THE GREAT BOMBARDMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13802, 30 September 1915, Page 3

THE GREAT BOMBARDMENT.

GERMANS STUNNED BY ITS FEROCITY. ■■„.■ LONDON, Sept. 29. From thirty miles off the great bombardment sounded like the roll of a great drum or the rattle of a tremendous machine-gun. A hill top viewpoint showed little, the mist being low. ; One saw only tlie flashes of the bursting shells. The never-ending growl of the artillery conveyed a grimmer impression than any spectacle. The attack along tho whole front was * made to prevent a thin part of the German line receiving reinforcements from elsewhere. From the Yser canal down to the end of the French line, the Allies' guns took up the note and sbon the whole line . was thundering and re-echoing the infernal racket while the German lines .were smothered in dust and smoke and their parapets melted awav and their, entanglements disappeared. The whole atmosphere was filled with noise and the terrific eruption of fire demoralised .the enemy.- A Landsturm captain stated that although the attack was expected it came as a surprise. Half his company were .blown up by a mine explosion. . •> Another prisoner declared that the whole of his regiment was captured ■ because the regiment at their left vras completely annihilated. The most significant feature of -^e Allies' effort was the complete co-ordina-tion of the different services. The Germans boast of their motor transport, but ours is better and the whole business of moving up troops and driving back wounded proceeded without a moment's congestion. In Champagne the Germans were stunned by the ferocity of the bombardment and its complete devastation. The trenches were full of German bodies, and everywhere were huge craters formed, by tho collapse of subterranean defences under high explosives. .French' wounded '.describe how they charged the German gunners. "We leapt upon them like a snapping gudgeon. They were* completely dazed and did not try to use the guns. One of our companies captured a- battery of 7Ts and the gunners raised their arms in despair. -- ■'....' "What troubled Us most was that tho prisoners clogged our communication trenches." The German counter-attacks in the Argohne .ore not likely to interfere with tlie French push forward in the Champagne region.