DESCRIPTION OF FIRST ATTACK.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 84, 11 April 1917, Page 5

DESCRIPTION OF FIRST ATTACK.

UNHURRIED BRITISH AD-

WJifflßE.

v STOLIDLY BTJEAKI^G- TH^E GEB- • • MitNrM'NE. : il-" "

TANKS CO3CE EN-USEFUL

\Ajisi»ralian and ]£:#iCslsfo*4#BQcifttion " ' (Received April 10, 8:25 p.m.) MOT»ON,-Aprih9. Mr Philip Gibhs, in a. second-'des-i patch, describes ifchefifirSfc attack:— ■ -*'Afc, 5\30 the guns sh«*dr. almost, ceased, and there was a ?Jti3»nge and solemn [ fmsh. Then came tke • cry "'They?re , away!' The bomlwcr-lltneat broke-.out .with twenty times (greater-intensity, the Germans shelling Arras. Green •; lights arose along tbe \vsi6le sweep, pr ■the German lines, sigmlls- of distress. 'Slangy, tke eastern Ktftmfb of Arras, .on the Douni road, was>soon in our t f'hands. "We are fighting forward on tthe higher ground beyuu'd. "The British advanpe 'is-not hur.yied, though the enemy's • shrapnel' is searching the lines. The attat-kers' ':first prisoner came bad? in fifteen V minutes. Already British wounded • iiave reported that we are through ■ four 'lines of the enemy's trenches. 'The German dw-ad nre lying thickly, v and-tl«e living #u'e surrendering. "The-British vent stolidly fchrowgh -the enemy's trenail systemto 'Foucky, 'in the marshes below the river Sca-rpe, 'four mites east of 'Arras. The enemy*!* '•trench system scuath of Arras was ♦enormously strong,'but the infantry ■ went through withmit much loss, and ■ after heavy fighting reached Observation Rrdge,. whence Ci)e enemy for 2£ • years have - vbeen direrfcingr their trrtiJ<lery fire against I4ie British iintl positions. With the help of

tanks we t«ok two formidable positions south of Tilloy called the Harp and Telegraph Hill. We captured a whole system of trenches north of the river Scarpo to White House Wood. ' 'Further north the Canadians along Vinvy Ridge achieved an lierbic success by gaining this dominating ground, wliich was the scene of sdmtj of the fiercest Franco-German battles and constituted a. great wall defending J>ouai. Over three thousand prisoners " were brought in before noon."