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Show Berlin Report Claims Capture of Tremendous Tre-mendous Amount of War Material and Vast Stores of Food. FORTS NORTH OF RHEIMS FALL BEFORE ONSLAUGHT WITH THE FRENCH ARMY IN FRANCE, May 30 (By thi Associated Press). The Germans in the Champagne pushed fartnei toward the river Maine today. The intention of the Teutons prob ably is to secure a position enabling them to turn to the west ward with the bulk of their attacking armies. BERLIN, via London, May 30. Crecy-au-Mont, Juvigny anc Cuffies, suburbs of Soissons, lying to the north of that city, hav been captured by the Germans, according to the official statemon issued by the war office, which says that the number of prisoner! has been increased to more than 35,000. The text of the statement reads: On the battlefront between the Yser and the Oisc fighting fight-ing activity has increased frequently. There were some local infantry engagements. . The armies of the German crown prince are progressing victoriously. North of the Aisne, ground has been gained after hard fighting. Crccy-au-Mont, Juvigny and Cuffies have been occupied. Soissons has been taken by Brandenburg troops. The number of prisoners has increased to more than 35,000 and the booty in artillery and war material is tremendous. tre-mendous. South of the Vesle, the French front, which was in course of formation, broke down under uninterrupted attacks by our divisions. We threw the enemy back after stubborn resistance resist-ance as far as and across the line of Villemontoire, Ferre-en-Tardenois, 'Coulonges, Brouillet and Branscourt. The forts on the northwestern front of Rheims havo fallen. The northern parts of LaNouvillette and Betheny were captured. Guns of every description, up to railway guns of the heaviest caliber, were taken. The impetuous advance of our attacking forces prevented the enemy from carrying back rich war provisions heaped up in the captured territories; large depots fell into our hands at Soissons, Braisne and Fismes. Extensive munition depots, de-pots, railway trains and hospital establishments, with a large quantity of medical equipment, fell into, our possession. An airdrome, with machines ready to start and airplane materials, mate-rials, also were captured. With the army groups of General von Gallwitz and Duke Albrecht, the fighting activity revived temporarily. During the last three days our aviators have brought down thirty-eight airplanes south of Ypres; five enemy captive cap-tive balloons were brought down in flames. PARIS, May 30. "We have prevented enemy progress in tht western outskirts of Soissons," says the official report from Frencl headquarters tonight. The text of the report follows: To the south we solidly hold the left bank of the Crise river. The Germans are multiplying their efforts in the direction direc-tion of Ville-en-Tardenois. In the center the fighting has not diminished in intensity. The Germans have occupied Fere-en-Tardenois and Vezilly. The battle continued today with undiminished violence along the whole extent of the front. On our right and to the northwest of Rheims we are holding our positions. The enemy air forces, which have been very aggressive and numerous during the battle, have been attacked with the greatest daring by French airmen, who destroyed nineteen German machines, brought down two balloons and compelled twenty-three enemy airplanes to land in a damaged condition. con-dition. On the night of May 27-28, French aviators dropped twenty-three tons of explosives on bridges and crossings on the Ailette and Aisne and on various cantonments. The next night and day thirty-seven tons of bombs were dropped on convoys, troops and railway stations. Eastern theater, May 29': Strong artillery actions occurred oc-curred along the Doiran front, the Vardar, west of the Var-dar Var-dar and in the Serbian sector. Soi'th of Lake Doiran a (Continued on Page Ten.) ! HUNS STILL RUSH FORWARD (Continued from Page One.) British detachment penetrated a Bulgarian fortified work, the garrison of which was annihilated. On the front of the French army bad weather hindered activity. BERLIN, via London, May 30. "To the south of Fere-en-Tar-denois," says the official report this evening from headquarters, "we are fighting our way toward the Marne." ' ' NOTABLE SLACKENING IN ADVANCE OF THE GERMANS Slowly but surely the plunge of the German crown prince's armies is being halted by the French and British armies. While the momentum of the German masses has not as yet spent itself, there has been a notable slackening in its advance ad-vance during the past day. The chief efforts of the Germans now seem to be devoted to the widening of the gap they have torn in the position of the allies al-lies between Plnon and Brimont. This work seems to be progressing slowly against the desperate resistance of the allied forces. The French having fallen back from the limits of the city of Soissons, have stood their ground against the attacks of the enemy, and the German official statement fails to show material advances ad-vances there during the day 's fighting. The French are here fighting in familiar fa-miliar ground which has been made historic by numerous battles, some of which are named among the decisive combats of history. On Familiar Ground. On the eastern end of the fighting line some of the forts before Rheims are saiil to have fallen, which was to be expected ex-pected from the fact that they have 1 i outflanked by the tide of invasion that has swept far to the south of the citv. The fighting has' taken on the familiar fami-liar aspect of the first invasion of France in 1014, the advance of Von Mackensen along the Dunajec and the lighting in Pieardy in March. After breaking the French and British de fensive positions, but not breaking the allied line, the Germans are again moving mov-ing their forces out in a fan-shaped figure, fighting hardest on the flanks of the extreme front of their advance. The situation while apparently extremely ex-tremely serious, has not assumed the critical aspect of the fighting late in March. The allies are resisting the enemy's attacks stubbornly, giving ground when overpowered, and always al-ways maintaining a solid front. Approaching the Marne. The wave of the advance is now approaching ap-proaching the valley of the Marne, the nearest approach to that avenue toward Paris being at the village of Vezilly, which lies at the extreme apex of the German wedge and is about seven miles from the river. In 1914, the Germans advanced over a front extending from Braisne, just east of Soissons, to Vau-quois, Vau-quois, a little west of Verdun. After having reached the Marne, the Teutons turned the force of their advance toward to-ward the west and they may be expected ex-pected to repeat their tactics of four years ago. The reserve forces at the command of General Foch are now coming into action ac-tion on ground chosen for the combat by that master strategist, and it is possible pos-sible that a blow of tremendous proportions pro-portions may be struck somewhere along the front of the German wave, or on its western side, which seems to be open to an attack which might crumple up the German armies to the east of Soissons. |
