FRANCE AND BELGIUM

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 145045, 22 July 1916, Page 3

FRANCE AND BELGIUM

THE OFFICIAL REPORTS. INTERESTING CONTRASTS. LONDON, July 21. General Haig, in a communique, states: North of Bazdntin-Longueval line we advanced about 1000 yards, despite stubborn opposition. Heavy fighting; continues, in ; the northern outskirts of Longueval village sod Belvill© Ifood. The remainder of the main battlefront is unchanged. Our aeroplanes yesterday dropped many tons of explosives most successfully upon railway centres, and. aerodromes, and other' important points.' PARIS,'JuIy 21. , A communique states; North of the Somme we are consolidating, the portions won in the morning. South of the Somme we extended our front by an attack in the afternoon, and captured. the whole of the first German position • from. ..Estrees- to VermandOviUeraHill, Dtifihg the fighting to-day we captured 2900 prisoners,-three guns, thirty machine-guns, and ranch material. ' Continued progress is being :made by bombing the'rest or Thianmont works. The air squadrons bombed the stations of Thiouville, Montmedy, Brieules and Bpisel, and military establishments at Looach,. north-east, of Bale. AMSTERDAM. July 20. A German communique states: The BngHsh in considerable force attacked positions west and north of Froselles. Coohfer-attacks threw them, back from the'points penetrated. The English again penetrated Longucral and Belville farm,.but counter-at-tacks compelled them to retire, though they still hold. portions of. tho village and farm.

The Anglo-French attack on the whole "front from the Fovoaux Wood to .the Somme, began t his morning. TJie first- attack- was broken. The French in the afternoon, made two unfruitful attacks in the region of Bellby. They were thrice, repulsed in the morning in the Estrees-Hoyicourt The Russians made unsuccessful attacks on. the Ickau-Keya Road, southeast of Riga. The Austrians north of Spkul drove the Russians out of their front position, and then retired to their own positions. " The Germans advanced- their-■ positions south-west of Lutsk. .

MAGNIFICENT SUCCESS. OH A FIVE-MILE FRONT. LONDON, July 20. The . British and French public are delighted at the news of General Foch’s capture, of-five-miles on the Somme front. The British advances having brought the line approximately level with tho French, General Foch recommended an ntfbnsive at daybreak, with most gratifying success. ! "We have .broken, tho German line and saptured live miles of trenches on both banks .of the Somme, threatening Combles and also relieving the pressure bn the British angle at Longueval and Belville .Wood, where we are making a grand fight, though outnumbered by four to.one. V_ , , ’. „ , The positions which the Anglo-French have .seized, on. the. Somme, are at least as difficult and twicelas extensive as the Germans seized at Verdun. The Anglo-French accomplished in sixteen;days"what the Germans accomphshed'.in.fivo months and: with a fivefold expenditure of lives. Tho.Gorman s fully realise the dangers of the Anglo-French advance upon the confines ,of the. plains of Cambrai, and are endeavouring' to confine the fighting to the Somme sectors, as there is an, even, greater danger in the likelihood of further breacbes in the German line, which’will bh rolled up in sections. The Allies’ great advantage lies in the fact that the Germans are tied up in their positions and forced to rely npori heavy- guns, which.' are excellent for offence, but-difficult to utilise for defence., where mobility is all important. Newspapers 'give prominence to the excellent: results of; the Australian raids,, which have occurred on a more extensive front than any General Haig has yet'reported.

FRENCH HOLD GROUND. AGAINST ALL GERMAN ATTACKS. WELLINGTON. July 22. The High Commissioner reports under date London, July 21 (1.35 p.m.):---The French official report says that southwards of the Sommo the enemy yesterday counter-attacked our hew positions south of Soyecourt. An assaulting battalion was caught under our curtain, of fire, and mitrailleuses, and retired in disorder,. suffering very heavy losses. The night was calm on both sides of .the Somme. ■ In the. region of Cfaaulnes'» strong enemy detachment, which ‘attempted., to reach our lines south of Macourt, was repulsed with tho bayonet. ‘ Between Soissons and Reims our reconnaissances, - after a favourable mine explosion, penetrated an, adversary trench, which, was then swept clear with grenades.- , On the Verdun front there is great artillery activity in the.sectors Chattancourt and' Fleury. -In: tho’-Vosges, following, a. violent bombardment the, enemy attempted to attack. ” our positions' northwards of Wiessenbach, but Were successfully checked.

During yesterday and last night our aerial squadrons, bombed several important points on the enemy front, including the stations of Conflans, Mars la Tour, Louguyon, Brieulles Junction and Ham, where numerous heavy projectiles were dropped on the 16th, 18th and 19th. The open towns of Baccarat ind Luneville were bombed by the enemy’s aerial squadrons, but the damige done was immaterial. Reprisals trill he taken.

OVERWHELMING GERMAN ATTACK.

RESISTED BY THE BRITISH. (United Service,) (Received July 22, 9.20 a.ra.) LONDON, July 21. . The Daily Mail’s correspondent in France writes that the German attack on Longueval was shrewdly conceived, as, if successful, it would have endangered the front where the Franco-Bri-tish meet. The enemy protends that only a brigade (5000 men) was engaged, but French experts estimate that .there were six divisions (120,000 men) on a 2J-mile front. Despite the tremendous odds and the exceptional German fury the British magnificently withstood the attack. ME. PHILIP GIBBS. NARRATES STORIES OF THE . BATTLE. VERGING ON 'THE INCREDIBLE. (Received July 22, 8.50 a.m.) LONDON, July 21.

Mr. Gibbs writes that in the offensive the Territorials proved great soldiers, both in attack and resistance. The Queen’s Westminsters, the Queen Victoria’s Rifles, the Loudon Rifle Brigade Rangers, and the London Scottish, advancing from Gommocourt, reached the German lines and captured the network of trenches with amazing speed. The enemy put a barrage of high explosives, through which no living thing could pass. The Londoners wore caught in a death-trap and their escape was cut off by the barrage, n'fc;h also smashed our communication trenches, preventing supports reaching the men in the captured salient. Their comrades desperately attempted to send ammunition and one party of sixty with handgrenades set out, but only three returned.

The enemy organised a series of coun-ter-attacks and some enemy parties approached the Londoners from the northern position, whence the enemy was enfiladed. The London Scottish, on the right, was holding a redoubt and -building barricades, but ammunition grew, scarce and the bombs were almost exhausted. The Londoners gathered the German bombs, but the position became uglier. The men never lost heart and the officer rallied six good men and ordered the others to rut rear with the wounded and take their chance across No Man’s Land, while he put up a last fight. He stuck to the barricade until all but two men. were killed and ho was the last to leave.'

Gradually the Londoners withdrew under great shell fire. Many wounded remained on tho field suffering great anguish for days. One officer wounded in tho leg crawled about tho field for twelve days before bo was rescued.

GENERAL HAIG’S REPORT, FURTHER SUCCESSFUL ADVANCE. WELLINGTON, July 22. The High Commissioner reports under date London, July 21 (3.15 p.m.):— General Haig reports that between the Leipzig Redoubt and Belville Wood the battle continues without intermission. Northwards of the. BazentinLonguevaJ lino tho'British advance has been pushed forward to tho Fourcaux Wood, from whence the enemy was driven. During the night tho enomy counter-attacked, after an intense bombardment with gas shells, and succeeded in effecting an entry into the north part of tho wood, but failed to dislodge ns from the southern half. Elsewhere tho situation is unchanged.

MORE RUSSIANS IN FRANCE PARIS, July 20. A fresh contingent of Russians landed at Brest, and goes into an instruction camp and thence to tho front. A TREACHEROUS ACT. THE PERPETRATOR SHOT. (Received July 22, 11.25, a.m.) COPENHAGEN, July 21. A soldier’s letter states that a Prussian officer and a number of Gormans approached the British holding up their hands. The officer then threw a helmet containing a bomb at the British officer’s feet, killing the latter and wounding three men. The Prussian officer was shot.

FRENCH AVIATORS’ MISTAKE. CAPTURED BY GERMANS. (Received July 22, 11.25 a.m.) COPENHAGEN, July 21. Cracow newspapers state that French aviators landed at Kawenza from Nancy, a distance of 1258 miles. They descended in a ■ fog and believed they were behind the Russian lines. When they discovered their mistake they failed to re-start and were captured.