BRITISH SWEEP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14050, 21 July 1916, Page 8

BRITISH SWEEP.

X RUBH THROUGH CONTAL MAISON. -„.( : y m LONDON, July 10. • A,'^pl" c despatch from the Times' Bpecial. correspondent "on the British Western front Friday's bitter, fighting at Gonial "The heaviest bombarebnent began at ' 7 m the morning," Ke'says,, "We were between the niiris of, .^OQiirt .and Mametz, and a little tri*i^^lV,|i;-, the River Ancre. Beyond us ,; .^;g^md^r6se' i^ : alternate swellings and.fiffl^rlo-Con-tal Alaison, with the black^'mals Of Ma-" metz Wood, standing out., against' -the sky-line. It was a dull morning, an<| the whole sky was overcast rbwitb; . M&in c}on4b. except,. f \yrhere. „a,.. belt of light circled the farther horizon. ', ( "During the hour before the advance the bombardment was tei^c;' c^'vGjre'a<& columns of smoke, darken, thali-.vb'the • rain clouds, above, rose continually, and against this background each' shell burst . 'showed wi%..a stab of'flfane. Our g^ns ' roared on. every side, m front and feehind, right afld' left. FOE'S MMDIREOTED ARTILLERY. . "XbSLiQejrma-n guns, from unseen posi-tionsp-replied .equally heavily; In -addition, they kept up a steady of > fire >r along our supposed front, pounding the&»am* trenches m the unwise as- '"\ W^PiyW'ty^ W Q v?eve using lliem.' This .was. .extremely systematic, but' did us \ littlfe Harm. So punctual yaftra* aiccprate was^ the fire that it looked $£' if^acro&s the iißHbh? country, from Siontauban to ' l^a j®tnselle, - there was L lin?" ' of liitlelbonnres, wij^fi l§er>tron burning/, pachv'bonfive / t^b^jrig . .v© a: burst of >yhite smo|ffi noy afntf^hen, Mai^ «»nJjm}M^metz -Wood 1 never ceased tobe *efilhirigr ctflUldi*bhs of firings and points t^^mey. .-.T iU. . v,- "■■', •> y- ; "Our >men .swept thiptjgh unfcbecked: An ipnt;;>f^£>ihe, fltaa^ of t^a attack^ they were workmg, thyo\igli the, wood, and twoT hours later they, took 300 prisoners- at Contal Maasbri. At orie v point m the. wood a considerable party; of Germans came out and shook hands' with the .British, sobbing for their,; joy at being out of the .cieadly ,bbm>f bardment,, The rn^st, dramatic -lnoidenii' took place Tjetween Mametz Wood and' •Contal Maison. ' -y GUARDS' COUNTER AtTAQE. , "The enemy there launched a obiin^r'-': attack with,, five battalions of the Sd' Reserve Division of Prussian Gua««chv probably, collected for an independent • offensive. Our bombardment caught them-lull. m the face, and on^ battahon ; suffered especially. They endeavoced to push through. Some did so, and ! were taken^ prisoners. They gave /the i most-appalling of. the dw.tiaic-, 1 tiv6«eßS of our artillery fire,'- declaring' that they had lost 75 per cent, of their" effectives. Certainly they .wet«„, quite ■,; shattered. It is said that^the i "Gei^lfils' 1 believed that the recent fighting was 1 dons^by our .Guards, and" -they* were astonished when they learned that Kitche#^s annies v had fought so well. <w ,...> ' 'Later ; on the incidents of the stinig^ : gle were obiscured by a tropical down^> j pour of rain that lasted 12 hours. Ws* :i reached $ line well beyond Oontal Mai- < '

son, but through some mischnuco «»f misunderstanding, m tho storm and darkness we retired. It was not tho first time tliat the weather had beaten us when the Germans could not. "We re-took part of Contal Maison on Saturday. "Tho prisoners persistently stato that the Kaiser was hero for two days during the earlier fighting and then departed." The correspondent personally testifies to the' extraordinary bad morale of the captured officers and men of the 'Prussian Guard. He says that it is incredible that any of our troops could ever reach such a condition or such a frame of mind. INOOMP ARABLE ARTILLERY. ;Ml" Beach Thoma£, correspondent of the Daily Mail, describing tho advance of the British at Contal Maison, states that it may be accepted as an'undoubted fact that the enemy has never, since the battle of the Manic, lost so many guns "owing to direct hits. Tlie observation work has been splendid and, the artillery accurate as well as incomparably weighty. Many of the undamaged German batteries'* skedaddled behind.-, the third line of defence. Describing the activity of the aeroplanes, Mr Thomas says that one of our airmen descended to 900 ft, and riddled a massed battalion with a Lewis gun. 'Tt is not the first time this has been done," adds the writer. •"The German staff . work," he continues, *. "was amazingly bad. The Guards reserve and other units were rushed forward without maps and without instructions, and with the barest knowledge of the situation. The mixture of regimental units was amazing. The .mixed battalions were drawn from many parts of the line." Mir Beach Thomas details a picturesque incident. Some of our missing — believed to be a party of Northumberland , Fusiliers— were found, with their captors, m a deep dug-out. A number of Germans who had surrendered elsewhere rushed forward and ! warmly shook hands with their Lancashire captors as a double congratulation.