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Show French and German Troops in Desperate Effort to Settle Possession Pos-session of Hill 304; Joffre's Men Drive Enemy En-emy Over Crest and Capture Fort. KILL EVERY MAN IN GERMAN TRENCH Terrific Fighting Reported Re-ported on the Italian Front, the Austrians Taking the Offensive; Romans Declared to Be Holding Their Positions. Po-sitions. (pftdil Cahlo by ArrRncement with London DtMJ Tolejraph !t3 InternaUonal News Servlca.) LONDON, Hay 12. Tho battle, of j3t Yerdun has taken on a most intonso phase. 1'or two days the French and Gorman armies have been engaged in a desperato effort to settle once and for all the possession of hill 301. Thousands on both sides have al-ready al-ready fallen iu the score of fights on and around this eminence, which has been called tho key to tho fortress. Other hundreds were killed today and yesterday, and hill 304 is still no man's land. -The present fight was begun by the yfench last night with a heavy bom'-bardpient, bom'-bardpient, nnd then at 3 o'clock this morning General Neville sent his troops into action. j Reports Disagree. j According to tho Frcueh official report, re-port, after severe fighting they drove the Genua na over tho crest and captured cap-tured a fort on tho further, or north-cast north-cast slope, of hill 304. Tho German official statement flatly contradicts this, declares that three French attacks on the hill were re-s re-s pulsed and that in a southward retreat ,; through the town of Ksucs the French forces which included a whole African division were subjected to tho heaviest heavi-est losses. At tho same early hour the French carried out. as a diversion, a surprise attack at-tack on hill No. 2ST, two miles to the west; carried a German trench and killed Jw or captured every man in it. Germans Silent. The German official communication is silent on tills affair. The fighting has pone on all day. with the Germans taking tak-ing the offensive. First the usual violent vio-lent bombardment took piace ami then, tt 5 o'clock this afternoon, a strong in- j ' fun try attack was launched on hill ."01 and the Avocourt woods, which are the setting for hill l'ST. The attacks were repulsed, re-pulsed, according to the French report, 1 aryl with the usual slaughter. j t Night found tin- battle still in progress as an artillery duel. ITALIANS SECURE RICH BOOTY IN ADAMELLO ZONE ROME, via London, May 1, i n : 1 2 p. m. Tho following official communication communica-tion was issued today: In the Adamello zone we captured rich booty in arms, munitions and material which was abandoned by the enemy in the Toper and Fargo-. Fargo-. rid. i passes. I 'urirg Wednesday our 1 Alpine troops extended the conquest tn the crest north of Fargoriua as fur as the Mattarott zone at the source, of the Sarca river. In the Ix-dro valley, afrer intense artillery preparations t ln ou;ho'i t t he night of tho l'ith, the enemy at d;un nna'-ked our po-Mtiors on the slopes of Monte Pari, but was repulsed with serious losses. In the Iagarina va'.lev yesterdav tho enemy renewed by numerous powerful power-ful batteries his bombardment of our positions on Zecna tnrta, after whi.'h he launched five violent attacks. ea-h time being repulsed with sanguinary Josses. In the zone between the Terrngnolo valley and tho upper Asrico the en-piny en-piny has continued an uninterrupted v a rtillery fire against t he pes: t tons of our main line of defense. We re-k re-k J pulsed the customary feint attacks in r (Continued on Page xaree.) TUSK DIE US BATTLE PROGRESSES (Continued from Page One.) the San Pelesrlno valley, in the Mar-molado Mar-molado zone, on the Fedala pass, on the upper Astlco and on upper Corde-vole. Corde-vole. On the Isonzo front there has been moderate"' artillery activity. In the Monfalcone sector, by a brilliant counter-attack, our troops recaptured recap-tured part of the trenches which remained re-mained in the enemy's hands after the action of the 15th. VIENNA REPORTS THE CAPTURE OF NEW POSITIONS BERLIN, Mav IS. hy wireless to Ray-! Ray-! vi lie. N. Y. Artillery engagements are in I progress all along the Austro-Italian, ! front, on which the Auslrians began an ! offensive movement several days ago. The official Austrian statement of May 17 reports tiie capture of new positions on the Doberdo plateau. Several Italian cities, in addition to Venice, were attacked at-tacked in the recent aerial raids, which, the statement says, were very effective. The announcement follows: Artillery combats are in progress along the whole front. On Doberdo plateau our new position was extended ex-tended by the explosion of mines. The enemy directed a drum fire on tiie position and then attacked. He was repulsed hy infantry regiment No. 4?, in a fight with hand grenades. The artillery fire became violent at times at the Gorizia bridgehead in the Km sector, near Flitsch and at several places on the Carinthian front. Night attacks of the enemy in the Dolomites, against Tlexengels and the ridge north of Fienberg were repulsed. re-pulsed. In the sector- of Lopplo lake the enemy maintained a strong fire against our lines. Strong- squadrons of military and naval aeroplanes yesterday and the night before dropped many bombs on railroad stations and other establishments establish-ments of Venice. Mestre, Cormons, Otvidaie, Udine, Perlacardfn and Er-wlso. Er-wlso. Goad effects were observed at all these places, particularly at Udine, where about thirty anti-aircraft cannon can-non maintained a useless fire. FRENCH CAPTURE SMALL FORT FROM GERMAN FORCES FA RIS. May 18, 11 Ar a. m. Several attacks were made by German troops on the Verdun front last night in an effort to capture a redoubt at Avocourt. The official statement of today says the Germans Ger-mans were repulsed each time and that -thev lost heavily. French troops, after severe fighting, captured a German fort on the northeast slope of hilk 304. One German trench north of hill 387 was raided by French forces, which killed or captured the occupants of these positions: posi-tions: On the Verdun front east of the Meuse the artillery onboth sides was active during dur-ing the night. Eighty Shells Dropped. Two French aeroplanes dropped eighty more shells on the railway station at Metz on the night of May 16. The text of the statement says: Between the Olse and the Aisne a strong reconnoilerlng party of the en emy, wnir-n was endeavoring to approach ap-proach our lines in the neighborhood of Quennevleres, was subjected by us to a counter-attack and dispersed, leaving some dead upon the field where the encounter took place. On the left bank of the Meuse, after a spirited preparation hy their artillery, artil-lery, the Germans endeavored several times last night to capture the redoubt re-doubt in the wood of Avocourt. Repulsed Re-pulsed each time hy our fire, the enemy en-emy suffered serious losses. As for us. we executed at a point to the north of hill 287 at about 3 o'clock in the morning a surprise attack upon a German trench. The men occupying this position were either killed or made prisoners. At this same time of day French troops took possession, after a furious engagement, of a small fort of the enemy on the northwest slope of hill 304. On the right of the Meuse. in the Woe v re, there have been reciprocal bombardments. During the night of May 15-37 French aviators conducted numerous bombardments along the front, north of Verdun. For Instance: Fifteen shells of large caliber were thrown down upon an Important depot of munitions south of Sedan, five more i on the railroad station at Sedan, ; where a fire broke out, and fifteen on . a depot of munitions not far from Azannes. During the same night two French aeroplanes threw down eighty shells on the railroad station at Metz- i Sahlone. ! Aviators of the enemy during the j nif-'ht threw down several bombs in the vicinities of lAinevllle and Bel- ; fort. They caused material damage of no great importance. 1 GERMANS SECURE MINE CRATER HELD BY THE BRITISH LONDON. May IS, 11:20 p. m. The British official statement on the aerial i campaign reads: j Yesterdav there was again still j considerable aerial work. Several combats took place. One hostile ma- chine is believed to have been ac- counted for, as it was last seen de- j scmidl ng vert i call y. I During the afternoon, after a ! strong bombardment, the enemy : gained a mine crater held by us on i I ho Vlmy ridge. Last night a strong ! hostile patrol, which trieil to rush one j of our posts near Wieltje, was driven I back. Today, except for artillery ac- I t i vi 1 y a bout A ngres ami St. Eioi, there was no special incident to ! report. BRITISH TROOPS SUCCESSFUL IN EGYPT CAMPAIGN I LONDON. May 18, 8:20 p. in. The fol- . lowing official com m tin lea ( Ion concerning tiie operations in Egypt was made public tonight: 1 ' The general officer commanding In chief in Egypt reports a successful enterprise ana ins t the enemy at 1-tay-nii.l a nd M ae.ibra, which was carrier car-rier out by a column of Australian and New Zealand mounted troops Mav Irt. The enemy made no resist- ance and fled at once, pursued by us. The very great heat and the bad going go-ing over the deep sand made It Impossible Im-possible for the pursuit to be carried very far. j Thirty-six camels, a quantity of ' Turkish ammunition and one Turkish Turk-ish soldier were captured at Bayoud, and the enemy camp there was entirely en-tirely destroyed. GERMANS ROUTED BY FRENCH WITH CURTAIN OF FIRE PARIS. May IS, l:'i p. m. The official offi-cial communication Issued tonicht reads: j North of the Aisne we dispersed an enemv detachment which a t tempted to reach one of our trcn-'hes south of Nonvron. ' -n t lie left hank of the Meuse, the euemyp after a violent bombardment, i I j began a strong attack on our posi- ! tfons in the Avocourt wood and on hill 304. Our curtain of fire and the fire of our machine guns stopped the enemy, who appeared to have suffered serious losses. The artillery action continued very violently on the whole of the sector. There was an intermittent bombardment bom-bardment on tiie right bank, more intense at Les Eparges. Belgian communication: Yesterday toward the end of the evening, after a violent bombardment, bombard-ment, with trench mortars and heavy-caliber heavy-caliber guns, a German detachment attacked one of our1 posts on the east bank of the Yser. nortli of Steen- ' straete. The enemy was stopped by our fire. GERMANS REPORT REPULSE OF THE FRENCH TROOPS BERLIN, May IS. via London, 2:47 p. m. The repulse this morning of three attacks by the French against German positions on hill no4, northwest of Verdun, Ver-dun, was announced by the war ofrice today. to-day. The text of today's statement says: Western front: Hand-grenade engagements en-gagements southwest of Lao n continued. con-tinued. Three further attacks by the French asalnst our positions on 'hill "04 were repulsed this morning. During a retreat re-treat through Esnes the enemy suffered suf-fered very heavy losses. This refers to at tempts made by a fresh Africa n division, consisting of mixed French troops. An advance by weak en'feiny forces southwest 'of Reich Ackerkop'f failed completely. Eastern front: An enemy aeroplane was brought down east of Kraschin. FRENCH LAUNCH GAS ATTACK IN AISNE DISTRICT RERI TN. May IS. hy wireless to Say-ville. Say-ville. "Correspondents on the western front give details of a recent gas a urn k by the French In the Aisne district," the Overseas News agency says. "The French discharged gas four rimes at Intervals of half au hour. The gas came forward in thick grayish-black" wav--s. It had a nauseating odor like chloride. The clouds were so dense that the men in the German trenches were not able to see objects in their immediate neighborhood. neighbor-hood. "The gas masks nf the Germans afforded afford-ed complete protection, especially as a sunnily wind drove the gas farther on. A few Germans who did not adjust their masks were snt to hospitals to be treated treat-ed for asphyxiation and spasms of the bines. "The ga? attack was ended by a shot from a German gun which exploded the French gas magazine." Greece Again Protests. BERLIN, May S. bv wireless to Fay-vllle. Fay-vllle. The Q erpens News agency today ga e out the following: "It is reported from Alliens that French troops have orenpied Fort f'owa Tele by force and that the Greek government govern-ment has d'divere-l an emphatic protepi to the ministers at Athens of ihe entente pi.Wf-rs. (Jrcece points out that 1 lie o 'U-pHtion 'U-pHtion nf the fort i. contrary to promises which had been gi v e n . " Air Attacks Near Venice. ROME, May 17, via Paris. May 1. 1 : 1 .t ? . n.-An official d ispa t-h f-o:n Italian headquarters at Cd in" rewir' s t hat A;:fitrian acropianes have made f o.ral attacks on towns nea r Yeni ;. H is stated tl'flt thsc attacks hae caused in-slunihVant in-slunihVant tr,itcrlnl damage, that no lives have ';.-- n inst end no military results accompiisutd, |
