FULLER DETAILS OF FIGHTING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14050, 21 July 1916, Page 7

FULLER DETAILS OF FIGHTING.

DESCRIPTIONS TN SPECIAL MESSAGES. , IN THE TRACK OF BATTLE. LONDON, July 5. The Times' correspondent m the Press Camp, iays: — "It has been a quiet day. We attempted no grand advance, but gained minor successes, consolidating the ground, and the Germans made no gains anywhere. Tlie present interest centres m the line about La Boiselle, Contal Maison, the Mametz Wood, Montauban, and Rernafay. The latter, is entirely m our hands. ' Fighting continues m the vicinity of La Boiselle and -Contal Maison, with desultory . Gerihan artillery fire. Our troops have been extremely active, despite a tremendous i thunderstorm oyer the whole fighting area. "I visited the Fricourt battle-ground. It was a. dreadful '• sight. I went through remnants-"of rusted and torn barbed-wire, and twisted railway lines, to tho German front line. It was all vidge and pit and • bummock. There was no vestige of the/true surface of the ground. The obliterated trenches were pitted with huge shell holes. The village was a shapeless heap of brick and masonry, with no streets apparent and no houses. WAR'S .AJFTERMATH. "It was easy to see where the British went. Parites were still gathering up the dead and preparing the bodies for burial. iSome lay where they had fallen with their heads* towards the German trenches. Others were being gently and reverently laid in'rows on the open ground. A service iy as read at 5 o'clock i.i the afternoon. "Beyond the front- line tho German dead, dressed m grey, were mostly m the trenches and the dug-outs. They bad fled when the British broke m. Some were killed by shell-fire, some bombed, and others bayoneted. Apparently numbers' of the wounded had crawled into the dug-outs to die. Others were bombed inside. One man was killed m the mouth of a burrow, and had fallen down the. steps, blocking the entrance. Armless and legless corpses were everywhere. One jdug-out was used as a dressing-station, and m it were five who had seemingly: died while awaiting attention. "The German trenches here were deeper and wider than ours, and more open to shells, but the troops kept as much as possible m the dug-outs, which wero also more extensive and better and deeper than ours. In' those that were not smashed were fecund immense quantities of unsued cartridges, bombs, and band-grenades/ together with the dead men's helmets and/personal possessions. "The immense 'strength of. the German defences makes the capture the most heroic feat of all. Villages, woods, eminences, and hollows were converted into veritable fortresses, on which the Germans had lahored for IS months, omitting no pirotfectible device." CAVALRY BECOMES USEFUL: HUNS AS DUG-OUT KINGS. Paris messages state that cavalry is. being largely used for patrolling south, of thp River Somme.. and bringing m information. The spirit of the French troops is admirable...' The Colonial divi-sion-was due for a rest after heavy losses, but refused ;to leave until tho attack was completed. A wounded offifcer, now >m London, describes the deep, concrete dug-outs m which the Germans had stationed their machine gun sections. He says that they were shell-proof. Immediately tlie bombardment was lifted from the front to the rear lines tlie Germans ran their machine guns along the tunnels to the roofed emplacements, which were constructed .with, a narrow loophole on the ground level. . . ■ A Paris war correspondent speaks of the reconquered villages on the River Somme front as being mere shapeless accumulations of • stones, rafters, and trees, a jumble of tangled ruins: It is impossible to recognise a street or a square, or even a house. , ;' <.-