The advance

French progress maintained

The British at Ypres

German attack smashed

Our heavy losses

It would seem that the respirators supplied to the British troops provide protection against the poisonous gasses used by the enemy. There had been doubts on this point and as expression was given to them here, the more satisfactory statement is made without delay.

The attack on our positions East of Ypres, in the neighbourhood of Menin Road on Monday afternoon, was delivered under cover of these fumes but our men merely waited until till ‘the cloud rolled by’ and then let the masses of advancing infantry have it hot and strong.

Evidently the enemy imagined they had a fairly easy task and that they would only have unconscious and semi-stupefied men to deal with. They realised their mistake when it was too late.

A devastating fire was poured into their serried ranks and in fact to quote Sir John French, the were literally mowed down or (as last nights French official report puts it) annihilated.

The British preparatory to joining in a general offensive have kept the enemy well employed in this neighbourhood while elsewhere the weakened foe were being well punished.

It is too evident, however, with fighting on as large a scale as ever before, possibly on a greater scale, that the price we have had to pay for our success has been a heavy one and the telegrams we published yesterday have paved the way for the publications of causality lists which may send a tremor throughout the land.

The Canadians had again made heavy sacrifices and fighting with them were among others, the Monmouthshire.

The men of Gwent, from the time they went into the fighting line, have distinguished themselves by their gallantry and effectiveness. Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his country and if there is bad news to come, there is at least the mournful satisfaction that our brave boys have acquitted themselves like heroes.

Not must the fallen go avenged. The appeal for men and still more men must meet with an even greater response than before. Until no fit youth of military age who can be spared from his employment remain in our midst.

While the British have played their allotted part around Ypres an the First Army’s aggressive immediately to the north of the French line has achieved its purpose; our allies have been doing splendidly.

Yesterday’s afternoon’s Paris communique was a most hear tingly document and the later report was just as good or better when we take it in the cumulative aspect.

There can be no doubt a very great movement is in Ogrese, and we now learn that the French successes to the north of Arras have ‘sensibly increased’.

In the course of ‘extremely violent fighting’ before Loos our Allies carried ‘after a determined struggle’ and ‘in spite of an intense cannonade’ a ‘large German work and an empire’.

‘This position zealously defended for months by the Germans who had made of it a veritable fortress was outflanked, invested and carried’ yesterday afternoon by the French Troops who followed up this success ‘without intermission’ by driving the enemy energetically between the chapel of Notre Dame de Lorette and Ablain St Nazaire. All the German trenches fell successfully into the hands of our allies who found several hundreds of bodies in them.