Evening star., 1917-09-27
Severe Struggle in Ypres Sec
tor Ends With Haig's New
Lines Intact.
LOSSES OF TEUTONS
ARE EXTREMELY HEAVY
British Seaplanes Drop Many Tons
Of Bombs on Enemy Military
Establishments in Belgium
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, September 27(The 4eN"
ing yesterday afternoon and evening
along the front of the new British at
tack in the Ypres sector was exceedingly
severe, says today's Official statement.
The Germans made four vain counter
in great strength. The an.
follows:
Later accounts show the enemy
spared no effort to regain important
ground captured by US. The fighting on
the battle front yesterday afternoon and
evening was exceedingly severe. Be
tween 4 pm. and pm. four separate
counter attacks were made in great
strength against our new front from
Tower Hamlets to the ST. Julien Craven
stafel road !.
German Losses Heavy. \
The struggle was the most severe In
the area south of Polygon wood. where
English, Scottish. Welsh and Australian
troops defeated repeated attempts OF
the enemy to break into our positions-
The enemy's attacks all were repulsed,
after fierce fighting. in which the Ger
man losses from our artillery and in-
fantry fire were extremely heavy.
Later in the evening the fighting
gradually died down. leaving our troops
in possession of the ground they had
captured during the day =:
Drop Many Tons of Bombs. =
British seaplanes. aeain dropped many
tons OF bombs on German military es-
Establishments in Belgium Tuesday night
An official statement issued today by
the admiralty says:
"On Tuesday night our naval air-
planes dropped many tons of bombs.
making several direct hits on the rail-
road lines at the Thourout Junction. the
Lichtervelde junction and the Corte-
marck junction. All our machines re<
turned safely.
Maintaining New Line. ~
By the Associated Press.
BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE AND
BELGIUM. September 27.-The British
are maintaining their new line strong
ly. The main battle today was In the
of Cameron house. south
of the eastern extremity OF Polygon
wood, where the Australians are press-
ing the Germans hard. The situation ~
a whole is virtually unchanged.
Northwest of Zonnebeke heavy hght<
ing continues in the region OF the eie-
vations which dominate considerable
extent of territory.
From the British standpoint the site
is exceedingly satisfactory. a
Offensive Begins at Dawn III
By the Associated Press.
BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE AND
BELGIUM. September 26 (delayedl-
once more the British fighting machine
has crushed it's way through tho Ger !
man trenches along the Ypres battle
front with great success. The offensive
begun in the gray dawn OF a misty
morning had by noon accomplished vir.
tually all that had been planned for IL.
and Wednesday afternoon the men Of
Australia. England and Scotland were
holding positions which represented
gain of from 900 to ]. 800 yards over
large part of the sector involved.
They had secured the whole of the
Tower Hamlets ridge, which the Ger
mans had fought SO bitterly to retain:
they We're clear of the famous Poly
gon wood. whose eastern slopes haq
sniping shelters; they had battled half
way through Zonnebeke village Of I'm
mortal memory. and north OF the Ypres-
Roulers railway they were holding
many German strongholds in the valley
of the Hanebeek river. Hard dghting
still continued. especially south of the
Polygon wood. where the Germans were
trying determinedly to regain the
ground lost and further counter attacks
were not unexpected.
British Re-Establish Themselves.
The advance on the extreme right was
not deep. but was in accord with the
plan to drive the Germans from Tower
Hamlet's right. The battle for this DO
sition really began Tuesday. when the
Germans in an endeavor to push back
the British flank launched a series OF
fierce counter attacks on both sides Of
the Ypres-Menfn highway.
The fighting here Tuesday was oen-
tinuous and sanguinary. for the Ger
mans kept throwing infantry in waves
against the British position. Tho de-
tenders were forced to give way
slightly, but with undaunted courage
such fierceness that they were able to
-e-establish themselves before the
hour of the new advance arrived.
A lot of British troops in this sector
began the new push Wednesday morn
ng under the fatigue of many hours
battling against a determined foe. but
hey did their work in day and did
It well The fighting about Tower Ham
cts was very severe and the Germans
we're able to get heavy machine gunflre
On the British from positions to the
,outh.
Face whitening Fire.
Along the Menin road the English
made the slight advance called for un-
Ter withering machine gun and A.
illery Are. North of the Ypres-Menin
Dad the line of advance swung out
much further into enemy territory in
,rder to include the Pelygon wood and
,ther important positions. The Aus
ralians who negotiated most of the
erritory between the Ypres-Roulers
ailway and the Ypres-Menin road. APP
,ear to have had comparatively little
rouble in getting through. with the
reception of a narrow stretch just
outh Of the Polygon wood. where the
,ermans held on tenaciously for . time.
they had to fight their way through
more or less Intricate trench system
O Polygon wood and encountered n
rreat number Of blockhouses, which
urned vicious machine gun ana rfae
Ire against them.
Among the troops opposing them
Rero Poles The mon made . good
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