OCR Text |
Show RESERVES BEING SENT INTO BATTLE i BLOW OF TREMENDOUS PROPOR. TIONS MAY BE STRUCK ALONG FRONT OF GERMAN WAVE. Hun Rush Being Slowly but Surely Checked by Allied Forces, Although British and French Have Been Forced Back. London. Slowly but surely the plunge oC the (iOrman crown prince's armies is iit'ing halted by the French and r.ritish armies. 'While the momentum mo-mentum of t lie (ierman masses has not as yet spent itself, there has been u notable slackening in its advance. The chief efforts of the Orimms now seem to be devoted to the widening of the gap they have torn in the position posi-tion of the allies between I'inon and Brimont. This work seems to be progressing pro-gressing slowly against the desperate resistance of the allied forces. The reserve forces at the command of General Foch are now coining into action on the ground chosen for the combat by that master strategist, and it is possible that a blow of tremendous tremen-dous proportions may be struck somewhere some-where liking 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. 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 ma-terial advances there during the fighting. fight-ing. 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 said to have fallen, which was to be expected from the fact that they have been outflanked by the tide of Invasion In-vasion that has swept far to the south of the city. The fighting has taken on the familiar fa-miliar aspect of the first invasion of France In 1914, the advance of Von Mackensen along the Dunnjec and the fighting in Picardy in March. After breaking the French and British defensive de-fensive positions, but not breaking the allied line, the Germans are again moving their forces out in the fan-shaped 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 maintaining a solid front. Approaching the Marne. The wave of the advance is now approaching 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 Vauquois, a little west of Verdun. After having reached the Marne, the Teutons turned the force of their advance toward the west and they may be expected to repeat re-peat their tactics of four years ago. |