DRIVING THE ENEMY BACK STEP BY STEP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14046, 17 July 1916, Page 5

DRIVING THE ENEMY BACK STEP BY STEP.

COUNTER-ATTACKS -COMPLETELY CRUSHED. HEROIC WEST'IJkTS RELIEVED^ LONDON, July 16. Sic Douglas, Haig gives details; of the action, which, wag begun at daybreak' on Friday. Having driven back the enemy step by step .to. his second system of defence, Wednesday' and Thursday wer© spent m the necessary .preparations for a further advance, and after an intensive bomb_ardmen.t., on Friday morning an,assault was launched, and the enemy driven from his trenches on the. whole front attacked. As/ the result of an all-day batt]e, ; - .yIV are m possession of th.e'pnemy's seebnd position from Bazdntiif-lc-Petit to Longueyal. . '.' ' lii capturing. Trones Wood we relieved a. party 60 West Kenta,' who were separated from our troops m recent fight. ing. The Germans surrounded them, "but they gallantly he'Jd out, at -the northern end of the wood for 48 hours. Our fire completely crushed two determined counter-attacks 6n our new positions. Later m the- day the Germans made- a fierce^ counter-attack ant i reca ,b. tur«d Ba^entin-le-Peti^ /but ' wer<y immediately driven out. There' are at present a tpf,a.l pf 335 soldiers (returned- artd otherwise) m the' various hospitals m the Dominion. ' '