THE BIG BATTLE IN THE WEST

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1918, Page 3

THE BIG BATTLE IN THE WEST

AUSTRALIANS' GALLANT FIGHT FOR BEAUREVOIR LINE

ENEMY'S LACK OP RESERVES,

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) [AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, sth October. Mr. Philip Gibbs writes: "The enemy is fighting hard for the Beaurevoir line, which the Australians have broken south and south-w.est of the village. They are working forward with the aid of tanks, which had ground and water are handicapping. The enemy's pill-box fortresses eastward of Estrees, from which came a slashing machine-gun fife, checked the Australians for six hours, until by dogged efforts they overpowered the enemy. Before the Australians gained the concrete shelters the enemy shelled them with gas shells, but the Australians, wearing gas masks, did not retire on /that account, but, managed to get eastward of Wancourt and westward of Beaurevoir, and held the ground all night long, while a counter-blow forced the English to withdraw from Mont Brehain. The enemy occupied higher ground than the. English and Australians, and were able to get enfilade fire from one position and then another, .making Mont Brehain untenable. The German resistance on the left has stiffened, keeping us in check, but the delay cannot last long, because the enemy is in desperate straits for reserves, and there are no lines ahead of us which our men cannot break." COMPLETE BREAK THROUGH LIKELY. 8 Mr. pordon GJliuour, describing the Australians' attack on the Beaurevoir line, says that there is a likelihood that the pressure of the Australian and other troops in this sector will effect a complete break through. Already the backbone of the Hind-enburg system lias been broken along a considerable front. General Monash, in an order of the clay, conveys his sincere thanks for the fine work of the Australians, hampered as they were by the want of the free use of artillery, in completely overwhelming a stubborn defence in the most stronglyfortified sector of the West front. Mr. • Gilmour describes the gallant work of the divisions in pushing forward, after crossing the sunken canal line, on top of which the German dead lie thick. They have now gone nearly three miles behind the Hindenburg line. The Australians are making all manner of wagers as to when the Germans will be driven out of France. Signs of German demoralisation continue, notably in the Second Guards Division. Batches of this broken division were taken over a wide front during the past few days. "NEW ZEALANBERS DOiKO ■ FAMOUSLY." Mr. Keith Murdoch, describing the Beaurevoir fighting, says:—"The German defences were shattered. The next line doubtless will be wherever the Germans can find they can stick it. Our movement threatens the Germans in the Camfcu sector, where the New Zealand.ers continue to do famously."