The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-02

move the guns and carry forward the fire
 to portect the infantry advance. The
 average clear day from this point of view in front of the valley Of the Ancre river both the German and the French trenches are visible. Ridges and hills,
 rich farming lands and numerous vil lages roll away to the eastward to the
 north of Fees almost to Dommecourt and south of Bray, near the banks of the Somme.
 TURNING OF THE TIDE This, and the other bank of the Somme where the French are in co-opera- tion with the British, is the theatre of the
 most extensive action of any yet begun on the western front and which the entente allies hope may prove the first stage i in the turning of the tide against the l Germans. Every one of the villages within
 the range of vision will be fought over
 as were those in front of Verdun.
 But this morning something more than
 mist was rising from the dew-laden | fields and bid the landscape From 6
 o'clock to 7:9O, all the guns along that 20 | miles were for the first time firing their 1 fastest in a chorus of final blasts, cutting | wires and demolishing trenches. The rapid fire of small calibre weapons re- suited in a continuous roll, while only the guns of big calibre with their heavier ] reports above the monotone had percep- 1 tible intervals between the blasts The | trenches were hidden by a curtain of smoke punctured with vicious flashes. To- ward that cloud which shrouded every 1 form of destruction within the power of | man, the reserves were moving forward Far above the observation balloons mo- tionless in the still air, a squadron of aeroplanes was. seen flying to it's work spotting targets for the artillery. At 7:20 o'clock the rapid fire trench mCrtars added their shells to the de- luge pouring upon the first line German trenches. After 10 minutes of this, at 7:30 o'clock, the guns lifted their fire to the second line of German trenches, as if they were answering to the pres
 sure of single button, and the men of the new British army leaped over their parapets and rushed toward the wreck
 age the guns and mortars had wrought. Even close at hand they were visible only a moment before being hid- den by the smoke of the German shell curtain over all which remained of the trenches. Germans had to yield to two years of our preparedness against 40 for the Germans" said a staff officer, and We have satisfactorily started in on our first trial of our new divisions in the team work of a big attack"
 Nothing was now to be seen from the
 hill except smoke flashes through which
 the famous figure of the Virgin atop the tower at Albert struck by shell early in the war, but still in place. although tipped at an angle, showed dimly. It was not long, however, before fast ambulances, began coming down the
 roads and patches of half starved priscn-
 CTS were being brought in, too dazed to appreciate their escape after having been
 marooned five days in their dugouts, without food. by the British fire curtain and into headquarters, from out that inferno of confusion to the eye, came
 reports making the whole movement in- teligible.
 FRICOURT SURROUNDED In pushing their offensive against the
 Germans the British have taken the vil-
 lage of Mametz. Fricourt, which has
 been held tenaciously by the Germans,
 has been nearly surrounded
 The progress of the battle has been
 marked by steadily increasing intensity of the fighting throughout the day North of the River Ancre it has been
 particularly severe. The enemy in sev- eral villages offered a strenuous resist ance, but the gallantry of the British
 troops resulted in their gradually work
 ing around various strong points.
 With Fricourt now nearly surrounded the British further north are on both sides of the Gommecourt salient. and the village of MametZ now is completely In their hands. A German counter attack on Montauban was successfully repulsed.
 The number of prisoners so far taken In
 this region is about 16O0. The record
 naturally is incomplete, and other prison CTS are being brought in. The opera
 tons are being favored by fine weather
 The battle is characterized by the Brit
 ish effort to surround villages where the Germans have made a strong point of resistance.
 At o'clock tonight the British were
 around Gommecourt and Beaumont
 Hamel, and fighting at this time was
 continuing determinedly, the first stage of what promised to be long action developing
 Among the troops opposite the British,
 it has been found, were the Prusslan Guard reserve division which fougnt at
 Loos and Neuve Chappelle.