Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-30 | Page 21 | German Losses in France are Heavy

GERMAN LOSSES IN FfiOE HEM Million Casualties Are Suffered Suf-fered Along Front Occupied Occu-pied by French Troops, MANY GUNS ARE LOST Thousands of the Crown Prince's Best Men Are Taken Prisoner. FRENCH FRONT, Pec. K. (Correspondence (Corre-spondence of the Associated Press). One million casualties have been suffered by the German armies along the front occupied oc-cupied by the French troops during 1917. according to statistics carefully compiled here. French territory amounting to many hundreds of square miles has been freed from German domination by the year's fighting, and the German Crown Prince Frederick has been compelled to suffer the modification of leaving between be-tween 60.000 and 70,000 prisoners from among his best troops in French hands. His cannon to the number of 1400 have been captured and. In addition, thousands of machine guns and hundreds of trench mortars. Althouhg the defeated Germans did their utmost before withdrawing lo turn the fertile fields and picturesque villages vil-lages of the Somme and Aisnc regions into a desert waste, these acts of vandalism van-dalism dii them more harm than it did the French, whose soldiers were st Irred thereby to an even stronger de tormina -tion than before to beat back the German invader. Dominant Events. Three dominant events on the front of the French armies in France have, marked the year and each has terminated in a brilliant victory for French armies. First came the enforced retreat in March of the German forces from the greater part of the departments of the Somme. Oise and the Aisne. brought about by the combined smashing hlmvs delivered by the French and British during the battle of the Somme In the fall of HUtS. Then followed the French offensive on the Aisne and in Champagne, whose conclusion con-clusion came only at the end of seven months of almost continuous fighting with the capture from the crown prince's armies of the key of the I llnde.nbui g position formed by the Fort of Malmai-son Malmai-son and their reluctant retirement from the famous Chemtn-des-Dames. This left in the French hands all the good observatories ob-servatories useful for future operations. Aviation Plays Part. In the meantime the French had fought and won the culminating battle for thn liberation of Verdun, in the course of which the French troops regained nearly every Inch of the ground around the fortress which had cost the crown prince 500,000 men to capture In 191 ti. Aviation played a leading .part In all operations In the course of t he year. No matter what weather prevailed, the airmen air-men were out observing, roconnolterlng, fighting off German airmen, accompanying accompany-ing the attacking Invader, bombarding the com m un i ca t ions and depots of the enemy or making raids on German towns. This latter, although they affected only such towns as were used ns military centers, cen-ters, were made by way of reprisal for German air attacks on French cities In the east and north, where numbers (if . . French Chilians had fallen victims to German bombs. In aerial combats the French aviators undoubtedly proved them Helves mnstei s of their German adversaries. By the end of October. the last complete return available, French aviators had destroyed in ten months M7 German airplanes, whose fa to it was possible to confirm with certainty. Many Others Destroyed. Besides these, they had brought down another 513, the absolute destruction of which could not be confirmed, but which had been seen lo fall nut of control -with a great possibility of m fata crash. These figures, totaling 10M. mnlte an excellent record and to them must be added twenty-two German captive balloons. bal-loons. . The American aviators of the Unfayette squad ill la, who have been incorporated Into the American nrniy. plH yed a very creditable part with their French comrades com-rades In the conflicts in the air. Several of them lost their lives in 1!M7, aa did three of the best-ltnown French airmen Guynemor, Porine and Lenoir. Besides t he bom ha rdment of French open towns. German airmen on several occasions bombed French field hospitals at T MJgny, Vailelalneourt, Chateau Pel It Mont ha iron and Holrupt.