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Show BRITISH NUKE ' MORE GAINS QN ' SOliE FRONT German Trenches Half a Mile Long Taken East of Courcelette; Haig Im-' Im-' proves His Position. FRENCH REPULSE ATTACK ON VOSGES t Battle in Air Results in Numerous Nu-merous Disasters to Both Sides; Five British Machines Missing. (ppctal Cable by Arrangement with London Daily '' Telegraph and international News Service.) - LONDON, Sept. 23. The capture by the British of a strongly fortified system sys-tem of trenches east ot' Courcelette, in the direction of Bapaume, is the only outstanding event of the last twenty-, twenty-, lour hours on the Somme front. The advance was made on a front of half a mile. Tonight's headquarters report from Sir Douglas Haig says that his troops during the day ' ' continued to improve their -position "' south of the Autre, British detachments penetrating the German advanco lines at several points. On the Franco-German lines, in the Pi curdy there was no action of eonse- quenee. Violent artillery duels raged throughout the day in the regions of Bouchavesnes, Belloy and Bcrny villages. vil-lages. ' Desperate Fighting. In the Vosges the French frustrated a German attempt to penetrate the lines south of Sninte Marie. The iinal repulse re-pulse of the Teutons was preceded -by bitter hand-to-hand fighting. The British artillery, according to the ' official night report, did much effective work, in .hampering German troop and supply movements behind the lines. Ten German gun pits were completely shattered shat-tered by the British shells and fourteen ( others were badly damaged. Three German Ger-man aeroplanes were shot down and five others forced to descend. Five British machines are missing after the. day 's numerous aerial combats, the statement admits. 1 s Berlin Reports Repulse. The German war office this afternoon reported the repulse of all French and British attacks on the Somme during , the last twenty-four hours, r A French aviator flew one hundred miles beyond the German frontier and ' threw bombs on Ludwigshafen, where lii'ount Zeppelin lias his principal base testing his airships, and on the city 'of Mannheim. , f"' A British official statement issued at midnight re.ids: South of the Ancve we continued to improve our positions, pushing forward at places into the enemy's advanced trenches. Today a big fire was caused by our artillery in a village much used by the enemy's transport for supply purposes. A highly successful air raid by about fifty of our machines was carried car-ried out on an important railroad juuetion. Two trains containing ammunition were aestroyed, and many violent explosions were caused. Other i raids were successful. success-ful. Five of our machines are missing. |