TAKING OF NOTED LOUPART WOOD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14286, 1 May 1917, Page 8

TAKING OF NOTED LOUP ART WOOD.

ATTACK PBEtJKOTD "UY THIRTY HOURS OF TERRIFIC GUNFIRE. [By Press Association Correspondent.] British* Headquarters in Pratfice," '*'•'" A ' \ . March 13. : The ridge overlooking Bapaume from the north-west, .which baa come to be looked upon by the British as a sort of promised land ever since -the battle of the Sdmme began, last July, passed into' the hands of Geww'.a_r-_j[a-ig;'s troops to-, day. For the firaT time since 'the great struggle on this front opened, the British have the advantage of the highest ground, and can" now look down upon the famous Germany stronghold and a -wide extent of the country beyond. " British officers believe that they are mow in a position to take Bapau'me whenever the word is given. Grevillers was captured last night and tbe new British lines stretch' .flon'g the" ridge ■which runs ndrth^Trest • from- that point to the outskirts ~of "Achiet-Le-Petit, a point still strongly held" by the Germans. - . — -~ "AAA -;

LOUPART "WOOD TAKEN, -, ' :tk .'ln this latest forward movement the British have taken possession of the noted Loupart Wood, consisting of great clnmps of trees situated on the shoulder of^' the " high ridg"ew&frd overlooking 4he entire Somme battlef ront. >Th*is wood Has in asked a great number of batteries and frbm it hostile shells have rained upon the British for eight months past. ' Its <caj)ture has been_thejspurce of the highest satisf action^4o^th^-Bntish-. y stßtff^'alf;it Was one of the most foffflSqiftblejarfcillery posts the Germans had established in the Western theatre: """'• — i -~--- .-

"The country about Loupart Wood and beyond is in good shape. As a matter of fact GrerolierVwas the first touch of real iu-fliijftJ&Sn. %t*Toitfmies say they have had in many mbo.ns.~ ' "Why," said one stalwart .Australian to-day f "do you know, there are regularhouses in Grevillers with real roofs on thfem." ■•' . ON THE HIGH -GROUND. „ 'What this means . .to Vmeri! : %iio .-.hive ; fought so long in the sloughs of mud' of tfifc Somme valley can only be grasped by those who baye;]iY€d'^inori^the.hlqeoiis scenes of destruction.* 1 The Gerinaiis itaVe always hitherto had the .advance cs' the high jground, and the villages. Ttiess villages, -wlncir*na,ve< ibeeh so bit lt&dy. contested, have been left/ nothing but pulverised ruins, which dfferepr.iio. shelter for soldiers. Where fires are ifot burning the country back of line looks green and wohde'rfti%-';i?ivit-teg« ' ". •'•'■-•• i'he German positions oh the Loupart line had been-^ogapletely ' registered by the British guna__ojL J Sunday mjorhihg; arid that af termrotr-heavy \ artillery' *com* irtehcec| its \n»i'^,' destruction. Thirty hours of theffitfrrrfic- bombardment was all that the «weWe^^ r coial4'^ithijlandi . One prisoner aSSCSS^ra'S %htf onlystir■viyor' of a sqnadSsl^h ?rhp were, in a dugout whichTwas blown to bits- by a Britifeh shell. ;:^ ". "