The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-14

6CCpyrfght 1917 py the lulerIdS"oiAs'A News Bureau)
 PERCIvAL PHILLIPS, (London Daily
 Express Representative at
 7 the Fr0nt.)
 The tanks more than justified their existence in our recent advance.
 The ground they had to traverse could not have been worse, and per haps there were fears on the part of some people unfamiliar with the re- sources of these monsters that they would stick helpelssly in the mud
 True. some of them did become hernporarily embedded in the German ldefencee. but not until they had driv- ren we'll beyond the first line. and, al though nomentarily gripped fast by the duagmire. they continued to fight and rendered valuable service to the infantry they supported.
 or the fleet of tanks used on the first day of the battle, fewer in pro portion were knocked out by direct hits than in any previous battle. The total casualties were remarkably small.
 [ The adventures of the tanks began eorne time before the attack, when tI,ev 1upabered along the roads up to the front and took up their positions flor the advance. The crews had in sonne cases to pilot their monsters as h,ast they could in the darkness in mlaces where it was impossible to Fravei with Aghts.- They crawled through miles of roadsidef camps fill ed with sleeping men, were greeted with pests by soldiers waiting to go Into battles, and were given a clear path by lesser vehicles engaged in 1nunttioning the front.
 In Its Stride
 One. or two regrettable incidents oc- curred with railway trains.
 A tank, excusably deaf, and not very quick -sishted; did not notice wagons standing on a siding 1t had Ito cross, and the driver of the engine Edid not hear the noise of its approach above the rattle of his own machtn- Lery. The tank walked through the trafr, as though it had been a sheet of kpaper, considerably disarranging the wagon which 1t stepped on in its pro- lgress-
 A corrrade likewise ploughing throueh the night showed its strength hn equally dfsconcerting fashion. II Lcane upon Q forry dftclred atsthe side of the road and sought to play the ixood samaritan by puIfing 1t out tChains were adjusted and the tank Iheaved slowly. The lorry was emerg- ling from the ooze when a cry Of ans Eruisla from the lorry sdrfver reached Hhe tankd It had pulled free the for ward axle of the lorry, the engine, and other oAodmentz, but the rear half lrerained wedged in the mud Evi- ldeutly considering that half lorry was better than none, the tank un- jshipped the tackle and went digni- hfadIy on it's way.
 The tanks. did much of their fight. tinE around St. Julien, Frexenbaxrg, kand patches of wooded country south kof Frezenburg. One group of them were engaged in clearing pockets ol machine gurners from Plum Farm sAppIe villa. and other isolated strong points between Frenenburg and Nor hufns s.
 The affztr of the Pommern de Ifsnces WAS the most notable incidep Iof the day in this region. The re t6oubt and 'scagtIe" 30 named lie ex actiy midway between these ruinet tviI1ages, two h1ndrsd yards east of straight line drawn between them. istreaHn known as the Hanebeek ra1 lin front Of tho position. The tank ,advancing on the Pommern groul had. to cross this fissure in the battle field, which 1ny between banks 0 teoft,y clingfng mud, moving steadily flew fsSt ak-a time, while machine gul tbulfefaS raff1ed like hail on its hea. tand fanks and anti-tank guns direct ed by observers behind the redoub tried to get a direct hit.
 One tank which had cleaned U, Fthe wreekage of the back of the farn kcame upon Pommern Castle from tn lwest When still some distance ava; lthe garrison could be seen scurryin Ialong the trenches into Pommern Re tdoubt- The tank worked it's wa through the castle and round to tn Iback. leaving the infantry to mop u 1.-the concrete refugees. The occupant lof tPommern Redoubt. seeing the tan threatening them from the rear ra lback Into the castle and actually re took it from our mean temporary ad vantage gained more by fright tha determination to fight. The tan Eswung round-I believe it was rein tforced by some comrades-and a sec fond assault an the castle effectualI Ec1eared 1t and all the outlying de sfences.
 Hands Up
 Another tank which attacked S Julien with the infantry drew fir from the miniature fort on the yves Eof the village and halted to deal wit fthis obstacle. One shot was fired an baIl the occupants came runninge int r the open with their hands up.
 The tank could not deal with pri. oners, so it continued into mass craters which was the site of tn main street of St. Julien, passin sthrough it to the northern side. Tn Steenbeek bad to be crossed. I'll tank found a firm footing-it got owe and back without casualtiesr leavin our men in possession Of the ruin They had to retire afterwards, bl Tour line was merely drawn round tn E,v1l1age and its cellars were shelle lso heavily and continuously that tn Germans could not reoccupy th ground.
 The tanks had their hardest task i fthe wooded tracts at the back of tn German defences on both sides of tn Ypres--Meinin road. In the larges Of these patches the trees were sti [thick when the tanks and infantr, khaving captured the German redout lin front of it, advanced on both side