THE ATTACK ON ARRAS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14567, 1 April 1918, Page 3

THE ATTACK ON ARRAS.

FAILURE 01? ENEMY SHOCK TROOPS. CRITICAL MOMENTS AT CROISY. SPLENDID DASH OF THE BRITISH. /(Renter's Telegram.) LONDON, March 30. HeuterV headqtiarters correspondent The enemy's attack on Arras failed, after fierce fighting. Prisoners state that their objective was Arras, which they were told must be captured at all costs. Specially-trained shock troops were used. ■ Tho intention to capture the town hcis not been abandoned, but the losses are so great that the enemy must bring up new divisions before he repeats the experiment. ', Our airmen 'continue "to report enemy concentrations behind ' the lines, for 6-! shadowing further heavy thrusts. Reporting later, the correspondent says : — C*n the whole, the British front lnie, on its whole length, has held splendidly throughput the day. . At one point onlyi whei-e the" Germans got across the river m force about Croisy, taking our troops m the Proyart and Mericourt neighborhoods m the rear, we have fallen back. 4 The retirement was conspicuously well conducted. The men were taken m the rear before they knew it, and m the threatened area the infantry and guns faced round, and for a time the guns were fired with open siglifs. The infantry charged aashingly and drove the enemy, far outnumbering themselves, back to the river bank until all the guns had been withdrawn, and then this section swung back to its new pos'tion by Hamel and Lamotte. As evidence of the spirit of the British, some of the most tired troops, after terrific fighting for three days, were ordered to make a new attack, which was a serious job for fresh troops twice their number. Yet they»attacked, singing "Tipperary." and scored a splendid success.