"Our bombers," the Ministry continued, "also attacked important objective in the regions at Saint-Quentin, Peronne and Cambrai last night. One railway station and several supply convoys were annihilated, while roads and communications were entirely destroyed. Numerous enemy troop concentrations were successfully attacked around Saint-Quentin.
erman columns have beèn un-creasingly harassed and bombed in that region, where more than six tons of high explosives were dropped."
A massed aerial encounter was staged above the Somme front this morning when the Germans launched their big offensive, the Ministry stated. French planes, it stated, gave "magnificent support" to the land forces, with whom they maintained constant contact.
"All French infantry and tank attacks," the Ministry added, "have been supported by our air formations. Our light bombers proved extremely keen in the attack and a number of them succeeded in forcing the enemy's artillery defences.
"They dropped 15 tons of high explosive bombs on their objectives despite Sharp opposition offered by German fighting planes. Apart from attacking and cutting communications, Our bombers were also used over the whole of the battlefield today. Numerous German planes were shot down; the exact number has not been established" the Air Ministry communique concluded.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.