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Show Trench Drive Back the Germans At Verdun I i Heavy Bombardment on Austro-Etalian Front I i FRENCH TAKE OFFENSIVE ON A THREE-MILE SECTOR AT VERDUN Several German Trenches and Organized Positions Captured East of Meuse and Held Against Series of Counterattacks Counter-attacks French Make'Progress in the Fleury Sector and Capture 1,100 Germans French Pene-5 Pene-5 trate Enemy Lines on Monacu Farm and Take German Section in Somme Region Re-gion Reported by Berlin, Rome, Aug. 3, via London, 4:40 p. m. "In the Adige 'J valley" the official announcement today says, "a bombard- ment by enemy artillery and aircraft is continuing. An en- j emy aeroplane dropped bombs on the town of Ala but they I did no damage." , t i The operations along the Somme on the western front are momentarily transcended in interest by the situa- tlon at Verdun. : Yesterday the French, taking the ; offensive, made an attack along a three-mile front east of the Meuse, , capturing several German trenches and organized points of support. Paris ;' today reports this ground held against i a series of German counter attacks delivered last night. Progress by the French in the Fleury sector, north--, east of the fortress, also is an-; an-; nounced, with ' the capture of 1,100 i Germans In the fighting on the east bank of the river since August 1. 1 In the Somme region the Germans J have made renewed attempts to re- iA gain the positions they were forced to give up to the French in the Mon- , acu farm sector, near the river on j Tuesday night. These failed, Paris declared, de-clared, and the new French positions j between Monacu farm and Hem wood were organized by their captor.. Slmi- j larly a German attack south of the J Somme near Estres was futile. German Assaults Repulsed. Paris, Aug. 3, 12:13 p. m. North of j the river Somme several German attempts at-tempts last night against the French position at Monacu farm were repulsed, re-pulsed, it was officially announced by the French war department this afternoon. after-noon. The French troops organized their new positions between Monacu ; farm and Hem wood. (' South of the Somme a German coun ter attack south of Estres failed. Several violent German counter attacks at-tacks on the trenches taken by the ; French yesterday on the right bank of the Meuse, the statement adds, ; were everywhere stopped by the screen of Infantry fire. In this region, re-gion, which is north of the fortress of Verdun, the French made substantial substan-tial progress to the south of Fleury. Since the first of August the French have captured 1,100 Germans on the bank. Intense Artillery Flro. On the left bank of the Meuse an Intense artillery duel continues, but there has been no infantry action. i In the Somme sector. Sergeant Chai- nat of the French aviation corps, ; brought down two German machines, which makes a total or eight brought down by this aviator. I The statement follows: "North of the Somme we repulsed last night several German assaults on the Monacu farm and we organized our new positions between this farm and the Hem wood. "It has been confirmed that the j- German units eugag'ed in the region of the Monacu "farm had to be relieved re-lieved ns a result of the heavy losses they have sustained since July 30. "South of the river Somme a coun-F coun-F ter attack upon our positions located i to the south of Estres failed under our fire. On the right bank of the river Meuso the GermanB delivered ( several violent counter attacks upon the trenches which we captured yes terday. Everywhere our curtains of fire and the fire of our infantry checked the efforts of our adversary who suffered heavy losses. As for our troops, following up their advantages they have made notable progress to the south of Fleury. They have reached the immediate surrounds of this village and have been gone beyond be-yond the railroad station. The number num-ber of prisoners made by us yesterday in the region of Fleury alone Is in excess of 7. This raises to 1,100 the total number of able bodied prisoners pris-oners who have fallen into our hands since the first of August on the right bank of the Meuse. - Intense-Artillery Fire. "In the region of Vaux-le-Chapitra and Chenois there has "been co'iilTnuea Intense artillery .fighting, but without with-out infantry participation. The night passed quietly on the remainder of the front except in the forest of Apre-mont Apre-mont where we dispersed with rifle fire certain German patrols. "One the front aVmg the Somme front Sergeant Chainat yesterday had two aerial encounters with German machines and in each case vanquished his adversary. These two victories make a total of eight German machines ma-chines which have ben brought down by this aviator. Another German aeroplane, attacked at close quarters by one of our machines, fell to the ground and was wrecked near Chauny." British Guns Busy. London. Aug. 3.-2:41 p. m. 'During 'Dur-ing the night we continued the work of consolidating the ground which we had gained and in opening up communication com-munication trenches," says the British official statement issued today. "Our guns were active and the enemy's artillery ar-tillery retaliated briskly during the evening along our fron from Maltz farm to Longueval, also on the woods of Mametz, Frlcourt and Becourt and the village of Pozleres." His fire slackened off at dawn. The enemy exploded a small mine near Souchez. It oaused no casualties and did little damage. French Penetrate German Lines. Berlin, Aug. 3, via London, 5 p. m. French troops have penetrated German Ger-man lines on Monacu farm in the region re-gion of the river Somme, and have taken a trench section to the north of that position, says the official statement given out today by the German Ger-man army headquarters. In the region north of the fortress of Verdun, the announcement says, the French have recaptured a trench section which they had lost in the Laufeo wood. "On the right bank of the Meuse (Verdun front) the enemy brought forward to the attack strong forces against Cote du Poivre and on the wide front between the Thiaumont work and north of the Laufee work. Ho obtained a foothold on the western west-ern part of Cote du Poivre and southwest south-west of Fleury In parts of our first line trenches and recaptured a trench section in Laufee forest which he lost on Tuesday. "At the Thiaumont work, southeast of Fleury, the enemy was completely repulsed and in the mountain forests he was repulsed with neavy losses after having temporarily broken into our lines. Austrlans Shell Italian Seaport. Rome, Aug. 3, via Paris, 11:13 a. m. An official statement issued today says that two Austrian destroyers shelled Bisceglie, an Italian seaport on the Adriatic near Bari. The statement state-ment follows: "Two enemy destroyers shelled Bisceglie, a district which possesses no defense. Six persons were wounded, wound-ed, two of them women, seriously. The material damage was slight. "Nineteen Italian aeroplanes bombarded bom-barded Durazzo this morning with great effect A large number of bombs fell on wharves, buildings and the aerodrome. All the machines' returned re-turned except on which broke down and had to land in enemy territory." Greeks Demand Demobilization. Genoa, Aug. 3, via Paris, 3:15 p. m. A Zurich dispatch says that a number num-ber of young men paraded the streets of that city on Tuesday night bearing banners inscribed: "We demand complete demobilization." demobiliza-tion." The police were obliged to charge the crowd with drawn swords before it would disperse. Several persons were wounded. Serbs Convoke Parliament." Corfu, Island of Corfu, Aug. 1, via London, Aug. 3, 12:10 p. m. The Serbian Ser-bian government has decided to convoke con-voke the Serbian parliament King Peter of Serbia and the Greek government gov-ernment have been advised of this Intention. In-tention. nn |