FERRETING OUT THE HUNS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14124, 17 October 1916, Page 5

FERRETING OUT THE HUNS.

TRAGEDIES^ OF THE DARK. LONDON. October 2. The Times correspondent at British Headquarters oh the Western front,-deal-ing with. the., capture ,of Thiepval; writes :— "Untold tragedies went on m the dark, underground labyrinths of.. the. village, 1 and countless, unseen :deeds of heroism.. The Germans kept rising -up from unexr pected (holes, machine-gunning our men, and then, disappearing,, it was., impossible to ascertain) whither. The only' course,, therefore, was to clear out every bolt-hole and warren.. Once a , detach- 1 ment qi pioneers. .saw a, party, of Germans disappear m a nest of holes. They chased them underground, and. a' dreadful fight, lasting six hours,**' ensued before the pioneers emerged with four times their'number of prisoners.-" ' The correspondent lays stress once more on the comparative smallness of the British losses. He goes oh to say that B-citiah airmen, saw a splendid spectacle when flying above the fight, our troops . going forwards m swift, unending, unbroken lines. The German guns killed numerous German prisoners, 'while the latter were being taken to our rear: . The British line now runs north of Thiepval village, below the cemetery, where /the fae is holding on, He is certain. tQ make a desperate effort to recover Tbfepval. ' Mr. Beach Thomas, the Daily Mail's representative on the Western front, gives a graphic description of the cajp^ tijee of Thiepval. "I saw a tank go into a machine-gmi emplacement like a*scenting boar," he writes. "It crumpled up the guns, crushed the trench, and rolled on the troops within the trench before the deyghte.d. Tommies could .come up. "Another tank advanced along the sunken road, nosing its way into the trenches, clearing out the enemy nests, and spitting fire perpetually. A number of affitighted 'Germans' rose up and tied handkerchiefs !to their -rifles m ail endeavor to surrender the place. ''The Wurtemburgers, who-were at Thiepval, had begged that they, should not be, relieved. They -thought the for-* tress was impregnable. They had lived m it m comfort and luxury, with good food, good cigars, plenty of liquor, and the daily'newspapers."