New Britain herald., 1916-09-26
ALLIES ENGULF TOWNS AS
 TROOPS DASH TO BATTLE
Offensive Preceded by Hell of Artillery Fire, 50,000 Shells Being Hurled at Germans in Single Hour

British Front in France, Sept. 25, via London, Sept. 26, 6:5S a. m.-This
 has been another great day for the Anglo-French forces on the Somme. As a spectacle for the observer it was the most splendid of all the attacks made by the allied forces since the i commencement of the great offensive. 1 What either army was trying to do and how they were doing it, the positions | they held and sought to conquer in the team play of the blue French legions | and the khaki clad brigades of Britain, | were comprehensible to the eyei n the l glorious autumn sunlight for sweep | of ten miles. The scene had the intoX- 1 ication of wars grandeur-if war can
 be said to have any grandeur. Tonight
 the British have taken half of Mor- | val, all of Lesboeuf and have ad-
 vanced their line on front of 5000
 yards for an average depth of one
 thousand yards; the French have
 stormed Rancourt and have pushed their line to the outskirts of the little | village of Fregicourt, a mile east and
 a little north of Combles. The German
 stronghold of Combles is virtually | isolated.
 The correspondent of the Associated Press went forward yesterday over
 the ridge of Devils Wood and Ginchy l region which the British had fought 1 for over two months to gain. He walked for two miles through an area,
 which reverberated to the blasts of the
 great guns, picking his ways between l the bursts of flame from the crashing batteries and moving around the rows
 of cannon as one who seeks ford in
 ciI of hn
 ridge he saw guns where he had never | seen them befOre-On the promised 1 land of the lower levels which the 1 British had won by persistent siege | work. The guns were close up to the
 British Infantry who listened to their
 thunderous chorus as they prepared
 for the charge in today's attack. "The
 usual artillery preparation", said an
 artillery officer.
 Guns Fire at Top Speed.
 Tn his return the correspondent de-
 cided that he would not pass through
 that wilderness of British guns of all
 sizes and. calibre, while he had any | hearing left. Every one of them was l firing at top speed. He chose a gal ] lery which took him past many bat l teries which for two miles were pour
 ing out their share of the raging tenn | pest of gun fire. From the ruins of 1 some old German trenches, whence the 1 battle panorama stretched before him 1 the correspondent had a near view of
 the French gunners who were feed
 ing shells into the. gun brooches as
 grain is fed into @ threshing machine,
 and with the mechanical precisions of
 automatons.
 Shortly after noon was the time
 
 ward under the cover of a final inten-
 sive chorus of hell from the artillery.
 The ridges in front and on either 1 hand were f1ecled with racing sparks 1 of flame. Within an hour at least 1 50,000 shells must have been fired
 within sight of the correspondent. Far
 to the south was Mont St. Quentin, 1 two miles from Peronne and com manding that town, which, the allied 1 commanders say, will fall like a ripe 1 plum when the time comes. The hill 1 lay hay above the green foliage Of | the river valley in the midst of vast | bursts of black smoke from shells Of l enormous calibre. Directly in front i was Combles, another town which has come to mean much to the imagina- | tion of the public in England and France, who seem to regard its cap- ture as of vital significance. Combles differed from all the villages in sight i in that the walls of many of it's build , ings were still standing. It was diff i ferent too, in the fact that it formed i an oasis in the midst of the storm or battle Neither artillery nor infantry 1 paid any attention to 1t. The guage | of battle was the high ground around 1 it, the possession of which means the 1 command of the town. Further north law the ruins of GinchY and Guile mont.
 Infantry Sweeps Forward. At the appointed time the waves of infantry surged forward to the attack. man guns swelled to it's utmost volume until the whole field was lost in vast clouds of smoke. The attacking fn- fantry vanished in that grim pail while high overhead scores of sausage balloons in the brilliant sunlight strove vainly to see what was passing beneath them. Then across the dead fields arose signal from Morval which told that the British infantry had reached another goal and that another village was taken man at a telephone in
 nearby signal station called out the capture of the different strong points with the enthusiasm of one who scores a hotly contested game
 Presently the British wounded be- gan to straggle back and their bear
 ing, as they moved along beside their prisoners was another criterion by