The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-02
British Regained Territory
Near Roulers Ypres
Railway
WHERE GERMANS
WON ON WEDNESDAY
Gen. Haig Reports That His
Former Line Is Complete
ly Re-established

London, Aug. 2.-The British force
last night launched counter.attack
against the German positions in Elan
ders, and General Haig reports that tn
British troops completely re-establishe'
the former line in the neighborhood o
the Roulers- Ypres railway area, in whicl
the Germans yesterday regained SOM
territory.
The capture of the ground in the neigh
borhood of the Roulers-Ypres railway
was told about in the British officia
statement of last night as follows:
"Rain continued to fall throughout the
day. BY a successful operation to-day
on our new battle front, our line was ad
vanced slightly in the neighborhood OF
the Zillebeke- -Zandvoorde road. On the
left flank of our attack our allies gained
further ground on the east bank of the
Ypres canal
During the night our new positions
east and northeast of Ypres, between
Westhoek and st. Julien, were heavily
counter-attacked by strong forces of the
enemy. Our troops successfully resisted
the enemy's repeated attempts to drive
us from the important positions on high
ground captured yesterday in this neigh
borhood, but, under the weight of his
assault and after stubborn fighting, we
were compelled to withdraw our ad-
vanced troops from the village of ST.
Julien.
"The fighting was particularly fierce
for possession of the village of West
hoek, of which we now hold the western
outskirts.
"This afternoon the enemy again at
tackled in the neighborhood of the Ypres-
Roulers railway and at the same time
succeeded in entering our advanced po-
sitions on a narrow front The fighting
continues.
''The number of prisoners the British
captured in yesterdays operations is
now known to exceed 5000, including 95
officers. A few guns and number of
machine guns and trench mortars were
also taken; the exact figures have not
been ascertained"
bI1ttSn ArIlieIy Effective.
A dispatch from the British front
says: "The reconquered territory about
the Ypres salient has yielded its details
of the awful effect of the British artil- |
lery fire. The German bodies lay thick
in many places and in instances too num-
erous to escape comment, fully equipped
soldiers were found turned away from
the direction of the British attack, indi- |
eating that they were retiring when
struck down.
"Large numbers of the dead were mere |
youths, who looked as though they might |
recently have come from the schoolroom,
for they were slight of build and physi-
cally untitled TO bear the strain of war
'Most expressive was the comment on
the bombardment made by German Off
Ger who was found badly wounded in a
shell hole where he had crawled for ref
fuge. Addressing British officer in ex-
cellent English and with quiet smile, he
said:
"'Good morning, you see you have
played the devil with our defense. Your
guns have been doing some good shoot
ing
''Many German infantrymen fell vic
tins to their own artillery at the out
break of the entente attack, for the OBJ
servers had lost their view of the tar
gets and in a confused, frenzied attempt
to stem the onslaught, the German gun
ners unwittingly dropped shells among
their own men. Again stories are heard
of German batteries being withdrawn
without the knowledge of the infantry,
leaving the latter to face attacks with
,ut the protection of their artillery"