THE WEST.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7912, 31 July 1917, Page 3

THE WEST.

INTENSE ARTILLERY DUEL. HEARD IN ENGLAND. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, July 30. Mr P. Gibbs says that unceasing gunfire on both sides rages from the Flemish coast to southwards of Lens. The enemy artillery is thickly massed against the most vital sectors on our front.

He has brought up vast supplies of ammunition and is firing shells into Nieuport, Ypres and Armentieres and flinging them miles deep.* over the countryside, searching our batteries. The enemy’s long-range guns are firing at targets tw’elve and twenty miles from their emplacements. The British return twice the number of shells.

Our aeroplanes drop bombs forty miles behind the enemy front. It is a rivalry of destruction, greater than in any former phase of the war. The infantry stands still on both sides under the artillery duel, except for fierce destructive raids here and there.

Throughout Saturday night the heavy, continuous firing in Belgium was heard in the south-eastern coast towns.

The cannonade at daybreak increased in intensity. The vibration was so great that the earth trembled and window’s rattled. The firing continued all the morning.

POUNDING AWAY. BOMBARDMENT GROWING IN INTENSITY. (Received This Day, 10 a.m.) PARIS, July 30. The “Petit Journal” states that the fighting activity in Flanders is daily assuming greater proportions, the British artillery uninterruptedly hammering every portion of the trenches.

HAIG’S REPORT. SMALL PATROL ENCOUNTERS. Australian & N.Z. Cable Association. (Received This Day, 2 p.m.) LONDON, July 30. Marshal Haig reports small patrol encounters near Bullecourt and Achieville.