A WEEK'S OPERAIIONS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14591, 29 April 1918, Page 7

A WEEK'S OPERAIIONS.

OFFICIAL REPORT UP TO ' APRIL 25.

(Per Press Association). . „ WELLINGTON, last night. Tho Governor-General has received tlio following telegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dealing with the operations up to April 25 : — Raids have been carried out on both sides, chiefly for identification purposes, and the artillery at times has' been very active. •.....,

A new offensive began on the night of April 23, after an advance westward of, Hazelbrouck was definitely checked. The enemy still made very serious endeavors at different points . to reach objectives of tactical value, and ju^t as he made one final, desperate effort m the Somme offensive /before transferring his attack to the north, m this case also he accepted the rebuff for the moment, and centred! his energies on the nejet operations. ' ■ • ' After military preparation on April 23, infantry attacks were", launched by the enemy at . dusk, north of Albeit and in> the. neighborhood of Dranontre, which were broken up after general artillery activity. During the night of April 23, strong hostile infantry : attacks developed between Albert and the Ancre, and the enemy made sorae^prpgress, capturing the ! village of Villers Bretonneux from the ■ British, and a small w00d,.; north > of I Hangard from the French. , ..., j Our counter-attacks deprived him of. ; the greater part of his gains, including Villere Bretonneux, and his resumption; of the fight foi 1 Amiens,: has not yet developed. The enemy only set '•himself limited objectjiv.es, and aimed; at points favorable for further '.•exploitation. ' The, use , of tanks by the Germans for the first time m attack ga,v,e the impression that operations were experimental. In this case he aimed at the. Cachy-Fouilloy" road', about two miles 1 west of his 'im-Tvier position. '■ ■. . "I In renewed fighting on April 24th the French Avere gradually driven short distances f rom -flrtngard; which has already changed hands frequently, but they retained possession of Hailles and, Senicat sVood. . Although the French ( are involved m this fresh attack, .the blow is still v directed against the British. The enemy, who now launched -his new offensive after a pause, during which he was able to rest his tired troops and organise his supply, has on the battle fronts some 130 divisions. -There are m addition some other exhausted divisions, and also fresh divisions m reserve, but it is doubtful whether he can effect the same concentrations ,as 'on >; March 21, partly because of the exhaustion of many units, but chiefly because of. dispersal of the effort by withdrawal from the east. § He t now, however, has acquired a numerical prep'oriiiCTance over the Britiph and French m live ' West. He also has the, advantage of interior ! lines arid the initiative, and. can there* fore obtain local < superiority, and it is the Allies' object to \^ear down his numbers. ,by ... .dogged, .. and . defensive "inethods.^ ' . »« ; . i This local superiority . is all the } greater now that -he! has singled -'Out the British army for destruction, but so far, although our reserves have • naturally been drawn on, and the French have shouldered their share of the burden, he has .neither worn down' the British nor used up the strategic reserves as he hoped; On the other, fronts there are no specific features,', except m Palestine, where the Hedjaz railway was raided by Arab troops. | On the night of April 22, operations were carried out against eaemy bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend for the pnrpose of sealing the entrance to the channels by means of blockships. Six obsolete cruisers— Brilliant, Sil-uS,^ Intrepid, Ithzenia, Thetis and Vindictive —two old submarines and two auxili-aries-i—lris and Daffodil — participated. The first five cruisers were filled with concrete, and were to be sunk m the channels andi entrance to^the ports. Light covering forces of monitors and motor launches and coastal motor boats, also French destroyers co-operated, and itije attack was made under the cover, kA a smoke screen. .-"'At', Ostend) the blockships ;were run ashore and abandoned, after being 1 blown^ up. ' ■ •■..■.:'' .. At Zeebrugge two of the tliree blockr ships attained! their object, and wffe. mink and blown up m the entrance- i-t6 the canal, and the third grounded; on the way m. Enemy destroyers and other craft lying alongside the> mole was sunk; "also ' a coastal motor boat reports having torpedoed an enemy destroyer which tried) to escape seawards. • One of the old submarines succeeded m attaining its objective, and blew up and destroyed the piling of -the approach to the mole. . Storming parties from the H.M. Vindictive, Ins and Daffodil attacked under extremely heavy fire, maintaining their positions alongside the mole for an hour, and causing considerable damage. . .^. The Vindictive, v Iris, and Daffodil, after" re-embarkirig their landing parties, withdrew. This attack was primarily intended to engage the attention of the garrison on the mole, thereby allowing the blockships to enter the harbor, and as the attack on the mole accomplished its main object, it was successful.: One British destroyer was sunk by gunfire off the mole, and two coastal motor boats arid two motor launches aro missing. A clear break 20 yards wide was subsequently observed ;in Zeebrugg,e mole by our aircraft. The activities of the Royal Aircraft were hampered m the week under, review by adverse weather conditions, and aerial operations were subsequently greatly restricted, it being impossible to under- v take long distance raids into Germany. During the operation on April 17 at Meteren and Wytschaete our airmen continually attacked the enemy's infantry, guns and transport.- They dropped over 500 bombs m this neighborhood, and fired a large quantity of ammunition at different ground targets with excellent effect. Night bombing, squadrons, whenever the weather .permitted, continued to harass the enemy's communications, and hamper the bringing tip of vitally, important supplies, allowing the troops who had been^.withdrawn .to billets no rest. • '• ' ! " ■ ' ' Aerial combats were few, but the enemy suffered irreplaceable loss m the death on April 21 of. their foremost fighting pilot, ?aron Richthoien, .who was brought down as the result of a fight between our own and the enemy's scouts m the Somme area, constituting a heavy blow to the moi'ale of the enemy/ , • .... The weather m Italy has been unfavorable, but on April ; 17 . Jjritish airmen brought down eleven machines and drove down another, m addition to those brought, down by Italian pilots. At Aden the value of aircraft m the outlying theatres has been strikingly demonstrated, as m consequence the enemy has been compelled to scatter his camps, tend, 3(iye : largely dugouts. Congestion on the railways tends to throw a greater burden on the roads and canals, and depleted man-power increases the difficulties of, the,i*ulways. The Board of Trade is tackling both problems, through the Panal Control Committee andi Road Transport Board, by promoting the most economical use of boats and vehicles %t> meet the require; ments of food and munition transport. The Food Ministry reports that the national meat rationing sohem© i» work-] ing ac smoothly throughout the country as the &caU*c]tain*> , previously 'forked m London, and the Home doiqitiflß, and the rationing; of tea is under conaidera-

[ fcion- Improved weather eiiGourageF I hopes regarding the Ilome meat supply 1 and' the improved milk yield is satisfactory, enabling a. greatly-needed increased ration of fats. Improved sugar imports are being utilised as a stock , against the winter period of short snpplies. There has been no increase m bread consumption, but increased imports of cei^eaJs are | urgently needed; also cheese/ ':■■■■■'■''