The sun., 1916-10-05
British Rcpulse Assault South
Of Ancre Made After
Heavy Smelling.
FRENCH TAKE TRENCHES
Complete Consolidation Of Sys.
tenn Between Morval and
st. Pierre Vast.

aims deferred the Allies from large en-
terprises.
The French completed tho capture Of
tho tcnaciously defended German trench
system between Morvai and the st.
Pierre Vast wood. northeast OF Comblcs.
and made 900 prisoners, OF whom ten
were officers. This Is an advance toward
Sailly-Saillisel. The British made secure
their hold on n difficult position. the vii
Iage of Eaucourt rAbbaye. which h
Germans succeeded In penetrating after
its capture by Haig's men. Thu latter
cleared the last German from the village
to-day.
Tho British front limo at several points
IL within q milo Of the German fourth
line, to which the Germans have fallen
back. It lies west Of the Bapaume.Le
Transloy road. where tho Germans arc
protected by a low ridge.
German Reserves USED Up.
An official statement issued to-day, In
which Gen. Sir Douglas Haig sums up
the lighting ON the Somme after Septem-
Der Is. says:
Tho Importance Of tho three months
offensive 10 not to be Judged by the dis
lance advanced or the number Of enc
my trench lines taken. 1t must be
iOOhoO VI III tihO opoh tho Ss'S
my's strength In numbers. material and
morale. The enemy has used up his
reserves in repeated. costly and unsuc-
cessful counter attacks without causing
our allies or ourselves to relax our
steady. methodicai pressure.
AT tho end OF September the situation
may DO summarized AZ follows: Since
tho opening Of tho battle on July I We
have taken ISL . prisoners. n engaged
49, 0---.- -rANA
twenty-nine (about $4,000 men) have
We hold the half moon upland south OF
the Ancre. occupy every height OF i'm
portance and so have direct observation
ground TO the east n northeast.
Praise for Aviaters.
Our aircraft have shown in the
highest degree h spirit Of tho Of
fensive. They have patroiied regularly
far behind no cnemy's lines. and have
fought many battles in the air with
hostile machines and many with enemy
troops on the ground. For every enemy
machine that succeeds In crossing U
front II Is safe to say two hundred
British machines cross the enemys
front"
To-day's British statement, says: >
Eaucourt rAbbaye Ia been cleared
Of the enemy n Ia entirely In our
hands.
To-n!ght's statement says:
South OF the Ancre hostile artillery
has been active. especially against
the neighborhood Of the 'Zoilern re-
doubt INT between 0ueudecourt and
~t:aucourt rAbbaye. Halfway between
tho last named points the enemy at
tempted a bombing attack, but was
driven on, leaving wounded outside
our line.
There has been considerable Aeii-
ing south Of Ypres of men In the
roads. Else where on our front the
day wal quiet. Rain continued
throughout most q the day.
The French Reports.
STo-night's French statement says:
There was no event Of importance
on the whole front. In the Somme re-
gion the customary cannonadc oc-
CURED. more intense In tho environs
Of Belloy and Assevilleri. Our In.
fantry advanced east OF Morval.
The day statement follows:
North OF the Somme We completed
the capture OF a powerful line Of Ger
man trenches between Morval and the
st. Pierre|*aast Wood. We made
about 800 prisoners. including ten
officers.
The German statement says:
Army group OF Primo Rupprecht:
On the battle front north of the Somme
during the day the artillery engage.
ment increased steadily in intensity,
attaining It's greatest height during the
afternoon. In the Morval-B ouchavesnes
sector. Strong French attacks against
our positions Of the Sally. Rancourt
road. At st. Pierre Vast wood and in
Adjacent naOa - HhA -N~A A.
southeast thereof were repulssd. partly
IN n grenade ensagements. One
ehicer. l28 men and two machine guns
fell into our hands.
British attacks lear Thispvai and
Nouquet Farm were repulssd easily.
A correspondent with the French army
describes how the village Of Chilly was
taken from The Germans In one brilliant
dash by French regiments.
The artillery preparation was unre-
lenting. the shower OF projectiles Of all
calibres lasting for two days. Then the
French, who had assembled in the most
advanced duEouts. dashed out. The first
wave reached and cleared tho German
front. The a Of French then partly
crept. partly ran in short bursts to the
second German line. n tho second
wave Of French troops advanced In sup
port.
Meanwhile. from somewhere UNDER
ground. a large body Of Germans came
between with machine guns and grenades.
The French hesitated an instant. but
were not stayed. They ~bayonetted some
Of tho Germans. the rest OF whom die
appeared into a unnel. Calls to sur
sender availed nothing. and It was an
impossible task to follow. Then the
French built a sandbag redoubt around
the tunnel and waited.
The first French wave went on and
took the second and third German lines
within the Chilly itself. There. from tho
other end. the tunnel began to d.sgorse
troops. They were sorted In groups until
more than 400 men and ten oflcers were
captured.
Tho Associated Press correspondent
to-day went through tho tunnel. which
IL nearly 1000 yards in length. with an
eighteen Inch railroad track running
from beginning to end. Within. at a
depth OF twelve yards. were sleeping
quarters. munition depots.. an inhrmary.
with the most modern surgical instru-
ments. fresh water wells. tons Of equip
ment. electric lights and ventilation
pipes.
The entrance to the tunnel was
toward Maucourt. no exit In the cen-
tire Of Chilly. where vas found the Ger
mar commandments apartment of sew
eral rooms, with painted walls, solid
doors. chairs, tables. beds and telephone
system. Al q depth Of forty feet was
m excavation sufaciently large to hold
a whole company Of soldiers. with
HOSTS Tor machines.