Impregnable British doggedness keeps line intact

Glowing tribute to our men

More and still more wanted

In both official and unofficial messages there is just now an optimism which is perfectly justifiable so long as we are able to reinforce our lines and maintain our present strength.

If we continue to repair gaps and add to our numbers at a reasonably rapid rate there is still little need to feat for the future, but we want men and still more men.

A couple of hundred thousand now will be of vastly more use now than a huge army of recruits few weeks hence and volunteers or would be volunteers make a mistake if they dwell upon the fact that their training and equipment is a matter of months.

It may be taken for granted that the greater the response to the country’s appeal the larger the number of men we will be able to send across the Channel at once.

The quicker the force we can put into the fighting ranks the quicker will the enemy be hurled back into his own country.

The greater the armies at the front the greater the probability of inflicting adefeat upon the enemy sufficiently crushing and complete to adequately reward the allies for the sacrifices already made.

It is not enough to drive the Germans back upon the Rhine, it is only a remnant of their present vast hordes we wish to see regain their territory.

An excellent message from Northern France this morning tells us in a few graphic words the wonderful part the British have played and are still playing in keeping our formidable foes in check.

Another week has passed and the enemy’s incessant offensive has failed to make a breach.

For more than a month they have been plundering our lines with shell and shrapnel and have thrown great masses of infantry at our masses.

Nothing but the skilful handling of our troops, the dogged pluck and the fine fighting of the British, have kept them out.

A less courageous enemy would have given up the attempt long ago.

This message has been somewhat severely censored but the correspondent is allowed to say that there is nothing in the situation to justify the enemy’s hope of so weakening our lines that to break through may eventually become possible.

The statement that Dixmude has been retaken by the allies is still unconfirmed and the reserve with which we quoted the claim apparently justified.

The occupation of this area of broken bricks is merely a name without any inhabitants and has not proved to be of much advantage to the foe.

They cannot utilise it in the daytime as a base of advance and so they are reporting to night attacks.

The French official communique of yesterday notes that it was a good day from the coast down to Lille and it would appear that the German attack all along the coast from the North Sea is weakening and this is officially attributed to their losses over the past few days.