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Show GERMANS U1G TIIEIO BIG GUNS OlBOpOITS Violent Bombardment of Important Positions on Right and Left Wings of the Allies. ST. DIE SHELLED FOR THREE HOURS Lull in Fighting Owing to Dense Fog; French Holding Hold-ing Von Kluk in Their Trenches on Aisne. PARIS, De 27, 10:45 p. ru. Tlia following official statement was issued by the wnr office tonight: to-night: "After having all last night directed di-rected a very tharp artillery and Infantry fire against our troops staticne-1 at La Boisello and In adjacent ad-jacent trenches, tho enemy delivered deliv-ered two consecutive attacks without with-out success. "We hold strongly tho trenches captured near Pui.salciii. On the heighta of the Meuse v& have consolidated con-solidated our occupation of the ground taken near the trench of Garonne. ' St. Die has been bombarded ' violently from 9:30 o'clock in the morning to noon." 1 icd I:ntn;4;;ouil Ne Strrlca. ) PARIS, Dec. 27. Violent bombardment by the Germans of positions of Importance Import-ance on both the right and left wings of the allied battle front with scattered attempts by Infantry to break through ! the Fran-M)-British lines were outstand- j Ing features of the official reports lsued ! by the war office today. I In fact, artillery dufls were fought alor.g the whole of the front from the 1 sea to the banks of the Moselle. The most sustained cannonading of the German gun was against St. Die, which wns under a continuous rain of shells from 9:30 In the morning until neon today. to-day. In point of numbers of guns and men engaged the mot,t important conflict was that waged by the Germans In an e'fort to difdodgo the French and British troops with Indian cont ingents at Ja BolstUe and other neighboring trench-is In the vicinity vi-cinity of Albert. Futile Attacks. i Here tha Gerrr.ar.5 opened an attack shortly before midnight of Saturday and : their guns kept up an almost incepsant cannonade oil night, the artillery being i silenced oniy long enough to permit of the advance of their infantry In futile 1 attacks, which were broken before they icached the line of the allies' first trenches. Two of these attacks were 1 made, but iu each of them the allies pre- j seined such a solid front that the Ger- I mans were not able to carry their advance i through. I In Flanders a lull has come In the fighting owing to the dense fog which ha.- swept ud from the Lys and has drawn j a veil between the opposing lines of j trenches almost to the tea. j Von Kluk Held in Check. In ihe angle of tho Oi.e and Aisne the Fr:n--h aro still -holding General von KJuk'H forces to their trenches while strengthening the positions they assumed befre Pulsaleine during the fighting of last week. Near Perthes, further east in the valley val-ley of the Aisne, the Germans directed a 'fierce cannonade against the French wlio were occupying trenches captured from the enemy, but rt epit the bombardment, bom-bardment, which was followed by a terrific ter-rific counter-attack, the attempt mot with defeat. The fire of tne French guns, supplemented supple-mented by musketry, tore Into the German Ger-man ranks with such destructive effect that hundreds of dead were piled In, the Intervening space between the lines of trenches. Terrific Fighting. SL Hubert, west of Verdun, and south of "Varennes. was again the center of fierce fighting. South of tho town one company of the French infantry, by a most valorous charge, cut t heir way through the enemy's lines for aji advance ad-vance of between 100 and 200 yards. Several of the enemy's trendies, bordering border-ing on a ravine In this region, were so heavily bombarded by the accurate fire of the French gunners that they were leveled and tho Germans were forced to evacuate. Two German attacks were directed aga-lnst the French positions to the east of SL. Mlhlel, on the Meuse, where a stretch of woods had been burned to clear the view of the field. Both attacks at-tacks were repulsed and toda y the French troops, aided by sappers, were able to stronely fortify their defensive works. |