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Show oLillfiiiisii i UiioL li n I British Lose Several Villages Southeast South-east of Amiens; French Cede But Little Ground in All-Day Battle. FIGHTING IS RESUMED ON SMALLER SCALE AT ARRAS PARIS, March 30. The battle of the Moureil-Lassigrny front continued the whole day and extended along sixty kilometers, says the war office announcement tonight. The German assaults, multiplied in force, were incessant, but French counter-attacks everywhere stopped the onslaught. LONDON, March 30. The Germans forced their way into the village of Demuin this morning, but were held up at the western outskirts of the village, according to the statement issued by the war office tonight, which also reports strong enemy attacks on the line a short distance south of Arras. The statement reads: North of the Somme, after a short lull yesterday, the battle broke out afresh this morning. The enemy repeated his costly and unsuccessful assaults as-saults both in the region of Boirey and Boyelles and immediately imme-diately north of the Somme. All these assaults, delivered in considerable strength and with fresh troops, were thrown back with heavy losses to the enemy and our positions re- , mained intact. We took a number of prisoners. A heavy bombardment of our defenses east of Arras accompanied ac-companied the delivery of the attack. South of the Somme ' and between that river and the Avre fighting has continued incessantly, attacks arid counter-attacks taking place at frequent intervals. The enemy forced his way this morning morn-ing into the village of Demuin, in the Luce valley, but is held up at the western outskirts of the village. LONDON, March 30. The Germans captured the villages of Aubvillers (five and one-half miles northwest of Montdider), Grievnes, Cantigay, Mesniel-St. Georges, Je Monchel and Ayencourt, the war office announced this evening. (All these villages named are in the Montdider region.) Heavy fighting is progressing to the eastward of Ayencourt (two miles south of Montdider); the exact situation is unknown. A heavy rain is falling. ' Besides gaining ground south and southeast of Montdider, the Germans made some progress west of the Avre (southeast of ' Amiens). The summary of the situation, issued by the war office reads: North of the Somme on the British front, there is no change in the situation. South of the Somme we maintained main-tained our positions. Further south, during the course of the day, heavy at-tacks at-tacks on the French front, have enabled the Germans to gain ground west of the Avre and south and southeast of Montdidier. The Germans have captured the villages of Aubvillers, Grivesnes, Cantigny, Mesnil-St. Georges, Le Monchel and Ayencourt. East of this latter place heavy fighting is going on and the exact situation is not known. The weather has broken and a heavy rain is falling. ANOTHER FIERCE ATTACK EXPECTED BY THE BRITISH WITH TIIK I'-RiriK ARMY' JN ; FHAXCK, March :'.(). ( l!y tin; Assoi-iji I- od Press.) The whrflH of th? w;ir mill continued to turn slowly on ih', liritish front tod;jy. nlthoiijjh t!irr; arc many indications in-dications that, intense jccdin u ni:iy couir! at my moment. Just Hoiith of the. Saipe, Tjfar Arras, t he enrn v lute this forenoon b''an u bombardment v. hi eh miht easily j. re-sriL'e re-sriL'e a nut her as-a u 1 1 on that. city. It is writteu in thf boohs that sm-h an attack at-tack will com", but up to the latent reports t ln-ie has ! no in f;i n t ry action. ac-tion. Fa rt her south on tho I'-r Hi. h riht there was hard local fiL'htin about Me.ieies aad Demuin, which was a continuance of ysterday's Hirudin, hut the mont import ant act ion seemed to he taking dace on the French left, where it was n-ported the (Jermann were pursuing their furious altacks. Along the. rest of the bat t lef rout, comparative, com-parative, inactivity continued so far as infantiy fighting was concerned. This, lh'-n, was tho slatus of affairs on I lie t'-nth day of tfie brittle and while no one. can fop-see what trend fluclj a-t, operations will fain-, there arc many things to support Ihe following interpretation of thf? situation: For two days past then; lias been a (Continued on Vaj Twelve.) II 11 Oil KETS SOME GAIfsS (Continued from Page 0:e.) cessation along- tho maior portion ot: the northern trout uf the bitter wnrt'are yvagod at the outset, rmloubtorflv this is in accordance with the German plans, for it was impossible for the enemy to proceed further without pana-J) pana-J) to hriiiT forward his supporting artillery, ar-tillery, reorganize his fighting forces " and establish communications. These e things now urc being accomplished. The g main factor affecting the operations is il the question of time. ( In this, as in any other offensive, tfe-, ,j lay gives relatively greater advantage to ( the defense than to the aggressors, be- j cause t!ie defense may lie assumed to have better communications. For ibis ' reason, the enemy must press his attack " quickly. j Tiie crucial sector, which in the open- : ... if" days of the hat Ue in the vicinity J of Albert, which the Germans hoped to , "se as a gateway to a westward advance, now appeals to have dropped to the zone : below the Somme. This is due to two reasons. In the first place, the resistance offered alony; the northern frnnt un-, un-, cioubtediy upset the schedule and plans o: the German command. .Findm? their progress here too slow, the Germans ,; turned their attention to the southern sector, where they had continued their ' successes. In tiie second place, the entrance of the French into the bat tie also raised '! a large problem for the enemy and gave the Germans a further reason for push-? push-? iris- hard below the f-omme, in order to ; divide the allied armies, if possihle. The c probabilities are that the Germans will - continue to exploit their successes on the x south. The extension of the front of c attack undoubtedly is due to the terrain, 1; which is restricted by the marshy valleys v of the Avre and the Somme. 0 What the enemy's ultimate objective might be, if he should succeed in driving 1 his wedge between the two armies, is a ? matter of speculation, but it is not un-c un-c reasonable to assume that be would pro-c pro-c eeed to the northwest through Amiens " nd thence to the sea. On the extreme -' north the Germans probably will press L' their attack against Arras, for they not t only desire possession of this city, with its railway facilities, but wish to broaden c the salient they have driven in the Brit- e ish line. |