THE WESTERN FRONT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14053, 25 July 1916, Page 3

THE WESTERN FRONT.

JULY CAPTURES QN THE SOMME TOTAL 26,223. MANY COMBATS IN THE AIR. GERMANY'S HEAVY LOSSES. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, July 24. - The Franco-British captures on the i Somme since July total 26,223 prisoners, , 140 guns, 40 bomb-throwers, and several ' hundred machine-guns. PARIS, July 24. A French communique records many aii* operations, including bombarding the stations of Vigneulles, Thionville, Arnaville, Laon, Sainte Erme, and the barracks and station at Mulheim. A squadron, returning from the raid, fought a German squadron, and four of the German and two of the French machines were brought down. ROTTERDAM, July 24. Max Osborn, the headquarters correspondent of the Vossiche Zeitung. writes : — "Our losses are heavy, and the enemy has suffered fearful losses, but we do not blind our eyes to the new mourning which has come to the Germans. We are shaken by a burn- * ing pain as new streams of German blood are owing, and we recognise our powerlessnesSj after two years of war. The angel of destruction is passing over the ranks of the German army with merciless fury, as if the death dance had just begun. It is now a question of life or death for our nation." A German officer, interviewed by the Vossiche Zeitung said : ''We do not know how great the English reserves are, and the length of the offensive will depend on this. Our positions have been badly knocked about, but our dug-outs and shelters luckily held out very well. and finally the rainy weather came to help us."