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Show BRITISH TROOPS II POSSESSION OF GRANDGOURT Continuous Pressure on Both Banks of the River Ancre Forces the Germans Ger-mans to Retire. LONDON, Feb. 7, 11:30 p. m. Ttie British advance on Grandcourt and Miraumont, two fortresses covering cov-ering Bapaume from the -west, has been successfully progressing for the past few days. The capture of Grandcourt village, which the British Brit-ish official statement says is cow entirely in British possession, is regarded re-garded as of considerable importance. impor-tance. The British troops now seriously se-riously threaten the strong German position at Le Transloy. LONDON, Feb. 7, 11:13 p. m. "As a result of our continuous pressure on both banks of the river Ancre, the enemy en-emy has been forced to evacuate the village of Grandcourt, which is now entirely en-tirely in our possession' says the British Brit-ish official communication issued this evening, "together with a defensive work adjoining it. We secured a few prisoners. During the operations of the last few days the enemy suffered heavy losses in the neighborhood. "A hostile raid attempted during the night in the neighborhood of Gueude-court Gueude-court broke down under our barrage. Early last night we entered the enemy 's lines southwest of La Basse and killeci a number of Germans and destroyed several sev-eral dugouts; we took a few prisoners. "The mutual artillery activity was most marked north of the Somme in the neighborhood of Courcelette and between be-tween Arraentieres and Ypres. An effective ef-fective counter battery work was carried car-ried out by us during tho day at a number num-ber of places along our front. "Bombing operations by our aeroplanes aero-planes continued yesterday with success. suc-cess. There were many air fights. Three German machines were driven down and damaged; two of ours are missing. ' ' repulsed and left several prisoners m our hands. In successful reconnoitering raids near the coast, on both sides of the Ancre, on the northeast front of Verdun Ver-dun and near Parroy forest. In Lorraine, Lor-raine, sixty prisoners were taken and three machine guns captured. |