Traffic with Holland suspended

‘Eye witness’ story of Hill 60 is a little more relaxed in the phraseology than the official accounts but the narrative is still incomplete and indeed the fighting itself may have several more stage to go through.

If new German reinforcements are being brought into Flanders - absolute confirmation of this is still lacking - they are almost certain to be thrown at the earliest possible moment against the newly-acquired British position and one authority is responsible for the statement that ‘the defence of Hill 60 by the British may mark the beginning of a great battle along the whole of the western front’.

On the other hand, last night’s French official report declares that the German counter attacks, the violence of which is apparently the Germans desire to repair a check, have definitely failed.

The report adds that the losses of the enemy are higher than the figures given yesterday, an estimate which, it will be remembered, placed the figure at between three and four thousand.

If the earlier reckoning is out it may be taken for granted that the unofficial suggestion that the British losses were about 1,500 is also very much under the mark particularly in view of the ferocious character of the fighting.

Our forces have apparently had their hands full lately.

At Langemarck to the North of Ypres, two attacks were delivered by the enemy but both were repulsed and there is no disposition to believe other than that the superiority we have established over the enemy will be maintained.

The French continue to make notable progress both in the St Mihiel neighbourhood and in Alsace.

In the former they have obtained possession of a German subsidiary wedge, a spot known as the Cows Bead in the wooded Apremount region, and have thus rid themselves of a very troublesome thorn in the side.

In Alsace the movement along both banks continues.

The progress may be slow but the advance here is further indication of the growing pressure against the German lines generally.

In the Eastern theatre the Russians still maintain a cold front against the Austrian attack in the Carpathians.

Last night’s and this morning’s telegrams contain two items of news, the exact importance of which at the moment is not quite possible to gauge.

Yesterday the German newspaper ‘Tageszeitung’ stated in connection with the Dardanelles operations that 20,000 English and French troops had landed in the extreme west of Turkey, while from the same shores came the information that the British are showing great activity at Lemnos, troops arriving daily from Alexandria.

These reports were officially circulated through German wireless stations and there was the added comment ‘all these indications point to strong action against the Dardanelles being immediately taken’.

It is officially announced that all shipping and passenger traffic between Holland and the United Kingdom is stopped for the time being but it is hoped shortly to resume a limited cargo and passenger traffic. Special arrangements are being made for the transport of the mail, but at the moment this service too is suspended until further notice.

These notifications may have a very great significance but it is perhaps just as well not to venture upon what after all would be little more than guesswork.