The sun., 1918-08-24
BRITISH. FRONT IS
). !. :- &: =. .ABLAZE 2S MILES


casualties wera light. In the village and
its immediate environs 500 prisoners
we're taken and 200 more In outlying
fep6ts in the same attack They came
from the Second Guard Reserve. ssome
divisions Of which seem to have been
practically wiped out
= A fresh stack developed further north
IN the neighborhood Of Hemelineourt.
Boyelles and Boiry- BscdGerefie. An
three villages apparently are ours. the
line now runs from east OF Gomiecourt
due north to east Of Ervillers and sonth
!. to Henin- sur Cojeul, close to which tne
tanks swung southwark to st. Ledger,
clearing the ground. destroying posts
!. and rounding up prisoners.
The number Of prisoners here Is con-
:. siderable and includes many from the
: rortieth Saxon Division. who have Just
been brought in. They were fresh. but
they crumpled before the attack as read
fly as tired troops. In the area beyond
0omiecourt we captured some guns.
To-day the last Of our attacks took
place south of The. Somme. The Austria
lian had the chief share. with the homo
troops cooperatins The result was to
push the fine forward south of the river
in conformity with It's position north OF
the stream. Besides Heralville the VII
lagos Of ChuiGnolles and Chuisnes are
ours, and also to the high ground to the
east Of Provart.
- spif0p Of Men wonderful.
g. There was no prolonged preliminary
Smelling. but the tanks and the infantry
went forward Immediately the barrage
began. The resistance until the ridge
south Of Chuignolles was reached was
negligible and our casualties were light.
At the last reports we had taken more
than 1900 prisoners. Including moro than
thirty officers: Heavy firing II going on
there and a counter attack IN the direc-
'tion Of Fay and Fontaine II expected
The foregoing Is summary OF
series OF operations in which the honors
were equally divided between the Third
and Fourth armies. The fighting OF all
the troops was fine. and the spirits OF
the men. even Of the wounded. were
wonderful.
The town of Albert is a dreadful
sight; the streets are merely rubbish
strewn paths between stumps' and
wrecks OF buildings. The entrance to
the town from the east by the viaduct
Of the railway has been shattered by
shell fire almost beyond belief.
The cathedral. on which the golden
image of the Virgin and Babe hung 30
: long. Is only the shell of building on
an almost shapeless hummock OF red
brick. The great mass of the nave still
= stands, but the place looks like a toy ca
Il thedral made OF wax. painted red and
: half melted by fire. Yet, ruined az tits,
o-ft still stands high above the battered
. remnants Of shattered brick walls.
among which lie the German dead.
= There is no possible question that the
German losses are much heavier than
ours. Many of our units have taken
prisoners largely in excess OF their total
casualties; in several cases our losses
In killed and wounded were almost In
-credibly small. In only two cases have
tho German counter attacks succeeded In
making ground: north of Bray ana the
area Of MirAsmont-Achiet lie Grand. In
both instances. the Germans used new
divisions and their gain of ground was
at heavy cost. We DO not yield ground
cheaply.
German Losses Heavy.
Among the prisoners It is rare to meet
one who 10 not glad TO have been taken
alive. This IL true generally Of even the
non-oommis sioned officers. who for
merly were not SO disposed. One Ger
man prisoner who spoke English de-
clared that every man In the German
army would be glad to be taken pris-
oner. - =, '-" -
was directed against the New Zealand
era. who apparently made no attempt to
:, stop It until II had come too far: then
suddenly all the machine guns put down
an impossible barrier IN the rear of the
Germans and moved It slowly forward.
When the Germans, realized their posi-
). ton those who were not too badly
wounded ran forward to surrender. We
took nearly 500 who, were not wounded.
~. The ether counter attack was against
Lancashire troops. The Germans used
elements of O. new division, who appar-
.,ently were ignorapt Of the ground and
simply were moved down with rife and
machine gun fire. OF four battalions II
is believed that two virtually we're ami
Inflated and the two others were thor
oughly shattered In one small area 400
German dead were counted. Our men
say that the way tho enemy came on to
be killed was almost pitiful. Another
counter attack attempted by the Guards
got nowhere; our guns began to work
and the rifles did the rest the attacking
force merely disappeared. 20"
y.e- Enemy On the Jump.
The enemy Is continually on the Jump
hurrying new divisions to meet an at.
tack at some new place and using up @
lot Of troops. Gen. Ludendorff may bs
beginning to doubt IL his elastic sys.
TEN OF defence with its deep outpost
zones is altogether a success.
! saw to-day one of the German "a,
masks for dogs. 1t is a complete head.
piece which covers the head and fastens
half way down the neck with straps
II is made Of thick canvas lined with
rabbits wool. but the whole thing Is
heavy. with huge circular eye discs OF
glass or csliuloid. 1t has CAREFUL,
shaped sleeves or reeeptacies for the
cars and altogether looks like what q
pantomime actor might wear as In,
wolf In Red Ridinghood."
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