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Show BIG OPEN BATTLE IS JON BY FRENCH For First Time Since the Germans Were Swept Back on the Marne the Opposing Forces Come Together and Teuton Third Line Defense Is Captured. BAVARIANS FAIL TO STEM TIDE Natives of Picardy Under Un-der General Fayolle Rush Forward; Overwhelm Over-whelm the Enemy by Fierce Attack; Berlin Admits Defeat. (Sp(-fI Cable h Armngrmpnt frith TonAni! rtillr Trlegraph and Intoroational News ScrttM.) LONDON, Sept. 13. In the first open battle fought on the western front since the battle of the Marne, tho French last night and todny wrested from the Germans the whole system of third-line doftinso between Combles and Peronne.' They captured the whole of the village vil-lage of Bouchavcsnes, midway botween these two bases of support, rooted their own lines firmly into the blood-sodden highway that connects the two points and smashed ahead further to tho east, taking by storm tho Dois l'Abbe train, lost again to two counter-attacking German Ger-man regiments, but subsequently reconquered re-conquered tho whole of it. Fierce Open Fighting. The day saw the fiercest open fighting fight-ing recorded in the west since the early part of the war. Time and time again the Bavarian prince hurlotj his infantry legions against the French tido, only to be swept back by the soldiers under General Fayolle, natives of tho Picardy, who rushed forward with the bitter tenacity of men fighting for their hearths and homes. Berlin admits this afternoon that the French ' entered ' ' Botichnvcsnes. Both Combles and Teronne are nnw isolated, and under terrific bombardment. bombard-ment. Many Prisoners Taken. More than 2300 tin wounded prisoner, ten cannon and forty machine joins wero taken by the French In yeste7-day's ami today's victorious onrush In the I.loticha-veenes I.loticha-veenes sector alone. The Ihitifih restPd again today, consolidating con-solidating their lines preparatory to ths final attack on Combles. Nor wan then infantry action today south of lha Somme. but violent jrun duels raxed all day around Vernuindo Vlllera and Chautnes. On tlie Verdun front relative BtirccBscs are claimed by Berlin and Par In. The French niKht communique reporlH the repulse of German attacks on the positions po-sitions east of Fleury recently taken by fleneral Nivelle.' troops. Seventy prln-oners prln-oners were taken. The German war office of-fice claim farther progress In the northern north-ern part of the Vaux fhapilre wood, situated sit-uated like Fleury on the right ba nk of the .Mense. French Official Report. Tlie French e'atemeut reads: North of the Homme we extended our positions facing Gomblen and took, south of I.e Priez farm, a powerfully pow-erfully organized trench svfitem. Desperate fichtlng occurred on our center and right wing, whur rrman made enereth efforts to recapture lost ground. Orm violent enemy at-tn'k at-tn'k agfi infd l'Abbe, wood fa rm ue-ceeded ue-ceeded nt flrpt In its re-apture. but our troops threw the enemy bark from his position. whiMi we now occupy oc-cupy ' ompletely. Hill 7. on the Routh. was alpo th object of enemy U t temp's, but lifer n aeries of hand-to-hand encounter, with flu'd'ia t Inc formn'-F, our infan-trv infan-trv maintained all Hm UHin. The tiimiliT of unwduiidfd prif-on-r i' c;; pt ured y ''-! rd.iy and ( oda y ex -ceed 2':''. I riporl a nt boot y Hliaii-d"n'. Hliaii-d"n'. 1 by I he enemy and con tiled up lo tlie I'lifSfiil amount to ten gmiF. in- b dhur seveitjl b.-ay pi cck and a bou' for! v na' liine c'l'ic, In t'ia r.fi'i' l a vefiii'' Li. i ior alone. Artillerv nL'h'in ontlniird a'-ilv-iv in i1." region of Vcrmfindo Vflters and ' '.mine--. fin t ie riKiil of the Meupe Ormana (Continued on Page Three.) BIG OPEN BATTLE 15 MI BY THE FRENCH (Continued from Page One.) attaokM tli positions we recently carried east of Fleurv. They were completely repulsed. FRENCH CAPTURE THE VILLAGE OF BOUCHAVESNES PARIS. Sept. in. noon. The French have raptured the village of Bouchavesnes, Boucha-vesnes, on the Somme front. Tlie official announcement of today savs the villuge, which is in the region of TombleH. was tuken from tlie Germans last evening. The Krone.! also took by assault a wood 6n0 yards east of tlie road from Feronne to Retrain?. On the Verdun front, the French made progress in the northern part of the Vaux-Ohapltre wood. Ttie ofticial statement says: North of the. Somme fighting continued con-tinued last evening, with distinct success for our arms. The village of Bouchavesnes was attacked toward $ o'clock in the evening and carried in its entirety bv our troops in a brilliant fight, despite the enemy's resistance. re-sistance. He had strongly intrenched himself. During, the n I slit our infantry infan-try organized itself in the conquered position. The Geimans did not attempt at-tempt a counter attack. This morning our troops, continuing their advance eastward, took bv assault as-sault the ijois I'Abbe farm, situated 600 meters eastward of the Bethune road, southeast of Bouchavesnes. We took some additional prisoners and captured a large amount of material. To the north of Astre a surprise attack directed against a German trench In the region of Andechy Seined us additional prisoners. On the right bank of the Meuse (Verdun front) we made some pros- . i ress in the northern portion of the I Vaux-Cliapitre wood. Artillery fight-ins fight-ins continues with moderate activity I in the Fleury-Ie-Chenois region. Everywhere Ev-erywhere else the night was calm. GERMANS ADMIT LOSS OF VILLAGE ON THE SOMME BRRI.1X, Sept. 13, by wireless to Say-ville. Say-ville. The capture by the French of Bouchavesnes on the Somme front Is reported re-ported in the official announcement from the war office today. The statement follows: fol-lows: Front of Field Marshal Prince Rup-precht Rup-precht of Bavaria: The battle north of the Somme has recommenced. Our troops are engaged in heavy fighting between Combles and the Sommo. Tlie French entered Bouchavesnes. Artillery Artil-lery duels of great violence continue on both sides of the Somme. Front of the German crown prince: East of the Meuse (Verdun front), attacks made by the French in the sector of Thlaumont and Souviile failed. costing them sanguinary losses. FEDERAL EXPERT TO MAKE MILK INQUIRY WASHINGTON", Sept. 13. Complaints from milk producers In many sections in the country that the cost of production is increasing and their net returns growing grow-ing smaller will he investigated by the department of agriculture. W. J. Spillman of the office of farm management today announced that he would appoint an expert to make a na-, na-, tton-wtde inquiry into the cost of producing pro-ducing milk, and whether milkmen are justified in asking higher prices. In the opinion of Mr. Spillman, scarcity of beef cattle and too much regulation of dairymen by city authorities have increased in-creased the cost of milk. |