New Britain herald., 1917-03-17
BRITISH FORCE 0N
 PAST S0MME MUD.
Advances Made m Large Scale
 Please Tommy Atkins

From . Stan Correspondent of the
 Associated Press British Headquarters
 in France. March 1e, via London.
 March 17.-The retreat of the Ger
 mans in the Ancre and Somms region
 continues to give the zest of move-
 menr to the war in the west. and a
 trip nowadays along the ever4extend- 1 ing new British lines reveals . picture
 the like of which has not been seen 1 on this front for more than two years. I Substantial progress was made by
 the allies in the battles of the Sommo | last summer and autumn, but after
 ths initial forces swept forward the resistance became SO ,dogged that ad- ! vAnce could be counted almost by
 feet, if not at times by inches. Re- | gently the onward movement has been reckoned in miles, and it is strange f te sec field fortresses that last year
 cost thousands of German lives to de- | fend, now abandoned within a few hours after the British "heavies'' have I begun to pour out their torrent of high explosives. Joke While Death Stalks Abroad. It is interesting to stand behind a battery of British howitzers and watch the gun crews in action. The men show the high morale which is in evil dence throughout the British army. They whistle and sing and bandy grim jests as they work. As the firing but ! ton is pressed the crew jumps back for . moment from the gun carriage, but leap again to their allotted posts
 before the easy acting recoil has re- turned the mammoth weapon to it's original position. 1t is easy to dis-
 tinguish the scream of a departiig pro- l jectile rom one which is being sent in return by the Germans. and the onlooker can watch without difficulty the black, base of a British shell as it travels in a long loop toward its destination.
 The forward movement of the Brit ish on so wide a front has brought into pay all the machinery of war fare. Roads seem to spring up over night in most unexpected places Rail- ways have audaciously flung them selves forward regardless of mud and shell holes and with a completeness which even includes most pfetentious signposts bearing the names of | French villages which exist now only as geographical remnants. It is also t 8 revelation of the intensely practical ! side of modern warfare to see six-inch water main stretching itself | into territory but recently occupied by the Germans. 1 Little Material for Roads. Road building has called into play l all the ingenuity of pioneer battalions, composed not only of experienced British workmen but of real pioneers from the prairies and mountains of Canada and the far lands of Australia and South Africa. Road material is scarce in the stricken wilderness of No Mans Land but the refuse of battle often serves the purpose dur ing the first hours of a new forward
 move. Broken rifles. bits of clothing,
 fragments of shells and occasionally
 a few unexploded shells are used in
 the Foundation of the new patchs.
 The remains Of a recently evacuated
 village bring great joy tc the pioneers
 for that means a temporary supply at
 1CuSL pr HUGH OCSlT0O OIOkOu UXlCk
 and stonc.>
 Tn the meantime the British troops
 are revelling in the joy of high
 ground. They arc now on the Somme
 crest and Bapaume and the country east lies on A slope that gradually descends all the way to the French border. Ono can but marvel at the fortitude ahd endurance which en- abicd men to 'sticl it'' in the muddy depths of the valleys. from which 1 they have now emerged. Even the l most shallow trenches were inpossi- | blc places. and here mon dug them selves in at outposts which marked | the low lands liko so many graves. l Graves they were in truth, for scores of the khaki clad soldiers who held | them all through the winter under the pelting fire of their enemy.
 Watching the Shells Bursting.
 It is possible now to sit in the open on the remnant of a dugout and watch the British shells drop into the German lines. see the shrapnel break with red flash and puff of smoke just above the opposing trenches. and note the heavier high explosive shells burst into flames and flying debris. Occasionally a protesting shell will come from the Germans but the roar of the British guns Is SO great that the noise of the intruder Is scarcely noticed. There are black puffs from German shrapnel high in the air and smaller brown puffs vainly reaching for score or more of British air. planes hurrying about on their war duties over head.
 The earth Is g. continuing mass of shell craters, most of them overlap ping or surrounded by less than a