3 JUNE 1916, Page 1

It is very difficult to make out exactly what is

happening on the British lines Tho only thing that emerges from our daily rations of " compressed fodder" provided by G.H.Q. in France is that there has been a good deal of artillery activity on the part of the Germans. Wo aro told, for example, that the bombard- ment at Neuve Chapelle " was ver; heavy, lasted for eighty minute!, and was followed by an iufantry raid which penetrated our trenches and took some of oar men prisoners." We also hear of artillery activity in the eastern sections of the line. The bombardment of our trenches at Ypres continues without cessation. The " hymn of hate" which the shells scream in chorus there never &hetet. We wish some military statistician would hazard a guess as to how many thousand tons of metal have fallen in the fatal fields of the Salient, and within the grey walls of the town.