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'The General Situation is Favourable'
Great Offensive Continues - 9,500 Prisoners.
French pierce for second line - British capture Fricourt and make progress east of village and near La Boisselle.
Mightiest battle of British army - Our Ally also takes two villages, strong German positions, guns and captives.
'The General Situation is Favourable'
(British Official)
General Headquarters, Sunday 10.15pm: Heavy fighting has taken place today in the area between the Ancre and the Somme, especially about Fricourt and La Boisselle. Fricourt, which was captured by our troops about 2pm, remains in our hands, and some progress has been made east of the village.
In the neighbourhood of La Boisselle the enemy is offering a stubborn resistance, but our troops are making satisfactory progress. A considerable quantity of war material has fallen into our hands, but details are not at present available.
On the other side of the valley, on the Ancre, the situation is unchanged. The general situation may be regarded as favourable.
Later information of the enemy's losses show that our first estimates were too low.
Yesterday our aeroplanes were very active in co-operation with our attack north of the Somme and afforded valuable assistance to our operations. Numerous enemy headquarters and railway centres were attacked with bombs.
In one of these raids our escorting aeroplanes were attacked by 20 Fokkers, which were driven off. Two enemy machines were seen to crash to the earth and were destroyed. Some long-distance reconnaissances were carried out in spite of numerous attempts by enemy machines to frustrate the enterprises.
Three of our aeroplanes are missing. Our kite balloons were in the air the whole day.
British Capture 3,500 Prisoners
General Headquarters, 5.30pm: Substantial progress has been made in the vicinity of Fricourt, which was captured by our troops by 2pm today. Up to noon today some 800 more prisoners have been taken in the operations between the Ancre and the Somme, bringing the total up to 3,500 including those captured on other parts of the front last night.
'All-Day Fighting in our Favour'
(French Official)
Paris, Sunday: The following official communiqué was issued tonight: North of the Somme fighting continued all day in our favour in the region of Hardcourt and Curlu. To the east of the latter village in particular we carried a quarry which had been strongly fortified by the enemy. To the south of the Somme we gained a footing at numerous points in the second German position between the river and Asservillers.
The village of Frise fell into our hands as well as the Mereaucourt Wood, situated farther to the east.
The able-bodied prisoners captured by the French troops during July 1 and July 2 at present exceed 6,000 in number, including at least 150 officers. Guns and a great quantity of material also fell into our hands.
Thanks to the very complete and effective artillery preparation and thanks also to the dash of our infantry, our losses have been very slight. (Reuters)
Published: 2002-01-01
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