OUR TROOPS HOLD FIRM.

For a time the situation seemed critical at one or two sectors, and. it was reported that Germans had been seen storming the slopes of Mout Rouge and Mont Noir, but one of our airmen flew over those hills at two hundred feet above their crests and could see no German infantry near them. Round about Voormezeele North Country and other English battalions had to sustain the determined and furious efforts of Alpine and Bavarian troops to drive through them by weight of numbers after hours of intense bombardment, but our men held their ground, and inflicted severe punishment upon the enemy. All through the day the German losses have been heavy, under field-gun and machine-gun fire, and our batteries alongside the French, soixante-quinzes swept down the enemy’s advancing waves, and his assemblies in support, at short range. There is no doubt that the French guarding the three hills have fought with extreme valour and skill. For a brief period the Germans were apparently able to draw near and take some ground near Loore, but an immediate counter-attack was organised by the French General, and the line of French troops swung forward and swept the enemy back. Further attacks by the Germans north of Ypres and on the Belgian front were repulsed easily, and again the enemy lost many men. The battle continues, but the first phase of it has been decided in our favour, and it has been another day of sacrifice for the German regiments, who one by one as they come up fresh to reinforce their battle-line, lose a high percentage of their strength in this continuing slaughter. The German High Command still has many divisions untouched, but their turn will come, and if, as to-day, they are spent without great gain, the enemy’s plans of decisive victory will be thwarted forever. There is a limit even to German man-power, and, surely to God, their people will tire of making these fields of Frances and Flanders the graveyard of their youth. This frenzy must pass from them, and from oar stricken world, when the truth comes home to them at last. WAR CORRESPONDENTS’ HEADQUARTERS. FRANCE, MONDAY (LATER).

It becomes clearer every hour that the enemy has suffered a disastrous defeat to-day. Attack after attack has been smashed up by our artillery and infantry, and he has not made a foot of ground on the British front. The Border Regiment this morning repulsed four heavy assaults on the Kommel-la Clytte road, where there was extremely hard fighting, and destroyed the enemy each time. One of the enemy’s main thrusts was between Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge, where they made a wedge for a time and captured the cross roads, and it was here that a gallant French counter-attack swept them back. We had no more than a post or two in Voormezeele this morning, and the enemy was there in greater strength and sent his storm-troops through this place, but was never able to advance against the fire of our English battalions. His losses began yesterday when his troops were seen massing on the road between Zillebeke and Ypres in a dense fog, through which he attempted to make a surprise attack. This was observed by our low-flying planes, and his assembly was shattered by our gunfire.