BRITISH MOVEMENT TOWARDS LILLE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13730, 19 March 1915, Page 5

BRITISH MOVEMENT TOWARDS LILLE.

IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS

PROBABLE

(Received March 19, 1.25 a.m.)

London, March 18

"Truth" opines that Field-Marshal Sir John French intends fighting his way to Lille. General Pulteney's Army Corps is at L'Epinette, within six miles of the centre of Lille.

If the movement continues we may expect a series of pitched battles in which the Germans will fight at a strategical disadvantage. If they are defeated they will lose their line of retreat down the Lys river.

Aviators are seeking to prevent reinforcements arriving from Ghent, where the bulk of the German reserves are collected.