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Show I BIG FiCHTS RAE AT CENTER AND I RIGHT OF ALLIES, LEFT RETIRES I Germans Thrown Back Upon River Oise, I but Failure of One Part of Line Com. A pels French to Retreat; Crown Prince's Army Tries to Cross Meuse River and is Hurled Back, but Again Advance. Paris, Aug. 31. The following official of-ficial statement was Issued by the var ofllce this evening: "The situation as a whole Is as, follows: "1. The Vosges and Lorraine It will he recalled that our forces, who had taken the offensive In the Vosges and In Lorraine at tho beginning of, operations and who drove the enemy back beyond our frontiers, received serious checks before Sarrebourg and In the region of Morhange, where they came In contact with strongly defended positions. Theso troops were forced to fall back to reform themselves, one body on the great crown of Nancy and tho other In the French Vosges. Tho Germans thereupon there-upon took the offensive. Our troops having successfully defended thom-selves, thom-selves, have now resumed the offensive. offen-sive. Our attack has now been lit progress for two days. Tho engage-ment engage-ment Is proceeding slowly, as It partakes par-takes of tho nature of a siege. The character of tho fighting explains tho slowness of our advance, which is, nevertheless, characterized by new local successes. Germans Trying to Cross Meuse "2. la tho vicinity of Nancy and Woevre Since the beginning of tho campaign this Held, comprised between be-tween tho cities of Met', on the Gorman Gor-man sldo and Verdun and Toul on the French sldo, has not been the theater of anyi Important operations, "3. Along tho Meuse, between Verdun and Mozleres It will bo recalled re-called that tho French forces took the luitiatlvo In tho direction of Longwy, Neufchateau and Pallseul. t The troops operating near Splncourt k and Longwy wero checked by the JF enemy, led by tho crown prince. In; I the lcinity of Neufchateau and Pull' I seul certain of our troops oxperlenc cd partial checks, which forced them I to fall hack upon tho Mouse, without however, suffering any serious Injur'. I This backward movement forced tho I troops operating about Splncourt al so to retreat to tho Mouse. In the I last few days tho enemy has sought, H to cross tho Mouso with considerable I forces, but by a vigorous counter- offensive he has been thrown back Into tho river after suffering great H ina Nnvorthelesa new German fore- I cs have advanced near Rocroy, march Ing toward Itethel, where at present Hj a general battle is being fought be- tucen the Meuse and Hothel the out-I out-I como of which cannot bo foreseen. French Left Wing Is Losing "4. Operations In the north The I Franco English forces moved first I into the vicinity of Dlnant, Charlerol I and Mons. Partial checks oxporlenc; ed by tho forces of tho Mouso near, I Glvet obliged our troops to fall back, the Germans seeking continually" to H como upon us from tho west. In these conditions our English allies, H attacked by an enemy greatly super-jfl super-jfl ior in number near La Cateau ami Cambral, had to rotlro toward the H south, while- our forces wero opcrnt-flj opcrnt-flj lag toward Avesnea and Chimay. The HJ retreat was prolopged through tho flj following day. A general battlo waB fought near St. Quentin and Ver- lns, at tho samo timo that another I battle was fought near Porrono. This M battle was marked by an Important success for us upon our right whoro I we drove the Prussian guards and ' tho Tenth nrmy corps Into tho rlvo Oise. On tho other hand, because of tho progress of tho Gorman right jfl wing, whoro our adversaries had J Placed tholr best corps, .wo wero I obliged to mako another movement tiUk, of retreat. rPT "On our right, after partial chocks fl we havo taken tho offensive nnd the fl enemy is retiring beforo us. fl "In the center wo havo had niter- flj nate checks and buccossob, but a flj genoral action, Is now being fought. J "On our left, by a series of clr-. K cumstnncos which turned In favor of tho Germans, nnd dosplto lucky coun- flj ter attacks, tho Anglo French forcoa flj vero obliged to glvo way. As yet, HJ our armies, notwithstanding n fow In flj contestable checks, remain Intact. jfl "The mornlo of our troops Is ox- BJ cellont In splto of considerable loss es which aro also being rapidly filled from regimental depots." India's Troops In France London, Aug. 31. Taken tit Its faco value tho French otnclal announcement an-nouncement Issued this nfteinoon, which mentions that the progress of tho German right wing has forced tho allies to yield further ground would seem to Indicate that the tier-mans, tier-mans, notwithstanding repulses, are making dally advances toward Paris, The statement mado Sunday of Field Marshal Sir John French, com-mander com-mander of the British troops, however, how-ever, spoko of fighting on tho French loft, but this .according to ono 10-port, 10-port, resulted 'In tho German right being slightly turned. |
