Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-10-27 | Page 1 | Germans Ordered to Check Yankees

Captured Document Instructs In-structs Teutons Not to Allow Americans to Cross the Meuse River. Pershing's Boys Inflict 70,000 Casualties and Take 20,000 Prisoners in the Present Battle. WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY NORTHWEST OF VERDUN, Oct 2G, S:30 p. m. (By the Associated Press.) The German efforts to break up lately improved positions of the Americans were lessened somewhat today. From the extreme ex-treme left to right artillery was employed, but without materially altering the situation. situa-tion. High explosive shrapnel and gas shells were thrown over the front lln&B and far into the back areas, but no attempt at-tempt was made to counter-attack on a large scale and the few minor movements move-ments of the enemy were brought to a swift end by concentrated artillery and machine gun fire. Since the Americans began the present battle they haco inflicted more than 70,-000 70,-000 casualties on the enemy, freed forty villages and 487 square kilometers of French territory, and .have captured 20,-, 000 prisoners besides the German wounded who fell into their hands. YANKS MAINTAIN GAINS MADE EAST ON MEUSE BANKS WITH THE AMERICAN ARM V NORTHWEST OF VERDUN, Oct. 26, 2 p. m. (By the Associated Press.) The gains made Friday by the American troops east and west of the Meuse were maintained today in spite of violent enemy opposition and harassing artillery fire against the American front lines and the areas in the rear. On the extreme left the Americans have strengthened their hold on the high ground in the southern part of the Bour-gogue Bour-gogue wood. The American position in the wood is such that the Germans no longer arc able to harass the Americans with machine-gun fire from the ridge at the edge of the woods. In the center of the line west of the Meuse, the German artillery is bombarding bombard-ing the American lines heavily with high explosive and gas shells. On the right the enemy made an unsuccessful counter-attack during the night. From 2 to 6 o'clock this morning they shelled the American Amer-ican lines there heavily, the bombardment at times reaching the intensity of a barrage, bar-rage, but there was no further infantry' action. One new division and one. new regiment have been identified as having been added add-ed to trie German strength against the Americans. The division is a second class one which is reputed to have traveled more than any other in the German army. It has been successively on the cistern front, the Italian front, on the Sommo and before St. Mihiel. The regiment regi-ment belongs to the crack Twenty-eighth German division. Violent enemy reactions continue east of the Meuse and there has been desperate desper-ate fighting all along the line. The American position now runs through the clearing between the Belize wood and the Etraje wood. The enemy's determination determina-tion to hold the high ground east of the river is shown by the fact that he has thrown in one of his last remaining reserve re-serve divisions to heck the American advance ad-vance in the Belleue wood, where the enemy is counter-attacking persistently. The following document has been captured cap-tured : "The enemy's crossing of the Meuse is to be prevented absolutely. Should he succeed in crossing he is to be thrown back into the Meuse at once. The enemy must not get a foothold on this side of the Meuse under any rircum?tances.'' The last three words are capitalized. 1 Not only in a defensive way, but ty counter-attacks, the Germans are fighting fight-ing desperately to carry out this order. (Continued on Pae Four.) Hi ORDERED TO CHECK YANKEES (Continued from Page One.) This is shown by the futile attacks made Friday in the region south of Bantheville wood, north of ltappes wood and in the valley north of Bantheville.