. LONDON, June 21. General Haig reports : There is mining activity and some bombardment on both sides. We surprised and bombed a large working party and inflicted numerous casualties. THE FRENCH RESISTANCE. PARIS, June 21. A communique states : We checked an attack against the new trenches we captured on the 15th on the southern slopes of Mort Homme. The Germans, after a heavy bombardment, attacked our positions west and south cf Vaux Fort. .Quv curtain and machine gun fire twice shattered the assaults', with heavy losses. Advices from Berlin state that Immermann, "the Kagle of Lille," Mas reconnoitring on the west front when his machine foil. His body was found under the machine, which was destroyed. WITH THE BRITISH. LONDON, June 21. Sir Douglas ITaig reports quiet along the whole front. Our artillery hit and exploded five enemy ammunition lorries near La Bassce. The Daily Chronicle's Amsterdam correspondent reports that the Kaiser is at Brussels awaiting a big military event.