AN EPOCHAL DAY.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14140, 17 July 1916, Page 5

AN EPOCHAL DAY.

MAGNIFICENT CONTRIBUTION TO

FRENCH FESTIVAL.

GERMAN COMMANDER OUT-

GENERALLED

ANGLO-FRENCH ALIGNMENT

IMPROVED.

WHOLE GERMAN FRONT IN

DANGER

(Australian andN.Z. Cable Association.)

(Received July 16, 5.5 p.m.) Paris, July 15. ! Tiie British offensive against the Ger- | man second line is regarded as a magnificent effort to glorify the national fete day. The battle.is still raging on an extended front, but the suet-ess attained already make the Fourteenth of j July one of the most brilliant days of the war. Owing to the rapidity of the advance, the British quickly penetrated a front' of nearly four miles, carrying a network of formidable defences which it had taken months to construct. They also cleared Trones Wood. The locale of the present attacks is the pivot of the German battle front, and the most strongly defended poiut. Yon Eineni threw in strong reinforcements, but Sir Douglas Haig out-gen-eralled lam, and the new troops failed to arrest the advance. " The ever-increasing bulge in the German front between Hardecoiuyt and

CABLE- NEWS. }

[Press Association—Copyright.]

Thiepval makes the whole line highly vulnerable. The capture of Longueval brings the British advance into line with the French at Hardecourt. It is increasingly probable that yon Einem will be forced to retire to new positions. The weather is cool and favourable for the British operations. Bazetin-le-Grand is a mile west of Longuev&l, and midway between Longueval and Confcalmaison. Bazetin-le-Petit is a mile north-west of Bazetin-le-Grand. Comparatively few "German prisoners have been taken since July Ist, from which it is inferred that the officers organising the plans of resistance instruct the men what to do when they retire to rear positions. The importance of Pozieres is due to its position athwart the main road from Albert to Bapaume, which is Sir Douglas Haig's objective. The fighting at Ovillers concerned the village, of which practically nothing remains except dust. The British guns swept the village flat. The Germans are still holding out in great underground cellars made by tli.e' inhabitants. The progress at Ovillers and the capture of the Bazetins, of which Baze-tin-le-Petit is the larger village, bring the British on the flanks of the Germans at Pozieres, threatening the German rear. The capture of Longueval entailed an assault on a hill 500 feet high. Vhe next difficulty to Longueval is the village of Guillemont, which is powerfully organised and armoured, and has another 500 feet hill. The capture of i Guillemont is made appreciably easier since Trones Wood, which covers the village, has been cleared. Sir Douglas Haig is still not master of the important plateau of Thiepval, which is a strong sector in the German first line. The British approach to Combles, however, permits the French to resume their attack, which At as delayed pending the British advance. The French Hardecourt position threatens Combles from the south, while the British are attacking it from the north-west. The outstanding feature of the new offensive was the extensive transference of British guns, which was carried out with the utmost rapidity, in order to enable the German positions in the rear to b ecaptured before the Germans had time to fully fortify them. Sir Douglas Haig's object is to -ieep the Germans on the move, knowing that successive positions will afford them increasingly less protection as the advance continues. It is no longer feasible for the Germans to carry on a rearguard struggle with detachments of machine gunners while the infantry is massed at convenient stations lor counter-strokes. Subterranean machine gun emplacements will soon be rare. Trenches can be dug quickly, but underground shelters take weeks and mouths, to link .up into a systematic defence. , The splendid supplies of ammunition available have put heart into the British infantrymen. There is no chance of a repetition of the Loos and NeuveChapelle mischance.