, 1916-09-30

down ana others were Dadly damaged.
London, Septr. 26tb.-Hhe British have
entered Combles on the Somme front, the
War Office announced today, and are over
coming the resistance Of the Germans. Com-
bles, a town OF some 5000 population before
the war, has beeu OF notable value TO the
Germans, because SO lo1g as they chung TO 1t
the Frnnco-British freedom OF action Ia push
ing their movements between BapGume and
Perouue on either slGa Of it WAS hampered.
Yesterday came The combined effarts OF the
Trench AID British to close the opening or
at least render ii 30 narrow thnt what could
be extricn,ed through il by the gap would
not be- worth while. Only two rOals remained
over which the Germaus could withdraw
their men and guns. Tie single track railway
running through the place had long since
been rendered useless. Attacking from tLa
north, Hai9's forces pushed on and occupied
Morval, cutting the ol therly roud running TO
lie Iransloy, striking from tie south the
French pushed their line TO the environs OF
Fregicourt, severng commuplCaton Win
Combies over thu southerlY ro0d that stretch
es towards Sally. The gap between Morval
aud Fregicourt a mile and half III
width and reaching back t,ward Combies was
swept from either direction by the com
bined fire of French and British guns.
It is not thought probable that q con
siderable force Of Germans remained i'll
Combles. During yesterday When II was ba-
coming evident that tie Allied forces were
achieving their object Of crossing iuto The
east OF the town the Germans are reported
to have begun Withdrawing guns from ii,
Paris, September 26th.-Ihe town Of Com
bles is entirely in the hands Of the Anglo
French forces. This is announced iii the
official stttement from the War Office to-
night. The text of the statement reads.
The buttle continued successfully to-day.
North of the Somme he Allied troops in
creased their gains of yesterday considara-
bly, having attained within a few hours the
oUiectives assigned for the second dey OF
the struggle. This morning the French
troops resumed the offensive and capturted
the entire section Of Combles situated on
the east and south of the railway. Our
patrols entered in conjunction with the
troops Of the right wing Of the British
army, who were cleaning up the northwest
ern part Of Combles. Shortly afterwards
the whole village fell into our power. The
booty captured in Combles was large. The
Germans hud accumulated in the Subterra-
mean regions of this place On norfno
quantity of munitions mud supplies Of every
KIND. We collected 100 wounded Germans
VINO had been abandoned by the enemy
CombIes is flied with German corpses.
This afternoon our troops developing their
advantages captured d small wood situated
north of Fregicoutt hal! way TO Mo@yaI aud
also he greater part of the strongly forti-
fed ground between this wood aud tbe
western HON of St. WAIST wood to the east
OF Bethuue road. The number Of uuWound-
ed prisoners captured by the French since
yesterday now reaches ] 200, we have count
ed up TO The present 80 muchine-gnns. On
the rest OF tAe front there was an intermit-
tent canuonade, 1t appears from the fresh
information that a Zeppelin which few
over the Calais district on the night Of
Sept. 22-23rd. dropped 90 bombs, al! of
which fell on waste ground a great distance
from the town. It is probable that the
zeppelin eau ht 10y the fire of our guns
go rid Of its projectiles in order to ascend
and escape.
London, Sept. 27th-In addition to the
capture OF Combles the official ~communica-
ton issued by tbe War Office last night
reports the occupation by the British of the
important town of Thiepval on the northwest
ern end of the Somme front, the high ridge
10 the east of it and q strongly fortified
redoubt.
London, Sept. 26th-The official an
nouncement is rs follows. Yesterday g oper-
aliOno waro ont;roIu o1oooosf,l fpla ,1raro.