The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-21
GERMAN LINES D|SSAPPEAR WHEN| MILL POUNDS OFPOWDEREXPl ODE
Earth Opens and Swallows Teutonic Force On Mined
 Field Before Msssines Ridge As Allies Start Attack

OGdIG A graphic description of the most extraordinary incident of the war.
 By PERCIVAL PHILLIPS. British War Correspondents Head
 quarters in France
 The Messines Ridge was captured Attacking at dawn on a front of more than nine miles British divisions, in- cluding some of the finest fighting men of the United Kingdom and the Dominions overseas, swept over the slopes of this heavily fortified barrier between Ypres and Armentieres and firmly, established themselves beyond its crest.
 They took thousands of prisoners more than 2,3OO were accounted for al one part of the front alone before noon-and far greater number o1 Germans were killed by our guns.
 The victory is triumph equally foi the Irish troops Protest ants, Home Rulers and Orangemen went up the ridge together-for. the historic line regiments of England and Scotland, and for the staunch battal- ions of Australian and New Zealand men.A
 It was triumph for a fleet ot tanks, for the innumerable airmen who hlackened the sky ct dawn and ruled 1t, thereafter, and for the p1od- ding sappers and miners who labored for months that one of the most de- structive networks of mines ever ex- iploded-oyer a million pounds, of am- incl were used to alter the geography of this mutilated fringe of Belgium could be sent aloft at the moment of attack in great blinding sheets of gol- den flame It was a triumph for the gunners whose true and deadly bar rage paved the way to victory.
 A Thorn Tucked
 It is a, most important success Gall though not a great battle in the same sense that battles of the Somme and Arras were great battles), for thorn Is p1ucked from the left flank of our long front. No longer can the nests of German batteries dominate the shattered sal tent of Ypres, nor can their observers sit among the brick piles that were Wytschaete and Messines and watch every movement in the British
 
 on below, as the Canadians drove back plain of Douai.
 It is a clean-cut success that will be of immeasurab1e benefit in, the fu- ture. At this time it is impossible to state all the details of our new posi- ton, but it is certain that we hold the entire ruins of the villages of Wyt- schaete and -Messines and the line be- yond them that gives us the entire crest and a portion of the far slope.
 The new positions were not takel without some very hard fighting, but on the whole the resistance was, in my opinion, much less than expected, and comparatively few strong points," in the crowded area of ma chine gun forts tried to hold out after they had. been surrounded. sess s @ Messines Ridge
 Messines Ridge is hardly more than a slight undulation at the edge of the great plain of the Scheldt-a few fields, bits of woodland tilted above the marshy ground, at no point more than two hundred feet high, dotted with compact little farmsl and topped by a nearly straight road that runs From Ypres through the two villages named. .A
 Since December 1914 the Germans have scanned the position on the wes- tern slope with trenches, labyrinth Of tunnels, and concreted redoubts, weaving into this nest of defences the remains of Wytschaete, and little woods and many isolated patches of cir by the British shells
 Behind the ridge sheltered many German batteries, and infantry rein forcement were largely increased dur ing the last few weeks. for the enemy appeared to fear an attack som ewAhere in this region and he steadily added to his reserves in men and guns.
 The ridge was as strongly protect ed as any part of the; old German trench system, and many natural ob- stacles greatly increased the difficulty of taking it. It was blotched with ruined buildings some of them, like the Red Chateau and the White Chat eau and the pile of masonry known as Hell Farm" notorious in trench history and every foot of ground was rendered doubly valuable by reason of the cover given to hidden machine gunners and snipers.
 Our men might well have had to fight every foot of the way, but they went easily up the slope, and the stiff est resistance they had to meet was not equal to the dogged stand made by certain German units in the Ar ras battle.
 In and round Messines there were isolated ,combats, while the garrison of Wytschaete only clung to it's tim bered lairs until the British flank crept round them and enveloped the cellars and the few remaining walls that represent the village.
 The mines undoubtedly shook the Hun-they set the earth rocking un- der my feet three miles distant-and his, opposition may have been weaken ed by these frightfii1 blasts of fire: but he was disinclined from the first to fdo or die'' or to continue an inn possible struggle.
 Climax of Months
 This appalling upheaval of the earth at dawn was the climax to months of patient. laborious preparation. Battles that may be fought and won in a day may well require half . years work by the army that is determined to win, and the effort of our troops to- day was only made possible by the united exertions of many strangely di- -k.-