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Show GERMANS LOSE ray MEN, BUT FIGHTGIEl French Continue Offensive Campaign in Champagne Region; Province Literally Liter-ally Soaked in Blood. TEUTONS LOSE LONG LINE OF TRENCHES Berlin Makes Admissions, but Does Not Concede Claims of Paris; Losses Heavy on Both Sides. (Special Cable by Atti semen t With London DIl7 TelPtraph ui International Ni" Service.) LONDOX, Feb. 18. Champagne, ouco tbe home of simple grape growers, has become the scat of the bloodiest fighting of the war, according to official of-ficial reports from both Berlin and Paris tonight. From end to end the province is literally soaked in blood. There are constant artillery duels, but rifles are now but little used. The opposing lines aro so close to each other that most of the fighting is done with the bayonet. , The offensivo campaign which tho French began three days ago is still being be-ing continued, charge after charge being ordered all through the district, with the result, according to Paris, that the Germans are being driven steadily back. Long lines of trenches held by the Germans have been taken, it is claimed, the losses of the enenty being rarely less than twenty-five per cent and sometimes more than fifty per cent. According to stories reported to have been told by men who have been taken prisoners, the terrific losses by the Germans are causing them o become disheartened. Admitted by Berlin. Berlin tacitly admits the success of the French in Champagne, stating merely in its official report that the fighting is continuing. Kortn. of Champague the fighting has resolved itself into a titanic eflort on the part of the Germans to regain the trencties and territory lost during the past three days arid a stubborn holding on by tbe French. Terrific cbarges have beeu made again and again by the Germans in the face of a withering fire from machine gnus and heavy artillery, and all through the day there was fierce hand-to-hand fighting. In ono instance, near Koclou court, where the French yesterday took a line of trenches, five separate attacks were made by the enemy in an effort to retake them. Drive Their Men Forward. The German officors are, nevertheless, neverthe-less, driving their men back to tbe attack at-tack without let up, for the reports tell of repeated German charges all along the line, Tbe main German effort is being directed against the trenches in the region of Sousiu, Perthes and Beau-sejour. Beau-sejour. Many of the attacks have been made under cover of darkness, but tbe French declare all were not only repulsed, re-pulsed, but three mitrailleuses and several hundred prisoners were taken. According to Paris, the Germans were driven back pell-mell, leaving hundreds of their dead, including many officers, lying on the field. Here, again, Berlin is' evasive, stating merely that the Germans continue on the offensive and that they have taken a large number num-ber of prisoners. Stories Differ. l- The assumption of the offensive by tho French in tho Argonne, south of Champagne, has been i a tal, according to Berlin, which reports steady and bloody repulses of every attack by tbe enemy, particularly near BourseVillea aud Vaqnois, to tho cast of Verdun. Without, offering any explanation, however, how-ever, it is stated that the village of Norrow. to the north of Pont-a-Atous-son. and height no. Htio, the occupancy of which has cost hundreds of Jives on both sides as a result of a long series of cbarges and counter attacks, bave been evacuated. Paris bas a different story to tell about these points. Instead of being evacuated, the French claim the Germans Ger-mans were driven out through a series of brilliant charges aud au artillery tire that rained death. As a proof of the fact tli at tbe enemy was driven from height No. Hfi.T, -which lies south of udelle farm, Paris declares that the French soldiers found it to be a formidably formid-ably organized fortification. o utter was the rout of its German occupants, it is claimed, that they threw down their guns and lied in terror, leaving behind a bomb thrower, a number of bombs and bombshells. All sorts of tools, barbed wire meshes, telephone instruments, in-struments, thousands of cartridges and snndbags and five mitrailleuses. |