The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-04-29
AUSTRALIANS
GAIN GROUND0N
KENNEL FRONT
They Work Their Way to
Outskirts Of Metercn by
Clever Tactics.
PLACE STRONGLY HELD
French Again Drive Germans
Out Of Large Part of
Locre Village.
PLACE STRONGLY HELD
BY PERRY ROBINSON.

BY PERRY ROBINSON.
Special Gable DsspotcA to Tns srs from the
london Times.
Copyright. 1915: oil rishfs reserced.
BsIrisH ARMY 4IEApou ARrERs IN
FRANCE. April .s.-No operations on a
large scale have taken place In the last
forty-eight hours, although In the kem.
mel area there Is continuous fighting
which chiefly centres at Meteren. west
Of Baillcul. and at Locre and voorme.
zeele in the KENNEL sector. In each Of
these places minor position have changed
hands more than once.
On the whole, the recent lighting has
been in our favor. About Metercn the
Australians are fighting and everybody
except themselves is loud in their praise.
They have worked their way to the very
outskirts Of Metercn. The place itself is
very strongly held and is too full of
machine guns to invite direct attack. but
Australian parties have been scourins
the neighborhood and By clever work
have pushed back the German line per.
ceptibly in this section Of the front.
The Australians are enthusiastic ovei
the fighting Of tho French. citing espe.
c!ally one case where forty Frenchmer
attacked $50 Germans. routed them and
took prisoners. Since the Germans have
ocapisd Locrs the FrsRch hsve ene>
driven them out again. Although the
enemy 's yet in parts of the village
fighting 10 stiii going On thsrS.'
Fighting At vsoPmeseele.
Much the same thing has been taking
place At Voormeseele. where men from
the British Isles are nghtinR. Yorkshire
troops and some W'iltshires threw the
enemy out Of the village after they had
taken II. hut the enemy again worked in
The present situation is not clear. but
apparently both sides have a footing ir
the place.
Similar mixed hard hghtine has beer
going on about the ridge wood a lit,l<
southwest OF Voormezeele. where the
Scottish and other troops held the wood
against heavy attack and then pushed
the enemy back again. North Of here
the English county regiments have beer
hEht!ng stubbornly in the area west OF
the blum.
The net results of all tho foregoing I.
! that since the main German thrust ended
| itself and was finally held on Thursda .
night the enemy has made no progress
but We have pushed him back furthe,
| east. At the points OF advance We have
taken a considerable number OF prison.
ers In small patches.
Some OF these prisoners are curiousi,
despondent about the offensive: thei,
| morale evidently Is bad. This. however
is matter which varies much with dlf
ferent units and Is largely governed b!
| the amount Of hammering the troops had
before their capture and the condition,
nd xa,htr 81,
Is that We md the prisoners who regard
| their capture as an individual misfor
| tune think the war already won.
New Divisions Brought Up.
That very hard struggle Is still II
| prospect In this area is undoubted. W,
| know that the Germans have bee,
| bringing up new divisions and the mum
| ber OF guns now ma ssed on both side
| Is prodigious. All the villages, road
and other centres behind the lines ar
l. almost continuously shelled. The Ger
mans have been shelling especially al
the successive heights back OF Mon
| KENNEL. back to Mont Descats ant
the small towns beyond. and have besl
drenchlng tho ruins OF Ypres with gas
1t is dreadful to see places which ar
familiar gradually drawn into tn
sphere Of dcsolation, peaceful land
torn UP and villages that one know
we'll pounded day by day into dust.
Although interest at the moment cen
tres chiefly In this northern region an,
the rest Of tho line is equally free o
larger operations, fierce and almos
| continuous fighting goes on at Given
| chy. a little west OF La Bassee. on tn
southern shoulder OF tho salient. es
pecially In connection with the serie
Of old craters. the former No Man
Land and front line before the attac
Of April Q. The craters are fortife
and the rims give certain amount O
observation. The First Guards D!vis
lon. which Is supposed to be comprises
Of first class men. has been put in t
hold them.
/ Raid Made IN Craters.
| This division already had suffcre,
badly In the recent fighting and the.
continued to suffer here. One regimen
OF the First Guards Reserve is said 4
have lost thirty-six officers. including
the regimental commander. who wer
killed. Tho ground all around tn
craters 10 . clay swamp. but the crater
dry: they are connected by galleries Il
which tho Germans are able to keep
considerable number OF troops.
We went over on Thursday afternoo
Of last week. cleaned out the craters an
brought back nifty Of the guards a
prisoners. From them We obtained cor
firmation Of the reports that Britis
prisoners taken In the March hEhtin
this year arc employed In road maxim
and in bringing up ammunition and 4
forth close behind the front lines. r.
Continued on Second Page.